Spiritual Dimension to Asceticism

Continuing with the characterization of Duffy already discussed, it would be worth mentioning the religious and spiritual dimensions to that he gives to his relationship with Mrs. Sinico.  Phil has already stated how Duffy is similar to the boy in Araby.  An important aspect of the connection is that both view the woman of interest in spiritual terms.  However, Duffy explicitly abandons Catholicism ("neither companions nor friends, church nor creed" 131) while retaining practices and imagery, especially in keeping the Maynooth Catechism.  He views his lifestyle as a renunciation of the world, but does not have the comfort of faith to go along with asceticism, so we see might see him as a pitiful figure.

But when Mrs. Sinico enters his life, "she became his confessor" seemingly in her capacity as a conversation partner, reengaging him with the what he remembers of the church community (133).  He still has his internal doubts, that "we cannot giver ourselves... we are alone", and he has changes in how he views himself:  "he thought that in her eyes he would ascend to an angelical stature" (135). This might be an explanation for his "soul's incurable loneliness": his perceptions of the relationship are entirely self-centered.  Though he says how they are united, the "union exalted him", not excited or impassioned him, and all the effects are on him.  Once she shows that she also has desires, he recoils ostensibly at the impropriety, but he was fine with talking to her for hours in the dark in her home for several months!  He calls the incident a "ruined confessional", meaning that she was unwittingly playing the confessor while she thought she had a kindred spirit, and he was not actually interested in bonding with her, only relieving his conscience.

Who is (s)he looking at?

He expresses his disgust with the common people throughout the story, especially in his desire "to live as as possible from the city" and away from inferior suburbs (129). So we have to ask: Is his contempt for society the underlying cause for his adoption of his ascetic lifestyle?  It would be strange if a man lived an extravagant lifestyle alone.  Could his choice of lifestyle be an extension of his feelings of superiority?