  |
| The True Counterparts |
“Counterparts,” or analogous
patterns, refer to the symmetrical structure Joyce’s story takes on to describe
a repeated and repeating cycle of abuse commonplace throughout Joyce’s Dublin. Many get entrapped in this cycle, suggesting
that many become imprisoned by the inescapable, universally accepted routine. Farrington’s entrapment begins comically
enough, even innocently, but his routine exposes a tragic consequence to his
plight.
As
the story opens, Mr. Alleyne reprimands Farrington at work for not completing a
project, and at first the scene looks simply like an unreasonable boss bullying
his employee. But Farrington’s sudden “sharp
sensation of thirst” (70) hints that the employee may in fact be responsible for
the incomplete work. Then, instead of
completing the task, Farrington goes to the bar – O’Neill’s shop – after
receiving a “sharp sensation of thirst” (70), gets drunk, and then returns to
work only to omit parts of the project.
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| O'Neal's shop |
Again, his boss, Mr. Alleyne, reprimands Farrington. Despite the reprimands, Farrington refuses to
change course (because he does not have the will to triumph over his impulse to
drink), and continues to return to his impulses to quench his thirst (and anger
at being humiliated by his boss).
Farrington quits his job, and before going back to the pub (this time,
Davy Byrne’s) he pawns his watch for money to spend on drink. In his self-destructive state, he spends it
all at Davy Byrne’s, thinking that he has impressed his friends with stories
about standing up to his boss.
 |
| Davy Byrnes |
Farrington’s
self-destructive behavior at work is symmetrical, an analogue, to his
self-destructive behavior drinking.
Finally, and in completion
of this pattern of self destruction, Farrington then takes his pent-up
aggression home, and takes it out on his son by hitting “him vigorously with
[a] stick” (79). He wants to assert his
power over someone, in order to mitigate his powerlessness at work. Despite his son’s cries to not beat him (the
boy will even say a “Hail Mary” for him in exchange for avoiding the beating),
he continues to bully his son.
Farrington
cannot triumph anywhere. Not only does
his boss at work belittle him; he also must face his wife’s abuse. Joyce suggests that the root of this problem
is powerlessness fueled by alcohol, in which a vicious cycle is
perpetuated. The man gets drunk, and
abuses his wife (and child for that matter) “when he was drunk” (78). Farrington’s wife would “bull[y] her husband
when he was sober” (78). The cycle of
abuse between husband and wife reveals Farrington’s emasculation by his wife’s
abuse (paralleling with perfect symmetry his bullying by his boss). To hide the embarrassment from his wife’s and
his boss’s bullying, Farrington takes his rage out on his helpless son.
Joyce
(with great irony) calls Farrington “the man” at times, suggesting that he
could be any man in Dublin, highlighting the abuse (and powerlessness
commonplace in Dublin, and any “man’s” participation in it. The cycle of abuse would be repeated.
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