hi guys, I have a short story to share to you. Biasa guys, sebenernya cerpen ini adalah tugas aku untuk analisis prosa, ga ada salahnya dong kita berbagi. :-)
here it is the short story ......
A LITTLE CLOUD
By James Joyce
Eight years before he had seen his friend off at the North Wall and wished
him God-speed. Gallaher had got on. You could tell that at once by his
travelled air, his well-cut tweed suit, and fearless accent. Few fellows had talents
like his, and fewer still could remain unspoiled by such success. Gallaher's
heart was in the right place and he had deserved to win. It was something to
have a friend like that.
Little Chandler's thoughts ever since lunch-time had been of his meeting
with Gallaher, of Gallaher's invitation, and of the great city London where
Gallaher lived. He was called Little Chandler because, though he was but
slightly under the average stature, he gave one the idea of being a little man.
His hands were white and small, his frame was fragile, his voice was quiet and
his manners were refined. He took the greatest care of his fair silken hair and
moustache, and used perfume discreetly on his handkerchief. The half-moons of
his nails were perfect, and when he smiled you caught a glimpse of a row of
childish white teeth.
As he sat at his desk in the King's Inns he thought what changes those
eight years had brought. The friend whom he had known under a shabby and
necessitous guise had become a brilliant figure on the London Press. He turned
often from his tiresome writing to gaze out of the office window. The glow of a
late autumn sunset covered the grass plots and walks. It cast a shower of
kindly golden dust on the untidy nurses and decrepit old men who drowsed on the
benches; it flickered upon all the moving figures - on the children who ran
screaming along the gravel paths and on everyone who passed through the
gardens. He watched the scene and thought of life; and (as always happened when
he thought of life) he became sad. A gentle melancholy took possession of him.
He felt how useless it was to struggle against fortune, this being the burden
of wisdom which the ages had bequeathed to him.
He remembered the books of poetry upon his shelves at home. He had bought
them in his bachelor days and many an evening, as he sat in the little room off
the hall, he had been tempted to take one down from the bookshelf and read out
something to his wife. But shyness had always held him back; and so the books
had remained on their shelves. At times he repeated lines to himself and this
consoled him.
When his hour had struck he stood up and took leave of his desk and of his
fellow-clerks punctiliously. He emerged from under the feudal arch of the
King's Inns, a neat modest figure, and walked swiftly down Henrietta Street.
The golden sunset was waning and the air had grown sharp. A horde of grimy
children populated the street. They stood or ran in the roadway, or crawled up
the steps before the gaping doors, or squatted like mice upon the thresholds.
Little Chandler gave them no thought. He picked his way deftly through all that
minute vermin-like life and under the shadow of the gaunt spectral mansions in
which the old nobility of Dublin had roistered. No memory of the past touched
him, for his mind was full of a present joy.
He had never been in Corless's, but he knew the value of the name. He knew
that people went there after the theatre to eat oysters and drink liqueurs; and
he had heard that the waiters there spoke French and German. Walking swiftly by
at night he had seen cabs drawn up before the door and richly-dressed ladies,
escorted by cavaliers, alight and enter quickly. They wore noisy dresses and
many wraps. Their faces were powdered and they caught up their dresses, when they
touched earth, like alarmed Atalantas. He had always passed without turning his
head to look. It was his habit to walk swiftly in the street even by day, and
whenever he found himself in the city late at night he hurried on his way
apprehensively and excitedly. Sometimes, however, he courted the causes of his
fear. He chose the darkest and narrowest streets and, as he walked boldly
forward, the silence that was spread about his footsteps troubled him; the
wandering, silent figures troubled him; and at times a sound of low fugitive
laughter made him tremble like a leaf.
He turned to the right towards Capel Street. Ignatius Gallaher on the
London Press! Who would have thought it possible eight years before? Still, now
that he reviewed the past, Little Chandler could remember many signs of future
greatness in his friend. People used to say that Ignatius Gallaher was wild. Of
course, he did mix with a rakish set of fellows at that time; drank freely and
borrowed money on all sides. In the end he had got mixed up in some shady
affair, some money transaction: at least, that was one version of his flight.
But nobody denied him talent. There was always a certain... something in
Ignatius Gallaher that impressed you in spite of yourself. Even when he was out
at elbows and at his wits' end for money he kept up a bold face. Little
Chandler remembered (and the remembrance brought a slight flush of pride to his
cheek) one of Ignatius Gallaher's sayings when he was in a tight corner:
`Half-time now, boys,' he used to say light-heartedly. `Where's my
considering cap?'
