Two Gallants (from Dubliners), written by James Joyce, is a wonderful short story about two men, named Corely and Lenehan, as they approach the difficulties of life and try to dodge the harshness of reality. The two both started off their early years as members of the upper class, with a relatively nice upbringing and education. However, during the time of the story, both men are broke and jobless. Corley, a snoopy man with an eye for women, relied on his girlfriends to give him small gifts / amounts of money to survive. Lenehan, a leech, as people called him, has an unstable job though he had a higher class upbringing. He had no home and mooched off others’ work. The story revolves around these two men, as Corley goes off to meet with his girlfriend and Lenehan waits for him to come back and show him what he managed to get. This short story accurately describes the financial, spiritual, female-related, and societal problems of older Ireland, as well as the broken relations with Great Britain. During that time, some Irish people wished to break free from Great Britain, and this caused financial and societal problems that ended up affecting the lives of residents. In Two Gallants, James Joyce expresses the harshness of life and the reality of the living world.
Society is not a dream world. It is full of flaws and does not support everyone’s needs. Society does not always give you everything you need. Someday, it will corrupt and leave you in the dust. In Two Gallants, the Irish society has corrupted and already made life hard for the residents of the country. The two main characters, Lenehan and Corley, have already had their lives affected by the corrosion with the level of their current lives. The two, though both with healthy upbringings, are both currently either jobless or with an unstable job, unstable income, an unstable home, and no family members to turn towards. The biggest problem with the corrosion of Irish society is that the government is what is causing the problems, and the people affected could also affect others. The weak Irish government system that had only been getting weaker has no control over the split country (the Irish independence era) and with the political controversy at the highest point, the Irish society, bombarded with the instability, corrupted and left the Irish people fighting for revival. When a government is weak, the society is always weaker. When the government fails, the society just corrupts and disappears.
Though money may not be everything, it is still a main part of everything, because it is what allows you to access almost everything. Correct, money cannot buy happiness, or love, or whatever. But, it is still quite important because almost everything in your house, the paper, food, water, requires money. Corley and Lenehan are also in desperate need of financial assistance in Two Gallants. They are struggling to make ends meet, and are living off other people to get money for food. Lenehan started out as a member of a higher class family. He acts tough, but is actually gentle, showing his sophisticated upbringing. Now, however, he is jobless, has no home, and is a leech, mooching off other people’s work. He does not support himself, but rather, other people do. Corley, on the other hand, started out relatively good, Maybe worse than Lenhan, but still in a respectable manner. Now, Corley is living off the gifts that his girlfriend brings him, and cannot earn income himself. The savior for both men would have been to find income, but the corrosion of the society has made it hard on everyone to get a livelihood. Both men’s current situation shows how the corrosion of Irish society impacted all negatively. Money, money. It is the most wanted thing in the world, yet also the rarest thing in the world for many. Money doesn’t fall from trees. You earn it with hard work. And when there is no work, you get none.
Being able to belong somewhere is hard. But it is a necessary hardship that everyone must overcome. Being able to belong somewhere in society is not necessarily easy peasy for everyone. Sure, some people have an easier time than others. But the spirit, the feeling of belonging is so important that everyone must somehow find their own way to get over it. In the short story of Two Gallants, both Corley and Lenehan are working to belong somewhere in society. Neither of them have a job, so they cannot belong to the air of a company. Neither of them have close family, so they cannot belong to that either. The harsh truth is, right now, they belong to only themselves, and that must change. The spiritual issue of the current Irish society that Lenehan and Corley are living in is that nobody has a sense of belonging. Everybody goes their own way, saying hello and bye for politeness. The betrayal throughout the story also highlights the problem of no sense of belonging. Corley and Lenehab, both broke, have to rely on others, and the others will start to doubt them. Corley ends up using the maid in order to get money, has no respect or love for her, and is afraid of Lenehan leaving/betraying him. Lenehan is also worried about Corley betraying him. The maid, expected to be honest and work diligently to provide for her family, steals from her employer. The lack and individuality and rights is what may have caused the issue. With no sense of belonging for either one of the three, Corley and Lenehan end up committing acts that would not have been committed had they been grounded by friends or family. The sense of belonging isn't just important because it feels good. It is important because it can show you life from new eyes, from a new perspective.
Two Gallants (from Dubliners) truly tells, among the story of two men, the harsh realities of life, especially for the citizens of a corrupted Ireland, government, society, and all. The protection that Ireland directly needs from Great Britain / England and the conflicts that raged between them all make life in Ireland harder for all. The themes of a corrupted society and government, financial corruption, and spiritual problems are all explored in this book. James Joyce writes an important tale with the themes and lessons of life that everyone will learn either sooner or later. With Ireland and Great Britain at a dispute more than ever, innocent residents, like Corley and Lenehan, have their lives affected directly and negatively. It is harder to find a livelihood, and even harder to gain a life. In Two Gallants, life is looked at in a new perspective, making the realities of it true and bland.
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