Ivy Leaf Symbol Analysis

Many of the story’s characters wear an ivy leaf pin on their lapel to commemorate the late Nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell. While these ivy leaves are meant to show respect for Parnell, the men’s behavior and opinions would shame their late leader; the ivy leaf, therefore, represents the disconnect between empty symbolism and the true spirit of a political cause.

Readers first encounter the leaf in the lapel of Mat O’Connor, a canvasser who is smoking inside the party’s headquarters instead of canvassing for the Nationalist candidate. As he warms himself by the dying fire, lighting his cigarette with the campaign flyer he has been paid to distribute, “the flame [lights] up a leaf of dark glossy ivy in the lapel of his coat.” Joyce makes an extreme juxtaposition here between O’Connor’s egregious political apathy and the ivy leaf symbol, which ought to remind him of the urgent political work Parnell left undone.

This sense of the men paying empty tribute to Parnell pervades the story. While they wear Parnell’s pin—supposedly to honor him—they do very little to advance the causes he cares about. Instead, they squabble amongst themselves, drink stout, and inadvertently reveal the depths of their party’s dysfunction and corruption. The biggest betrayal of Parnell’s legacy is that the Nationalist candidate, Richard Tierney, is apparently planning a welcome address for the British monarch Edward VII; this would have been odious to Parnell, who devoted his life to advocating for Ireland’s independence from England. The only protest of Tierney’s behavior, however, is weak and shallow; Hynes points to his ivy leaf pin, saying “if this man was alive […] we’d have no talk of an address of welcome.” Then the topic of conversation shifts. Clearly, wearing the ivy leaf pin does not indicate a real commitment to honoring Parnell—it’s an empty gesture that covers up the men’s apathy and spinelessness.

It’s noteworthy that the story never names Parnell until the last word. The ivy leaf stands in for him, and the men—instead of naming him—use vague euphemisms, such as “this man,” “the Chief,” and “our Uncrowned King.” That the ivy leaf and these epithets stand in for Parnell, while his name and his values remain conspicuously absent, shows the men’s refusal to grapple with Parnell beyond empty symbolism. They cannot speak his name, advocate for his cause, or evaluate his legacy—instead, they use the empty symbolism of the ivy leaf pin as a way to pretend to honor Parnell without taking him or his values seriously.