One of the 15 stories in Dubliners by James Joyce is Two Gallants. This story reflects on financial problems and just how far people are willing to go in order to be more financially stable. This story starts with a conversation between our two main characters, Corley and Lenehan. Corley is talking to Lenehan about his recent lover, a maid who works for a wealthy family. We do not immediately find out about the two gallants’ jobs, but their motif sounds a little suspicious. Soon after, Corley mentions that his lover will meet up with him soon, and that he’s going to convince her. We hear about some sort of ‘plan’. Lenehan is afraid that Corley is trying to cut him out of this plan, so when he later catches a glimpse of this couple, he follows them. The ‘plan’ was for this maid, whom Corley calls a slavey, to steal gold coins/money from the wealthy family she was working for. Corley does not talk to Lenehan immediately, but shows him a gold coin as a sign that this plan worked. The end of the story leaves us with many questions. “Why do people go so far just to get money?” “Why does the title not correspond with the behavior of these two men?”
After having read this short story, we will begin to wonder why the title is so inaccurate and what the author was trying to establish with this faulty title. The first part of ‘Two Gallants’ is for Corley and Lenehan, which is pretty obvious. Corley is the son of an inspector police, and does not have a terrible financial situation. However, he has no stable job, so it’s sometimes hard for him to earn money, which is why he resorts to stealing, or getting others to steal for him. Lenehan also doesn’t have a bad financial situation, but he wants a stable life. He used to have good education, and used to be a gentleman, but clearly things have changed. He is working with Corley to get other people to do bad things. We might wonder if there could be a reason behind this terrible idea, and there is. We know that these people live in Dublin of Ireland, this story was definitely not situated recently. Back then, Ireland had a pretty bad financial situation which might impact the whole society, along with their behavior. We can clearly see the connecting here. If most people have a bad behavior, their financial situation won’t be very stable. Here’s the part that confuses us. How are these two men gallants? The definitions of gallant are brave and chivalrous. Clearly, these two are not gallant at all. They can’t work for themselves, and are getting women to steal for them. This might just be for the irony. This is the backstory behind the title.
Betraying people can be interpreted in many ways, and all the main characters in the story is being betrayed or is betraying someone else. A betrayal occurs at some point in the story for every main character. The maid, who is Corley’s new lover, betrays the trust and boundaries of the rich family she is working for by stealing from them. Not only cigars, but also money. Stealing in the first place is very wrong, but stealing from someone that we know is even more immoral. Corley betrayed the maid by talking about her like she is some sort of inanimate object, and with no respect for her whatsoever. This is definitely something people should not be doing, especially towards their lover. Corley is also afraid of being betrayed by Lenehan, showing that their bond and trust is very unstable. Lenehan is also afraid of being betrayed by Corley, which clearly shows that these two ‘friends’ don’t trust each other at all. This is just like how Ireland depended on Britain, but Britain betrayed Ireland by not giving them the protection they need. If two people have a good relationship, no one should have to worry about betrayal.
The double standards for females in this world can be very confusing, especially because men do not suffer these problems. From being smart, and knowing how to cook, to being a virgin, society expects things from women that they would never force men to be, or to do. In this story, we are presented with one main female character, which is the maid. She is known to Corey as a ‘slavey’, which is someone who will do things for someone without asking for anything in return. In a relationship, this should not occur at all, especially if it’s usually women who face this concern. This is not the case for men at all. They are typically the dominant ones in the relationship, because society thinks women are weak and should just focus on pleasing men. Another thing is what men expect from women. Some men want to be in relationships with virgins, but at the same time, want to have a sexual relationship with their lovers. How does this make sense? The answer is, it doesn’t, and we shouldn’t just ignore this problem with society. Nowadays, feminists are considered problematic, even if they are just standing up for women’s rights. This is in fact the harsh reality of the world we live in.
Two Gallants is a short story by James Joyce from the book Dubliners. This book reflects on a messed-up plan made up by Corley and Lenehan. These two get other people to steal so that they can have money. Corley’s recent lover, a maid, agrees to do this for Corley, and this plan succeeds. This story teaches us many things in all the wrong ways. The title is the first thing. The author probably made the title like that on purpose, to see if we’d notice that these two men’s behavior is definitely not gallant. The second thing is the plan working out. We’d think that the plan wouldn’t work since in most stories, endings always show us to do the right thing. However, in this one, it shows a successful theft so that we can imagine what would happen if everyone did that to earn money. The third thing is the maid accepting to steal just to please her lover. This makes us realize that this relationship is not good, because we shouldn’t do the wrong thing just to please our significant other. By having a woman do that, the author is demonstrating one of the double standards for females. In conclusion, this story lets us realize the motifs and messages on our own, which makes it even more impactful.
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