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The maid is the only character in “Two Gallants” who is kept at a distance, narratively speaking. The reader never learns her name and she does not speak even once throughout the story. The male characters leer at her and talk about her, but Joyce never gives her a chance to introduce herself to the reader on her own terms. As a result, the reader is forced to make assumptions about the “Two Gallants”’s elusive heroine. We do not know, for example, why she decides to steal for Corley. We do not know her hopes or her wishes for the future. We do not know if she resents her employer and does not mind lifting his purse or if she was simply coerced into doing what she knows is wrong. The second option, however, is more likely because she does not appear to get any compensation out of the arrangement. The ambiguity surrounding the maid is effective because Joyce essentially forces the reader to engage in the gendered gossip and slander that the male characters participate in throughout the text. As a result, Joyce calls attention to the plight of women in a society that does not value or understand them.
