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Street Names
“Two Gallants” includes several references to iconic Dublin landmarks such as Trinity College and Merrion Square. However, these are not the only Dublin features that Joyce mentions. The events of “Two Gallants” occur as Lenehan and Corley walk through the streets of Dublin. Joyce repeatedly draws our attention to street names for the duration of the story. As a result, it is possible to map out first Lenehan and Corley’s and then just Lenehan’s exact route through Dublin. It is important to note that the various street names that Joyce mentions throughout the story (Westmorland Street, Grafton Street, Nassau Street, Kildare Street, Great George’s Street, and Capel Street) are all real Dublin street names.
Joyce’s repeated emphasis on street names may seem inconsequential at first, but a deeper look into the text reveals their symbolic importance to the narrative as a whole. To begin with, the repeated mentions of real Dublin street names have the same function as the repeated mentions of real Dublin landmarks: it enmeshes the reader in the city of Dublin and makes it impossible for the reader to imagine the short story being set anywhere else. Furthermore, the use of real street names makes it possible to examine the characters’ route on a map. As a result, readers are able to determine that the two men took a meandering walk through Dublin, filled with zigzagging and doubling-back to retrace parts of the journey. Their nonlinear path represents Lenehan and Corley’s lack of direction in their meaningless lives.
The Moon
There are two separate instances during the events of “Two Gallants” in which Lenehan stops paying attention to the conversation that he is having with Corley to look up at the moon. The first time that Lenehan turns his gaze to the heavens, he notices that the moon is “large” but “faint” and has a “double halo.” He then watches as thin clouds, which he refers to as a “grey web of twilight,” pass across the moon’s face. The second time that Lenehan looks up, he notices that the “pale” moon has now been almost completely obscured by the clouds.
Lenehan’s repeated contemplation of the moon is significant for two different but related reasons. To begin with, the moon is frequently used in literature to symbolize innocence, purity, and divinity. Joyce contributes to this tradition by describing the moon’s light as a halo which effectively surrounds the moon with heavenly and angelic iconography. However, the moon’s light is “faint” as opposed to strong and it is being “veiled” by clouds that effectively conceal the moon from the people below. This suggests that Lenehan and Corley’s actions have caused them to fall from grace. The moon motif is also significant because it contributes to a wider emphasis on nighttime and darkness that is prominent throughout Dubliners. Many Dubliners short stories, such as “Araby” and “A Painful Case,” link darkness with truth. Within the context of “Two Gallants,” the late-night setting and the obscured moon imply that Lenehan’s participation in Corley’s scheme is an indication of his true nature, even if he wishes he could live a different, more stable life.
