“Two Gallants” takes place on the streets of Dublin, Ireland. Most of the story is set outdoors as the two main characters talk to each other while meandering through the city. Joyce pays close attention to the geography—naming actual streets in Dublin like Dame, George’s, and Westmoreland, along with historical sites like Rutland Square.
The story is set in the early 1900s, which means that Ireland was still under the colonial rule of England. The Irish independence movement had recently lost some of its political power after the social ruin and death of the Nationalist Party leader Charles Stewart Parnell in 1891. Joyce wrote and published this story in a particularly pessimistic moment between Parnell’s demise and the eventual victory of the Irish independence movement in 1922.
Like other colonized nations, Ireland struggled with the consequences of being governed from abroad, such as exploitation and widespread poverty. Joyce captures these realities in the story by having both Corley and Lenehan struggle with earning incomes despite the fact that they come from well-off families. Beyond financial struggles, the men also face psychological challenges—they aimlessly wander the streets because they have nowhere to go and have no meaning in their lives. Here Joyce is again trying to capture the alienation and disillusionment felt by Irish youth during the final years of England’s colonial rule.
