Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Painful Case, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Alienation and Connection
Sexual Repression
Questioning Conventional Morality
Summary
Analysis
Mr. James Duffy lives in a suburb of Dublin called Chapelizod, as far from the city as he can get. His house is gloomy and unadorned with decorations. His home is all black and white in color, with only a hint of red on a rug covering the bed. His possessions are spare and well ordered, with all the books arranged by size. He owns a complete edition of Wordsworth’s poetry as well as the Maynooth Catechism, and he is working on translating the German play Michael Kramer. When opening his desk, it smells faintly of new pencils, a bottle of gum, or “an overripe apple” that has been left in the drawer.
The long, detailed description of Duffy’s home and furnishings give insight into his character. Duffy is portrayed as a loner in his choice to live far from the heart of Dublin. The description of his home as colorless and spare shows Duffy to be austere and orderly, with no room for uncertainty of ambiguity. His books show him to have intellectual tendencies, and The Maynooth Catechism, a book of religious teachings, hints at his conventional morality. There are, however, faint indications of potential for emotion given by the setting: the red rug, the works of the Romantic poet Wordsworth, and the smells issuing from his desk are all subtle symbols for romance or sexual desire. The red apple, in particular, is associated with the biblical forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, which symbolizes temptation. In this case, the fruit has been contained and almost forgotten despite its wafting scent, suggesting that Duffy’s temptations are being similarly repressed.
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Literary Devices
Duffy is very austere and rigid in his personality: He has an abhorrence of any disorder, whether in the physical world or in the realm of ideas. He is middle-aged, with “dry black hair,” “an unamiable mouth,” and cheekbones that give his face “a harsh character.” His eyes appear seem to be looking for the good in people, though he often doesn’t find it. He has a habit of describing himself in his mind the third person, and he lives “at a little distance from his body.” He never gives money to beggars and carries a “stout hazel,” or walking stick.
Duffy’s rigid and controlling personality is reflected in his appearance: his “dry” hair suggests a lack of feeling and passion, while his mouth and cheekbones make him appear unapproachable and severe. Only his eyes show a hint of vulnerability, as his inability to find the good in people suggest that he has become alienated from others through frequent disappointment by them. Duffy’s disconnect from his body and reference to himself the in the third person underscores his implied repressed sexuality, as this description suggests that he compartmentalizes his intellectuality from his physicality. His practice of referring to himself in the third person shows that he is alienated and distant from himself as well as others. This alienation and skepticism of people has rendered him guarded and unsympathetic.
Themes
Duffy keeps very regular habits and socializes little. He works as a bank cashier and eats in the same restaurant every day. He spends his evening playing his landlady’s piano, wandering the city alone, or attending concerts. He doesn’t have any friends, and he does not attend church services except for Christmas and relatives’ funerals. He lives out his days without adventure, though he occasionally thinks that he might rob a bank if the right circumstances ever came up.
Like Duffy’s home, his habits are very ordered: he does the same things every day in a very routine way. Moreover, his life is very solitary. His job as a cashier requires only formal interactions with the public, and he spends his free time alone or attending events where he is not expected to socialize. He is even disconnected from friends and family, only doing what is expected to honor religious observances, which suggests that he is concerned with upholding an image of propriety despite being alienated from others. However, his fantasy about robbing a bank suggests that he at least entertains the possibility of change and foreshadows his willingness to defy social conventions.
Themes
One night at a concert he unexpectedly meets a lady. She comments on the small size of the audience, noting that it’s unfortunate for the performers to have to sing to empty seats. They begin to chat, and Duffy is surprised by her lack of awkwardness. Since she is there with her daughter, Duffy judges that she is middle-aged. He observes her appearance, speculating that in her younger days, she was beautiful, though now she appears intelligent, with eyes that have “a defiant note” and show a “temperament of great sensibility.”
Mrs. Sinico is portrayed as emotional and sensitive by her first comment to Duffy in which she expresses concern for the performers, a contrast to Duffy’s own unsympathetic mindset toward other people. She also comes across as spontaneous and unconcerned with social norms in her easy manner of striking up a conversation with Duffy. Given the subtle implications that Duffy himself is yearning to break with convention, the reader can infer that Duffy’s interactions with the “defiant” and carefree Mrs. Sinico may spur him to do just that.
Themes
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They meet again a few weeks later at another concert, and when her daughter is distracted, Duffy takes the opportunity to get to know her better. He learns that her name is Mrs. Sinico and that she is married to a ship’s captain. They meet again accidentally, at which point Duffy is brave enough to ask her to meet him intentionally, and then they begin to meet regularly. At first, they meet in quiet places, but Duffy soon insists on coming to Mrs. Sinico’s house because he dislikes deception. Captain Sinico is not prompted to jealousy, however, since he no longer sees his wife as sexually appealing and assumes instead that Duffy is interested in courting the couple’s daughter.