That was Ignatius Gallaher all out; and, damn it, you couldn't but admire
him for it.
Little Chandler quickened his pace. For the first time in his life he felt
himself superior to the people he passed. For the first time his soul revolted
against the dull inelegance of Capel Street. There was no doubt about it: if
you wanted to succeed you had to go away. You could do nothing in Dublin. As he
crossed Grattan Bridge he looked down the river towards the lower quays and
pitied the poor stunted houses. They seemed to him a band of tramps, huddled
together along the river-banks, their old coats covered with dust and soot,
stupefied by the panorama of sunset and waiting for the first chill of night to
bid them arise, shake themselves and begone. He wondered whether he could write
a poem to express his idea. Perhaps Gallaher might be able to get it into some
London paper for him. Could he write something original? He was not sure what
idea he wished to express, but the thought that a poetic moment had touched
him, took life within him like an infant hope. He stepped onward bravely.
Every step brought him nearer to London, farther from his own sober
inartistic life. A light began to tremble on the horizon of his mind. He was
not so old - thirty-two. His temperament might be said to be just at the point
of maturity. There were so many different moods and impressions that he wished
to express in verse. He felt them within him. He tried to weigh his soul to see
if it was a poet's soul. Melancholy was the dominant note of his temperament,
he thought, but it was a melancholy tempered by recurrences of faith and
resignation and simple joy. If he could give expression to it in a book of
poems perhaps men would listen. He would never be popular: he saw that. He
could not sway the crowd, but he might appeal to a little circle of kindred
minds. The English critics, perhaps, would recognize him as one of the Celtic
school by reason of the melancholy tone of his poems; besides that, he would
put in allusions. He began to invent sentences and phrases from the notice
which his book would get. `Mr Chandler has the gift of easy and graceful
verse'... `A wistful sadness pervades these poems'... `The Celtic note'. It was
a pity his name was not more Irish-looking. Perhaps it would be better to
insert his mother's name before the surname: Thomas Malone Chandler; or better
still: T. Malone Chandler. He would speak to Gallaher about it.
He pursued his reverie so ardently that he passed his street and had to
turn back. As he came near Corless's his former agitation began to overmaster
him and he halted before the door in indecision. Finally he opened the door and
entered.
The light and noise of the bar held him at the doorway for a few moments.
He looked about him, but his sight was confused by the shining of many red and
green wine-glasses. The bar seemed to him to be full of people and he felt that
the people were observing him curiously. He glanced quickly to right and left
(frowning slightly to make his errand appear serious), but when his sight
cleared a little he saw that nobody had turned to look at him: and there, Sure
enough, was Ignatius Gallaher leaning with his back against the counter and his
feet planted far apart.
`Hallo, Tommy, old hero, here you are! What is it to be? What will you
have? I'm taking whisky: better stuff than we get across the water. Soda?
Lithia? No mineral? I'm the same. Spoils the flavour... Here, garon, bring us two halves
of malt whisky, like a good fellow... Well, and how have you been pulling along
since I saw you last? Dear God, how old we're getting! Do you see any signs of
aging in me - eh, what? A little grey and thin on the top - what?'
Ignatius Gallaher took off his hat and displayed a large closely-cropped head.
His face was heavy, pale, and clean-shaven. His eyes, which were of bluish
slate-colour, relieved his unhealthy pallor and shone out plainly above the
vivid orange tie he wore. Between these rival features the lips appeared very
long and shapeless and colourless. He bent his head and felt with two
sympathetic fingers the thin hair at the crown. Little Chandler shook his head
as a denial. Ignatius Gallaher put on his hat again.
`It pulls you down,' he said. `Press life. Always hurry and scurry, looking
for copy and sometimes not finding it: and then, always to have something new
in your stuff. Damn proofs and printers, I say, for a few days. I'm deuced
glad, I can tell you, to get back to the old country. Does a fellow good, a bit
of a holiday. I feel a ton better since I landed again in dear, dirty Dublin...
Here you are, Tommy. Water? Say when.'
Little Chandler allowed his whisky to be very much diluted.
`You don't know what's good for you, my boy,' said Ignatius Gallaher. `I
drink mine neat.'
