In “An Encounter,” Mahony acts as a foil to the narrator, meaning that his presence reveals important qualities and characteristics of the narrator (the story’s protagonist). In particular, when juxtaposed with his brave and emotionally stable friend, the narrator appears more sensitive, anxious, and psychologically burdened. This comes across in passages like the following, which takes place when the strange old man is masturbating by the side of the road:
After a silence of a few minutes I heard Mahony exclaim:
– I say! Look what he’s doing!
As I neither answered nor raised my eyes Mahony exclaimed again:
– I say … He’s a queer old josser!
– In case he asks us for our names, I said, let you be Murphy and I’ll be Smith.
We said nothing further to each other. I was still considering whether I would go away or not when the man came back and sat down beside us again.
This passage demonstrates some key differences between the narrator and Mahony. For one, Mahony does not appear to feel squeamish or shameful with an old man masturbating near them—he simply shouts, “Look what he’s doing!” and “He’s a queer old josser!” (“Josser” is a derogatory way to refer to an old man.) Meanwhile, the narrator is clearly upset and nervous about this turn of events. He “neither answered nor raised [his] eyes” (a sign of shame) and, when he does talk, comes up with code names for himself and his friend (a sign that he is fixating on the threat the man poses rather than the humor of the scene).
Because Mahony is not threatened by the old man, he easily walks away to chase a cat, while the narrator stays stuck to the spot. Ultimately, the narrator does run away, and Mahony comes to his rescue, “as if to bring him aid.” This moment highlights how Mahony ends up being the hero in the narrator’s story, displacing him from the position he wanted so badly, and leaving him disappointed in himself.
