Alcohol Symbol Analysis

In this story, alcohol is symbolic of Farrington’s desperate need to escape reality, along with the idea that escapism is often more harmful than helpful. Returning to his desk after being told off by Mr. Alleyne, Farrington feels an immediate need to “slake the thirst in his throat […] then he could work.” At this point in the story, is not yet clear whether Farrington craves alcohol or whether he is simply thirsty, though this “thirst” acts as a convenient excuse for him to shirk his work duties and leave the office for the “dark snug interior” of the pub. In this sense, Farrington’s “thirst,” which is really his craving for alcohol, literally pulls him away from his responsibilities, and the “snug[ness]” of the pub is a kind of protection against his work duties. Later in the story, when he has yet again been chastised by Mr. Alleyne, Farrington broods on “the indignities of his life,” and he feels “savage and thirsty and revengeful.” That thirst, of course, is his longing for alcohol, and he “aches for the comfort of the public-house.”

Often, Farrington’s appetite for alcohol goes hand in hand with his tendency to lose himself in fantasy, further suggesting that alcohol symbolizes Farrington’s need for escapism and his deep unhappiness with his life. When he realizes he lacks money to buy drink, he pawns his watch, and—oddly, one might think, for a man who is penniless and nearly out of a job—he feels a sense of “triumph.” While he has manifestly failed at his job, he has succeeded in getting enough money to drink, which bolsters his sense of “triumph” and leads him to create a fantasy in which he confronted Mr. Alleyne triumphantly and “coolly”—which is not at all how it happened in reality. Farrington tells his tall tale because “the sight of the five small hot whiskies was very exhilarating,” and so Joyce explicitly links Farrington’s proclivity for fantasy with his consumption of alcohol. Alcohol therefore symbolizes Farrington’s need to escape from the perceived “indignities” of his life, his misery and poverty.

This need to divorce oneself from reality is, however, portrayed as largely fruitless and even outright destructive. Most conspicuously, Farrington’s “thirst” for alcohol causes his mind to wander and makes it wholly impossible for him to concentrate on his work. Moreover, it is easy to infer that Farrington spends most—if not all—of his money on alcohol, since he is clearly living a hand-to-mouth existence, working from paycheck to paycheck, which is of course why he needs to pawn his watch. When the story ends and Farrington is enraged, unhappy, embarrassed because of he lost the arm-wrestling match, it is clear that he has squandered all of his money on alcohol for nothing. That is to say, his attempts to escape from reality have lead only to anger, poverty, and indignity. By attempting to escape reality, Farrington now feels “humiliated and discontented; he did not even feel drunk; and he had only twopence in his pocket.”