`I drink very little as a rule,' said Little Chandler modestly. `An odd
half-one or so when I meet any of the old crowd: that's all.'
`Ah well,' said Ignatius Gallaher cheerfully, `here's to us and to old
times and old acquaintance.'
They clinked glasses and drank the toast.
`I met some of the old gang today,' said Ignatius Gallaher. `O'Hara seems
to be in a bad way. What's he doing?'
`Nothing,' said Little Chandler. `He's gone to the dogs.'
`But Hogan has a good sit, hasn't he?'
`Yes, he's in the Land Commission.'
`I met him one night in London and he seemed to be very flush... Poor
O'Hara! Booze, I suppose?'
`Other things, too,' said Little Chandler shortly.
Ignatius Gallaher laughed.
`Tommy,' he said, `I see you haven't changed an atom. You're the very same
serious person that used to lecture me on Sunday mornings when I had a sore
head and a fur on my tongue. You'd want to knock about a bit in the world. Have
you never been anywhere even for a trip?'
`I've been to the Isle of Man,' said Little Chandler.
Ignatius Gallaher laughed.
`The Isle of Man!' he said. `Go to London or Paris: Paris, for choice.
That'd do you good.'
`Have you seen Paris?'
`I should think I have! I've knocked about there a little.'
`And is it really so beautiful as they say?' asked Little Chandler.
He sipped a little of his drink while Ignatius Gallaher finished his
boldly.
`Beautiful?' said Ignatius Gallaher, pausing on the word and on the flavour
of his drink. `It's not so beautiful, you know. Of course it is beautiful...
But it's the life of Paris; that's the thing. Ah, there's no city like Paris
for gaiety, movement, excitement... '
Little Chandler finished his whisky and, after some trouble, succeeded in
catching the barman's eye. He ordered the same again.
`I've been to the Moulin Rouge,' Ignatius Gallaher continued when the
barman had removed their glasses, `and I've been to all the Bohemian cafe's.
Hot stuff! Not for a pious chap like you, Tommy.'
Little Chandler said nothing until the barman returned with two glasses:
then he touched his friend's glass lightly and reciprocated the former toast.
He was beginning to feel somewhat disillusioned. Gallaher's accent and way of
expressing himself did not please him. There was something vulgar in his friend
which he had not observed before. But perhaps it was only the result of living
in London amid the bustle and competition of the Press. The old personal charm
was still there under this new gaudy manner. And, after all, Gallaher had
lived, he had seen the world. Little Chandler looked at his friend enviously.
`Everything in Paris is gay,' said Ignatius Gallaher. `They believe in
enjoying life - and don't you think they're right? If you want to enjoy
yourself properly you must go to Paris. And, mind you, they've a great feeling
for the Irish there. When they heard I was from Ireland they were ready to eat
me, man.'
Little Chandler took four or five sips from his glass.
`Tell me,' he said, `is it true that Paris is so... immoral as they say?'
Ignatius Gallaher made a catholic gesture with his right arm.
`Every place is immoral,' he said. `Of course you do find spicy bits in
Paris. Go to one of the students' balls, for instance. That's lively, if you
like, when the cocottes begin to let themselves loose. You know what they are,
I suppose?'
`I've heard of them,' said Little Chandler.
Ignatius Gallaher drank off his whisky and shook his head.
`Ah,' he said, `you may say what you like. There's no woman like the
Parisienne - for style, for go.'
`Then it is an immoral city,' said Little Chandler, with timid insistence -
`I mean, compared with London or Dublin?'
`London!' said Ignatius Gallaher. `It's six of one and half a dozen of the
other. You ask Hogan, my boy. I showed him a bit about London when he was over
there. He'd open your eye... I say, Tommy, don't make punch of that whisky:
liquor up.'
`No, really.'
`O, come on, another one won't do you any harm. What is it? The same again,
I suppose?'
`Well... all right.'
`Francois, the same again...
Will you smoke, Tommy?'
Ignatius Gallaher produced his cigar-case. The two friends lit their cigars
and puffed at them in silence until their drinks were served.
`I'll tell you my opinion,' said Ignatius Gallaher, emerging after some
time from the clouds of smoke in which he had taken refuge, `it's a rum world.
