How we cite our quotes: (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Four years passed. Mr Duffy returned to his even way of life […] And still every morning he went into the city by tram and every evening walked home from the city after having dined moderately in George's Street and read the evening paper for dessert. (A Painful Case.13)
Inertia isn't like chicken pox. You can think you've gotten rid of it, but then it comes back again with a vengeance. What can Mr Duffy do, here, to shake things up and add a little spice to his life? And why doesn't he do those things?
Quote #5
His eyes fixed themselves on a paragraph in the evening paper which he had propped against the water-carafe. He replaced the morsel of food on his plate and read the paragraph attentively. Then he drank a glass of water, pushed his plate to one side, doubled the paper down before him between his elbows and read the paragraph over and over again. (A Painful Case.14)
Mr Duffy's practically glued to the table: nothing's worse than reading the same words over and over and not getting the picture.
Quote #6
There was no hope for him this time: it was the third stroke […] Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis. It had always sounded strangely in my ears. (The Sisters.1)
The word paralysis comes from the Greek verb lyein, to loosen. It's like all the pieces are coming loose, disabling the whole. And when all those pieces aren't connected to the whole, they can't move, can't work. Maybe that's what the Dubliners are missing in this collection—connection.