A Painful Case

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"A Painful Case" is a short story by James Joyce published in his 1914 collection Dubliners.

[edit] The story

Mr. Duffy, a bank cashier, deliberately lives in an isolated suburb of Dublin. He is characterized as very meticulous and ordered and has little social contact. At a concert one night. Mr. Duffy makes the acquaintance of Mrs. Sinico, a married mother who is his age. They start up a relationship that is innocent enough to be known and allowed by Mrs. Sinico’s husband, who is frequently away. The two draw closer together, and one night Mrs. Sinico impulsively takes his hand, but Mr. Duffy is not pleased at the development and ends their meetings. Four years later, he reads that Mrs. Sinico has been struck by a train and killed. The newspaper article, the title of which provides the title of the story, contains an account by her husband, who states that she began drinking two years ago. The details of the accident suggest that she may have committed suicide. He first reacts with revulsion, concluding that some inherent weakness led to her drinking and the accident, but he slowly realizes that not only did he condemn her to loneliness and death by his rejection, but he has also denied himself the possibility of intimacy and love.

[edit] References

• Joyce, James. Dubliners (London: Grant Richards, 1914)

James Joyce's Dubliners
The Sisters | An Encounter | Araby | Eveline | After the Race | Two Gallants | The Boarding House | A Little Cloud | Counterparts | Clay | A Painful Case | Ivy Day in the Committee Room | A Mother | Grace | The Dead