The short story ‘Two Gallants’ from the collection ‘Dubliners’ was written by James Joyce. In an evening in Dublin, a young man called Corley and a man who was middle aged called Lenehan were walking. Corley told Lenehan about the woman he seduced, and they were going to date in no time; he had arranged to date this woman. After Corley had gone, Lenehan sat in a refreshment house and considered about himself, his age and his miserable life. Lenahan had no career and no family, he wished to marry a woman who was simple who could afford him money and a family. He worried if Corley would meet him or not after his date. Then, Corley came back to Lenehan after the date, he presented the coin that the woman gave to him as a gift.
The life of citizens depends on the situation of a country and society, but the future of a country and society also depends on the citizens. It is not one’s responsibility to take care of the society, it needs help from both the countries and citizens. In this short story, the characters who appeared all have their financial situation. Corley made money by dating women, after dating, the women will give him gifts like coins and money. For the maid he dated in the story, she was also making money by dating men and selling her body. For Lenehan, he had no job and no home, which means he had no income. His financial situation could be from the society, because due to Ireland's history, the country was not responsible for the citizens so the situation of the whole society has got worse. Think about it, people were doing some unjustifiable job and the others had no family and career. It shows that the society needs people to operate and needs protection from the country. People should be working hard to advance the society, and the country should provide people with a nice condition and environment. If any of them stop making the society operate, then it turns out to be a dead loop, and the society corrodes.
Betrayal is a symbolization of the disunity and distrust in each other. It only causes people to be dishonest and not trusting each other, which will not be helpful in neither interpersonal relationships nor society. In the story ‘Two Gallants’, the maid that Corley had dated betrayed her employer, she stole money and cigars from him and presented them as a gift to Corley. Interestingly, Corley also betrayed the maid. He didn’t show any respect when talking about her, also due to his job, we can comprehend that he was playing with the women’s sentiment. Lenehan was a man with no family, he had less sense of belonging, so he was very afraid that Corley would betray him in their friendship, he worried that Corley would not meet him and abandon him after his date. Most importantly, the nation betrays people, they have lost the trust from people; and Great Britain betrays Ireland, it didn’t provide any protection for Ireland. A world with betrayal only causes more suspenses and problems, because people are not trusting each other anymore, that only leads to fights and arguments, and destroys the harmony. Females are great and unique individuals, they are allowed to ignore any expectations and requirements from another gender. They don’t need the judgments of males, their uniqueness and situation should be sympathized and understood by people. In this short story, the males were having so much expectations and judgements on females. For example, females should be simple minded and clean, who had no sexual relationship with other men before marriage. But the weird thing is, that men had complained that virgin females don’t want to have sexual relationships with them. The mens asked for females that are virgin while they were trying to attack the virgin girls. The truth is that the mens were breaking their expectations, their behaviors were totally contrasting to what they expected from females, but it was females who were scolded. Why should every single female satisfy male’s expectation? Mens have to be clear that their requirements are sometimes nonsense, and females have no responsibility to neither be satisfied nor to be complained by men, because they have done nothing wrong.
In conclusion, the short story ‘Two Gallants’ from the collection ‘Dubliners’ that was written by James Joyce had reflected a certain historical background and some intriguing themes. The life of citizens depends on the situation of a country and society, but the future of a country and society also depends on the citizens. It is not one’s responsibility to take care of the society, it needs help from both the countries and citizens. Betrayal is a symbolization of the disunity and distrust in each other. It only causes people to be dishonest and not trusting each other, which will not be helpful in neither interpersonal relationships nor society. Females are great and unique individuals, they are allowed to ignore any expectations and requirements from another gender. They don’t need the judgments of males, their uniqueness and situation should be sympathized and understood by people.
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