Dubliners - "An Encounter" (Story 2 of 15)

[Chris OConnor]

Dubliners - "An Encounter" (Story 2 of 15)

Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences.

[DWill]

This is the second of the three stories that each have an unnamed male narrator of approximately the same age. They're also the only stories in the book written in the first person. Joyce followed a rough "ages of man" progression in the book, the characters becoming older (if not more mature) as we go forward. I suppose one issue that comes up as we begin to meet more characters and see the nature of their lives, is to what extent their experience is universal vs. conditioned by the the particular environment of Dublin, for which city James appears to have had few sentimental feelings.

We spoke of creepiness in "The Sisters," but while that sense is there, I don't necessarily see the old priest as creepy. I'm undecided, at least, whether to find him repulsive or sympathetic. He went bonkers toward the end; maybe bonkers is a rational response to the absurd features of the theology in which he had to profess belief. The main adult in "An Encounter" is a more unambiguous type. Now this guy, he's creepy.

I've seen enough already in the stories to understand why Joyce is considered a prose master. I don't know how anyone could handle our language much better.

[geo]

This is another story that reminds me of someone else—in this case Twain of course. We got two kids playing hookey and meeting up with various strange characters. Seems like a chapter right out of Huckleberry Finn. Indeed, Twain wrote Huck Finn in 1884, a mere 27-28 years before Joyce wrote DUBLINERS. I would think Joyce had to be familiar with it.

But yeah, this bloke—"a queer old josser"—is a creepy sort indeed. Wants to whip little boys.

He said that when boys were that kind they ought to be whipped and well whipped. When a boy was rough and unruly there was nothing would do him any good but a good sound whipping. A slap on the hand or a box on the ear was no good: what he wanted was to get a nice warm whipping. I was surprised at this sentiment and involuntarily glanced up at his face. As I did so I met the gaze of a pair of bottle-green eyes peering at me from under a twitching forehead. I turned my eyes away again.

This story was creepy and funny at the same time. At the end of the story, our boy narrator yells for his friend in a near panic, but keeps his head enough to call him by the fake name they had come up with earlier (Murphy). I'm not sure of the significance of the boy's introspection that he took comfort in the other's presence despite the fact that he'd always "despised him a little." Each of these stories is supposed to have an epiphany, and this is the epiphany for "An Encounter."

[DWill]

I can picture Joe Dillon as Tom Sawyer, the big talker who can't get out of the clutches of his mother for the big adventure, and the narrator as a sort of Huck Finn, who doesn't really go in that much for the fantasy. He feels a real need to experience something beyond the limit of his daily life, and to that end he enlists his two friends to take the big risk of ditching school and traveling to the exotic Pigeon House.

The story seems to turn on a few subtle distinctions between the narrator and other boys. We can see that Mahony isn't the thoughtful type; he has no qualms about using Dillon's sixpence while the narrator isn't sure what to do with it, and he's still into young boy things like making war on other kids and chasing cats. The narrator had other hopes for the day, but they aren't realized; in fact, though there seems to be some promise in watching the activity at the quay and thinking about the ships headed for distant ports, the whole day comes crashing down when the man who seemed interesting at first turns out to be a pervert and there is no time to reach the destination.

So the narrator doubtlessly feels thwarted. The question in my mind is whether we are to see this as a universal experience, or whether we're supposed to see some malign influence of Dublin casting a blight over the young life of the narrator. I can't see this myself, but it appears to be a standard interpretation of the story. The narrator's realization at the end that he has despised Mahony wouldn't seem to be much of an epiphany, but I think you're right, geo, that it is one, because it might crystallize for him just how different he is from the others.

[President Camacho]

Alright. I don't want to sound like a broken record... but I think the guy had sex with a cat and/or masturbated in front of some little kids. Other than that, he just liked to whip little boys because they are so naughty and need a spanking. Nothing wrong with that, right? hahahaha WOW!

Dwill, glad you brought up Tom Sawyer. I also had the image in my mind - the only difference is the vocabulary. Joyce does it in the previous story also. The first story had me wondering about the boy's age but in this story it's so completely out of place.... way too educated for a young child I would think...