Another meeting gives Duffy a chance to deepen his connection to Mrs. Sinico. Doing so when her daughter is not paying attention shows that he is aware he is crossing a line in socializing with a married woman. However, Duffy’s rigid morality requires that they meet openly, at Mrs. Sinico’s home. This arrangement works since Captain Sinico is often away. Moreover, he and his wife are emotionally and sexually distant, so when he is home, he is not jealous. Captain Sinico represents the social conventions of the time that value women for their youth and beauty, as shown by his disinterest in his middle-aged wife and his assumption that Duffy would want to court his young daughter instead. His disinterest in his wife paves the way for Duffy and Mrs. Sinico’s deepening bond. She is alienated from male affection, and she is finding in Duffy what she does not get from her husband.
Themes
Duffy and Mrs. Sinico’s intimacy grows. Duffy lets her into his world: they “entangle” their thoughts together as Duffy lends Mrs. Sinico books and she listens to him as a mother would. She is also likened to “his confessor,” or a Catholic priest listening to a parishioner confess their sins. He tells her that he had formerly been involved in an Irish Socialist Party but had stopped attending meetings because he felt the workmen focused too much on wages, and so their discussions were too timid for his taste. Moreover, he declines to publish his political views because he thinks of other writers as unoriginal and pandering to the ignorant middle class.
Duffy and Mrs. Sinico’s intimacy grows, as shown by the imagery of their thoughts being “entangled,” as if their minds are vines or threads wrapping around each other. Despite this intimacy, their relationship is described in distinctly nonsexual terms, as Mrs. Sinico takes on a maternal role for Duffy and is even compared to his priest. Like someone in confession, Duffy can say anything to her, but there is still a proper decorum between them. Though Duffy reveals his interest in politics, he lacks sympathy for the workmen who were interested in bread-and-butter issues like wages. He sees them as cowardly for not taking a broader view of social change. His egotistical view of himself is further shown by his judgmental dismissing of political discourse of the time.
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Literary Devices
They continue to meet in private as their connection deepens. Mrs. Sinico has a softening influence on Duffy and makes him feel more in touch with his emotions. Her attention helped him to develop and open up: “Her companionship was life a warm soil about an exotic.” Duffy feels like “exalted” in her presence, as if she sees him as something superhuman.
Gender norms of this time tended to portray men as more rational and women as more emotional, so they balanced each other out. Mrs. Sinico embodies her prescribed feminine role in her relationship with Duffy. Describing Duffy as an “exotic” plant shows how different he is from most of Dublin society, but in Mrs. Sinico’s attention, he has found the “warm soil” that allows him to grow and flourish. She makes him feel like a better man, almost spiritually elevated, even god-like.
Themes
However, one night while Duffy describes philosophically how people are inevitably alone and isolated, Mrs. Sinico does something that surprises him. She takes his hand and presses it “passionately […] to her cheek.” This gesture unsettles Duffy because he’s troubled by the way that she interpreted what he was saying. He cuts off contact for a week, then meets again—this time in public—to break off the friendship completely. Mrs. Sinico is upset and trembling, but Duffy, afraid that she will grow emotional again, leaves quickly. She mails his books and music back.
Duffy’s intellectual theories can be fully expressed in Mrs. Sinico’s presence due to her care and concern for him. Despite Duffy’s notion that loneliness is part of the human condition, Mrs. Sinico’s gesture of placing his hand on her cheek could be her way of letting him know that he is not really alone—she is there for him. However, he interprets this act as a sexual advance. Given Duffy’s strict morality and disconnection from sexuality, it makes sense that he would interpret an innocent gesture in this way and abruptly end the relationship. Mrs. Sinico’s distress is visible, foreshadowing her unhappiness once Duffy is out of her life.
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Literary Devices
Four years go by, and Duffy returns to his regular habits. He has taken to reading Nietzsche, but seldom writes himself anymore. He does write a few brief lines on the impossibility of true friendship between men and women due to sexual attraction. He avoids concerts for fear of seeing Mrs. Sinico. One night while eating dinner, he comes across an article in the newspaper that gives him pause. He reads it with attention and then stops eating, pushing his food away. He leaves the restaurant and walks back to his home, struggling to breathe normally. Upon arriving home, he reads the article again.
Years after cutting of contact with Mrs. Sinico, Duffy’s life has returned to what it was, except that he takes steps to avoid encountering her. The detail of his reading Nietzsche shows his return to a more abstract, philosophical way of life in which he explores ideas privately rather than having intellectual dialogues. This allusion also represents the theme of moral ambiguity in the story, since Nietzsche’s work questions the existence of absolute morality. Duffy has been reflecting on the ethics of his choice to cut off Mrs. Sinico due to her perceived sexual overture, but at this point he feels justified in his action. Joyce builds suspense by not revealing the content of the article Duffy reads, instead showing how profoundly it affects Duffy.
