payment page
The Window
“A Little Cloud” opens with a familiar image in Dubliners: the protagonist gazing out of a window. The story begins with Little Chandler sitting at his desk at the King’s Inns where he does his clerical work. He is, however, distracted by his impending meeting with Gallaher, so he stares out the window and takes in the activity of the Dublin streets instead of working. He notes the beauty of the late autumn sunset and watches the bustling crowds. The act of people watching makes Little Chandler contemplate life, which makes him feel melancholy.
Windows in Dubliners consistently evoke the anticipation of events or encounters that are about to happen. This is certainly the case for Little Chandler—he looks out the window as he waits for the appropriate time to go meet Gallaher. Windows also mark the threshold between a domestic space and the outside world, and through them the characters in Dubliners observe their own lives as well as the lives of others. In the case of Little Chandler, his voyeuristic gaze out of his office window anticipates the scrutiny that he will soon apply to Gallaher and his adventurous life. Little Chandler is envious of Gallaher and wishes he had the courage to follow in his footsteps. Instead, he lives vicariously through Gallaher’s experiences and he listens to Gallaher’s stories the way one watches through a window: at arm's length and with no intent to participate.
The Blouse
At the very end of “A Little Cloud,” Little Chandler looks at a picture of his wife, Annie, wearing a blue summer blouse. Little Chandler recalls how embarrassed he had been in the women’s clothing store and how pleased Annie had been when he gifted the blouse to her. He then remembers how her glee morphed into anger when she learned how much he had spent. She did, however, kiss him and decide to keep the blouse after she tried it on. However, Little Chandler is not pleased when he looks at the picture, despite Annie’s pretty looks and her decision to accept his gift, and he remarks that Annie looks cold-hearted.
The blouse symbolizes Little Chandler’s failed attempt to embrace marriage and the domestic sphere in general. He started out with good intentions when he purchased the blouse but those good intentions became engulfed by resentment on both sides until the nice gesture was tainted beyond repair. The blouse ordeal, then, serves as a symbolic microcosm for Little Chandler’s attempt at being a family man. He married Annie and started a family with her because he felt that it was the right and proper thing to do. However, marriage life has clearly not gone the way either of them had hoped. Instead of living happily together, Little Chandler and Annie have trapped themselves in their “little house” with no socially acceptable chance of escape. Joyce uses the blouse story to symbolically represent how damaging it can be for people to enter the domestic sphere out of obligation as opposed to sentiment.
