Counterparts

An extension of the windows motif recurs in descriptions of Farrington’s eyes. Like windows, eyes are reflective surfaces, and they can reveal the psyche within the viewer. Farrington’s eyes reveal the toll The Passage of Time has had on his body and personality. Being bullied by his boss has made him suspicious and addicted to alcohol, both of which are reflected in his eyes. Joyce utilizes irony to convey Farrington’s lack of awareness of his degenerated and aged state. At his proudest moment of the evening when his friends are reveling in his anecdote, the narrator describes the reality of Farrington’s appearance: “Farrington looked at the company out of his heavy dirty eyes, smiling and at times drawing forth stray drops of liquor from his moustache with the aid of his lower lip” (77). This third-person perspective is important, because it undermines the carelessness and joy Farrington carries. It’s also the second time Joyce describes Farrington’s eyes as “dirty,” the first time being at the beginning, which imbues a negative or tainted element to his character consistently throughout the story.

Additionally, since he is slovenly in his appearance, the reader is aware of how he must be perceived by others. When he repeatedly stares at the British actress, Joyce does not need to explain that the man’s gaze is a leer that makes the young woman uncomfortable enough to leave, but it is a logical deduction. Farrington is offended when she does not return his eye contact, when in fact it was his repeated staring that drove her off.

Circular symbols appear throughout the story. Farrington’s eyes are described twice, and his watch is representative of circular time in both a literal and figurative way. By selling his watch, he does not rid himself of the cycle; he trades it in for coins, which Joyce pointedly describes as a “little cylinder” that Farrington gleefully plays with. These coins then feed into Farrington’s drinking habit. The process he and his friends go through of buying “rounds” of drinks for each other emphasizes this symbol and further establishes drinking as the ruling element of his daily cycle. Additionally, as the rounds continue, his coins are depleted, and his financial despair causes him to return to his unpleasant job. Coins, eyes, rounds, and clocks are circular physical symbols that parallel the more abstract circle that is Farrington’s path in life. He lives in a perpetual cycle of repetitive work, drinking at the pub, and returning to his dissatisfying home where he mistreats his family.

In a more abstract way, this motif feeds into ideas about The Passage of Time and cycles of abuse and mistreatment. As themes of a life cycle are present throughout Dubliners, Farrington’s wasting his days walking in a metaphorical circle represents a dismal perspective on how an average man might spend his life. Additionally, the condescension, lack of empathy, and physical overpowering Farrington experiences is then passed onto his son at the end of the day through beratement and physical abuse, showing how this negativity is perpetuated in a cycle.