Themes
Entitled “Death of a Lady at Sydney Parade: A Painful Case,” the article describes Mrs. Sinico’s death in a train accident. She was trying to cross the tracks but was struck by a slow train, injuring her head and right side. The article includes testimony from the engine driver and porter describing the incident. A doctor who examined the body found head, shoulder, and rib injuries that wouldn’t normally be enough to kill a person. Instead, the doctor thought that her death came from shock and heart failure. A railway official relates that Mrs. Sinico had often crossed the tracks late at night, and Mary Sinico said that her mother had started to drink at night, going out to buy alcohol. The article ends with the sentence: “No blame attached to anyone.”
Just as Duffy met Mrs. Sinico by chance at the opera, he reads about her death by chance in the newspaper. The details are given in a matter-of-fact, journalistic style that is distant and dispassionate, with testimony from various individuals who could shed some light on it. The doctor’s statement about heart failure takes on a symbolic meaning: perhaps Mrs. Sinico died of a broken heart brought on by her split with Duffy that prompted her decline into alcohol abuse. The parallel of the titles—the article and short story are both called “A Painful Case”—suggests that while the newspaper gives the superficial, public account of Mrs. Sinico’s death and finds that no one was to blame, there is in fact much more to the story.
Themes
Literary Devices
At first, Duffy reacts to the news of Mrs. Sinico’s death with revulsion and moral condemnation. He is horrified by the thought that he confided his deepest thoughts and beliefs in her. He sees her and his associations with her as debased and shameful. He thinks of her unsavory drinking habit, which reminds him of drunkards in pubs. His thoughts are emphatic: “What an end!” “His soul’s companion!” “But that she could have sunk so low!”
The rest of the story shows Duffy’s gradual reaction to the news of Mrs. Sinico’s death. His first thoughts are very judgmental. True to form, Duffy imposes a strict moral framework on the news of Mrs. Sinico’s descent. The language used to describe his thoughts is intense and condemnatory, which Joyce further emphasizes through his use of exclamation points.
Themes
Literary Devices
Duffy then pauses and reflects, feeling a nervous shock. He quickly leaves his home and goes to a pub, where he orders a drink. There is a small group of workmen also drinking there, but Duffy barely notices them. They leave, and he sits alone, ordering another drink. He continues reflecting on Mrs. Sinico’s death. He questions whether or not he could have pursued a relationship with her. He asks himself if he were to blame. He realizes that she must have been very lonely after they parted and thinks to himself that his remaining days would be lonely as well. Duffy leaves the pub, going out into the chilly, overcast night to the park, entering it and walking under barren trees and through deserted alleys.
Duffy’s feelings shift abruptly, so much so that he has to leave his home and go get a drink. He is in his head, not even noticing the other bar patrons, intensely reflecting on Mrs. Sinico’s death. Despite the newspaper article’s flat statement of no blame assigned to anyone, he begins to blame himself. He does so because he is developing some empathy for Mrs. Sinico, imagining how lonely she must have been after he ended their relationship. He applies this realization to himself, thinking of his future life to be lived alone and eventually forgotten. The bleak and somber setting of the city streets reflects Duffy’s emotional state in the wake of these depressing insights.
Themes
As Duffy walks in the park, he imagines that Mrs. Sinico is near him, even imagining hearing her voice and feeling the touch of her hand. He thinks to himself: “Why had he sentenced her to death?” These thoughts seem to destroy his certainty in his own morality. He walks up a hill and looks out over Dublin. He sees some people lying together, presumably having a sexual encounter. This sight disturbs him, and he feels that he has been “outcast” from the enjoyable aspects of life. He takes on blame for Mrs. Sinico’s death, believing that he he doomed her to an embarrassing, shameful end. He sees a train come by and imagines the sound of its engine resounding Mrs. Sinico’s name. As the train passes into the distance, Duffy begins to doubt his memories, and loses his connection with Mrs. Sinico. The night is utterly quiet and Duffy feels that he is alone.
Duffy walks to a city park, his imaginative connection to Mrs. Sinico growing to the point that she almost seems physically present to him. He takes on the blame for her death, feeling he “sentenced” her to it as if he were a judge imposing a criminal sentence. His once rigid and certain moral code shatters. Seeing people having a sexual liaison and then feeling “outcast” from life reinforces Duffy’s ongoing sexual repression and seems to spark an epiphany within him. Duffy’s sexual shame and panic led not only to Mrs. Sinico’s tragic death, but to the death of any possibility of love and connection for him. He is so strongly connected in his mind to his former companion that he imagines her name in the sound of a train. However, as it rumbles away, he is left alone.
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