James Joyce Counterparts
English
Counterparts - Arm wrestling scene (page92)
Summary:
This section details the first arm wrestle between Farrington and Weathers. During the match, Weathers finds it particularly easy compared to Farrington, bringing his hand down slowly only after 30 seconds. Farrington gets extremely embarrassed about this and he flushes a dark red with anger and humiliation. We momentarily go into Farrington’s mind as he calls Weathers a ‘stripling’, belittling him, however he then goes on to accusing him of cheating and putting his weight behind it. This is a sharp contrast of the ‘stripling’ that he used to describe him just before.
Then Farrington suggests of having another round, ‘two best out of three’ which shows his humiliation and desire to win and please. The second arm wrestle begins and Farrington uses a lot of his strength and strains to win the second time round. His ‘veins stood out’ and his arms ‘trembled under the stress’ showing the strain he is going through to try to beat Weathers. However Weathers again beats Farrington, bringing his hand down slowly to the table, showing how much he is in control compared to Farrington. These arm wrestles were being watched by people at the pub and after the second win for Weathers, a ‘murmur of applause’ came about from them. Then a barman who was by them congratulated Weathers, the victor, which aggravated the anger and violence in Farrington more.
Analysis:
In this section, the aspect and theme that I find particularly dominant is that of the physicality of Farrington and the way Joyce describes this. It is described in a masculine way; showing off what Farrington believes is manly, yet with Weathers’ masculinity described as below his, it showed that what Farrington thinks he is, a strong masculine man, he in fact isn’t. This section also shows the amount of anger that is present in Farrington, and the lengths to that he will go to prove to his audience that he is a man.
The arm wrestle is described as a
Counterparts - Arm wrestling scene (page92)
Summary:
This section details the first arm wrestle between Farrington and Weathers. During the match, Weathers finds it particularly easy compared to Farrington, bringing his hand down slowly only after 30 seconds. Farrington gets extremely embarrassed about this and he flushes a dark red with anger and humiliation. We momentarily go into Farrington’s mind as he calls Weathers a ‘stripling’, belittling him, however he then goes on to accusing him of cheating and putting his weight behind it. This is a sharp contrast of the ‘stripling’ that he used to describe him just before.
Then Farrington suggests of having another round, ‘two best out of three’ which shows his humiliation and desire to win and please. The second arm wrestle begins and Farrington uses a lot of his strength and strains to win the second time round. His ‘veins stood out’ and his arms ‘trembled under the stress’ showing the strain he is going through to try to beat Weathers. However Weathers again beats Farrington, bringing his hand down slowly to the table, showing how much he is in control compared to Farrington. These arm wrestles were being watched by people at the pub and after the second win for Weathers, a ‘murmur of applause’ came about from them. Then a barman who was by them congratulated Weathers, the victor, which aggravated the anger and violence in Farrington more.
Analysis:
In this section, the aspect and theme that I find particularly dominant is that of the physicality of Farrington and the way Joyce describes this. It is described in a masculine way; showing off what Farrington believes is manly, yet with Weathers’ masculinity described as below his, it showed that what Farrington thinks he is, a strong masculine man, he in fact isn’t. This section also shows the amount of anger that is present in Farrington, and the lengths to that he will go to prove to his audience that he is a man.
The arm wrestle is described as a