Throughout “A Little Cloud,” Joyce uses the word “little” to describe people and things, forming a motif. This is most obvious in the title of the story as well as in the main character’s nickname “Little Chandler,” which is used for him throughout the story as if it were his given name. Not including the protagonist’s name, Joyce uses the word "little" 15 more times over the course of the 15-page story, suggesting its significance as a motif.
The following passage—that comes when Little Chandler asks Gallaher about his travels throughout Europe—demonstrates the density of Joyce’s use of the word:
– Have you seen Paris?
– I should think I have! I’ve knocked about there a little.
– And is it really so beautiful as they say? asked Little Chandler. He sipped a little of his drink while Gallaher finished his boldly.
Here, Gallaher’s statement that he has explored Paris “a little” leads to Little Chandler sipping “a little” of his drink (which comes after he has told Gallaher earlier in the scene that he usually “drinks very little”). All of these uses of the word combine to help readers understand that Chandler does not see himself (and the world does not view him) as very significant. “Little” as an adjective can be a mere descriptor but, in this story, is meant to be actively belittling. Chandler is 32 years old and yet is still referred to as a “little man,” the exact phrase that his wife Annie uses to refer to their son at the end of the story as she rocks him in her arms.
Through this linguistic motif, Joyce communicates that Little Chandler has not become the mature, successful man that he wishes he could be. This is not only because others see him as small (or inferior), but because he sees himself that way. In this way, he resigns himself to his own arrested development.