The green eyes also got me. There has to be something to that. It appears twice in the story.

I think the lesson for me is: Prepare to be an Indian. Prepare to get raped.

[Saffron]

I first read Dubliners about a year or so ago. At that time when I read this story, it crossed my mind that maybe the old guy intentionally scares the boy as a sort of warning/punishment for their truancy. Reading this time I felt less sure that this might be a possibility. Anyone else have this thought or thing it plausible?

[DWill]

Alright. I don't want to sound like a broken record... but I think the guy had sex with a cat and/or masturbated in front of some little kids. Other than that, he just liked to whip little boys because they are so naughty and need a spanking. Nothing wrong with that, right? hahahaha WOW!

Dwill, glad you brought up Tom Sawyer. I also had the image in my mind - the only difference is the vocabulary. Joyce does it in the previous story also. The first story had me wondering about the boy's age but in this story it's so completely out of place.... way too educated for a young child I would think...

The green eyes also got me. There has to be something to that. It appears twice in the story.

I think the lesson for me is: Prepare to be an Indian. Prepare to get raped.

Geo first made the Twain comparison.
It could be that the man with the cane excused himself to masturbate. Mahony probably wouldn't have called him a queer old josser otherwise. That's true about the language. The difference might be that here we have a mature person looking back on his experience and talking about it in a way he wouldn't have been able to as a 12-year-old. With Huck Finn you feel that Twain stays in the moment with the character, so there's no sense of "looking back at it now" vs. the actual experience of the events. Joyce said he wrote Dubliners in an attitude of "scrupulous meanness," but so far we don't see that reflected in the language. As you say, the language is more educated and literary than we'd expect if naturalism were Joyce's goal here. I think that in these early stories of childhood there is some nostalgia (in An Encounter and Araby if not in The Sisters).

You're right, the green eyes have to mean something. Green eyes are uncommon, right? The boy has an idea that sailors have green eyes. Is that because they are exotic, romantic figures, the kind that the boy is seeking on his adventure? When the queer old josser (q.o.j.) turns to him and shows him green eyes, it's like a perversion of the boy's fantasy and perhaps a cruel reminder of the futility of trying to find anything inspiring in the grimy and grim world of Dublin.

[DWill]

I first read Dubliners about a year or so ago. At that time when I read this story, it crossed my mind that maybe the old guy intentionally scares the boy as a sort of warning/punishment for their truancy. Reading this time I felt less sure that this might be a possibility. Anyone else have this thought or thing it plausible?

I didn't have that thought. It's plausible, though. But looking at it in the most unpleasant way, if the q.o.j. did get up and excuse himself to masturbate, when he returns his thoughts have turned away from the sexual to his other go-to, the sadistic. In that interpretation, it's his jollies he's concerned with, not the truancy of the boys.

[geo]

My Penguin edition has a footnote for the green eyes reference: Possibly an allusion in this context of seafaring and adventure to the medieval tradition that Ulysses, the hero of Homer's Odyssey was said to have green eyes.

This is a sort of epic adventure in miniature for the kids. It seemed to me they traveled fairly far from home. I wonder if the creepy guy could be seen as one of the monsters in the Odyssey.

Saffron, it didn't occur to me that this character was trying to scare the kids for truancy, but from a kid's perspective, the experience might have been made more intense by their feeling of guilt. I still think Joyce is trying for humor here, and he makes the creepy guy a bit over the top. The kids are frightened out of their wits. I'll bet they won't play hookey again.

[Saffron]

My Penguin edition has a footnote for the green eyes reference: Possibly an allusion in this context of seafaring and adventure to the medieval tradition that Ulysses, the hero of Homer's Odyssey was said to have green eyes.

This is a sort of epic adventure in miniature for the kids. It seemed to me they traveled fairly far from home. I wonder if the creepy guy could be seen as one of the monsters in the Odyssey.

I definitely thought about the story as a grand adventure. I really like the comparison to the Odyssey and yes, I can so see the old guy as a monster from the Odyssey.