“My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis.”

James Joyce discussed impulses of human nature, disdain for the Roman Catholic Church, and Dublin’s power structure. Dublin embodies paralysis and despair due to the corruption and immoral actions of its inhabitants. Joyce’s statement of paralysis in Dublin applies to A Painful Case because of the fall of man, internal conflict, and alcoholism in Dublin. The story of Mr. Duffy and Mrs. Sinico represents fear and limited conditions of love. After meeting at a Mozart concert and arranging appointments to meet, they eventually occupied Mrs. Sinico’s empty home for Mr. Duffy to share his ideas with her.  He “entangled” his thoughts with hers and lent her books thinking he would help enlighten her but in reality, she was not very interested in talking. With one daughter and an absent husband, Mrs. Sinico sought out a passionate relationship with Mr. Duffy. Mrs. Sinicio’s loveless marriage is a state of paralysis because spouses are supposed to cherish and support one another, and instead, her husband was cherishing other “arts”. Mr. Duffy intended to spend time with Mrs. Sinico in a strictly educational manner, where intelligent ideas were discussed(only by him). Mr. Duffy viewed her advances towards him as rude and disrespectful because heaven forbid a relationship to become romantic and not academic, the world would end! The characters of this story are not living grand, so I think to make their lives meaningful, they have to take action. As we know, Mr. Duffy lived a carefully constructed life, conflicted with impulses and living a monotonous life. Being conflicted and organized to suppress human desires is one way to express a fear of making mistakes. He needs to understand the meaning of YOLO, (you only live once). Mr. Duffy faces the consequences of his actions by regretting what could have happened, and he is not remembered for having a valuable or meaningful life.

Women in A Painful Case were seen as inferior and lusting to men, containing no morals or intelligence. There were more opportunities for men than women in Dublin, and the lack of opportunities and status of women ultimately determined their livelihood and happiness. Mrs. Sinico’s only daughter Mary Sinico, reveals her mother’s dwelling and addiction to spirits before her death, which suggests Mrs Sinico’s derailment and unhinged immorality. 

“…the inane expressions of sympathy, the cautious words of a reporter won over to conceal the details of a commonplace vulgar death attacked his stomach. Not merely had she degraded herself; she had degraded him. He saw the squalid tract of her vice, miserable and malodorous.” Joyce 82-83. Mrs. Sinico faced judgment even after death and Mr. Duffy views her as disgusting and a disgrace. Desperate conditions and indulgence of sin in Dublin expressed the desire for freedom. 

“He told her that for where he had felt himself a unique figure amidst a score of sober workmen in a garret lit by an inefficient oil-lamp. When the party had divided into three sections, each under its own leader garret, he had discontinued his attendances. The workmen’s discussions, he said were too timorous; the interest they took in the question of wages was inordinate. He felt that they were hard-featured realists and that they resented an exactitude which was the produce of a leisure not within their reach. No social revolution, he told her, would be likely to strike Dublin for some centuries.” Joyce 79. Mr. Duffey felt confident around uncivilized workmen who feared for the wages they earned because he felt that they were beneath him. Also, a sober man in Dublin must be a figment of Mr. Duffey’s imagination because that is a rare species. The most important part of this text was the static condition of Dublin; it would remain unchanging which would negatively impact anyone who lived there.

Mr. James Duffey’s character is an often disappointed man who lived by the actions he did not make and remorsing of habits.  “He lived at a little distance from his body, regarding his own acts with doubtful side glances.” Joyce 77.  I believe Mr. Duffy, as well as the men of Dublin, faced traumatic experiences as children and had mother issues resulting in their revolting character.  Living outside of Dublin where he could escape the modern suburbs, Mr. Duffy was ruled by fear and paralyzed within his isolated existence. He did not interact as a human but, operated through ideas and opinions. The only time he could be “human” in a controlled setting was when attending Mozart concerts. Allowing intimacy would only allow a man to become miserable, so Mr. Duffy lived his life without indulging in pleasures or expressing imagination (aside from his romance novels naturally).

“He gnawed the rectitude of his life; he felt that he had been outcast from life’s feast. One human being had seemed to love him and he had denied her life and happiness: he had sentenced her to ignominy, a death of shame.” Joyce 84. Mr. Duffy’s view of Mrs. Sinico’s death changed because, at first, he had no regret in his decision to abandon their relationship but then he blamed her death on himself. The engine which ensured Mrs. Sinico’s death, roared until it drove Mr. Duffy mad and only when it was silent, he was finally alone. Perhaps he suppressed acting upon ideas for pleasure because he knew it would hurt him to be without it.