Talk of immorality! I've heard of cases - what am I saying? - I've known them:
cases of... immorality... '
Ignatius Gallaher puffed thoughtfully at his cigar and then, in a calm
historian's tone, he proceeded to sketch for his friend some pictures of the
corruption which was rife abroad. He summarized the vices of many capitals and
seemed inclined to award the palm to Berlin. Some things he could not vouch for
(his friends had told him), but of others he had had personal experience. He
spared neither rank nor caste. He revealed many of the secrets of religious
houses on the Continent and described some of the practices which were
fashionable in high society, and ended by telling, with details, a story about
an English duchess - a story which he knew to be true. Little chandler was
astonished.
`Ah, well,' said Ignatius Gallaher, `here we are in old jog-along Dublin
where nothing is known of such things.'
`How dull you must find it,' said Little Chandler, `after all the other
places you've seen!'
`Well,' said Ignatius Gallaher, `it's a relaxation to come over here, you
know. And, after all, it's the old country, as they say, isn't it? You can't
help having a certain feeling for it. That's human nature... But tell me
something about yourself. Hogan told me you had... tasted the joys of connubial
bliss. Two years ago, wasn't it?'
Little Chandler blushed and smiled.
`Yes,' he said. `I was married last May twelve months.'
`I hope it's not too late in the day to offer my best wishes,' said
Ignatius Gallaher. `I didn't know your address or I'd have done so at the
time.'
He extended his hand, which Little Chandler took.
`Well, Tommy,' he said, `I wish you and yours every joy in life, old chap,
and tons of money, and may you never die till I shoot you. And that's the wish
of a sincere friend, an old friend. You know that?'
`I know that,' said Little Chandler.
`Any youngsters?' said Ignatius Gallaher.
Little Chandler blushed again.
`We have one child,' he said.
`Son or daughter?'
`A little boy.'
Ignatius Gallaher slapped his friend sonorously on the back.
`Bravo,' he said, `I wouldn't doubt you, Tommy.'
Little Chandler smiled, looked confusedly at his glass and bit his lower
lip with three childishly white front teeth.
`I hope you'll spend an evening with us,' he said, `before you go back. My
wife will be delighted to meet you. We can have a little music and--'
`Thanks awfully, old chap,' said Ignatius Gallaher, `I'm sorry we didn't
meet earlier. But I must leave tomorrow night.'
`Tonight, perhaps... ?`
`I'm awfully sorry, old man. You see I'm over here with another fellow,
clever young chap he is too, and we arranged to go to a little card-party. Only
for that... '
`O, in that case... '
`But who knows?' said Ignatius Gallaher considerately. `Next year I may
take a little skip over here now that I've broken the ice. It's only a pleasure
deferred.'
`Very well,' said Little Chandler, `the next time you come we must have an
evening together. That's agreed now, isn't it?'
`Yes, that's agreed,' said Ignatius Gallaher. `Next year if I come, parole
d'honneur.'
`And to clinch the bargain,' said Little Chandler, `we'll just have one
more now.'
Ignatius Gallaher took out a large gold watch and looked at it.
`Is it to be the last?' he Said. `Because, you know, I have an a.p.'
`O, yes, positively,' said Little Chandler.
`Very well, then,' said Ignatius Gallaher, `let us have another one as a
deoc an doirus - that's good vernacular for a small whisky, I believe.'
Little Chandler ordered the drinks. The blush which had risen to his face a
few moments before was establishing itself. A trifle made him blush at any
time: and now he felt warm and excited. Three small whiskies had gone to his
head and Gallaher's strong cigar had confused his mind, for he was a delicate
and abstinent person. The adventure of meeting Gallaher after eight years, of
finding himself with Gallaher in Corless's surrounded by lights and noise, of
listening to Gallaher's stories and of sharing for a brief space Gallaher's
vagrant and triumphant life, upset the equipoise of his sensitive nature. He
felt acutely the contrast between his own life and his friend's, and it seemed
to him unjust. Gallaher was his inferior in birth and education. He was sure
that he could do something better than his friend had ever done, or could ever do,
something higher than mere tawdry journalism if he only got the chance. What
was it that stood in his way? His unfortunate timidity! He wished to vindicate
himself in some way, to assert his manhood. He saw behind Gallaher's refusal of
his invitation. Gallaher was only patronizing him by his friendliness just as
he was patronizing Ireland by his visit.
The barman brought their drinks. Little Chandler pushed one glass towards
his friend and took up the other boldly.
`Who knows?' he said, as they lifted their glasses. `When you come next
year I may have the pleasure of wishing long life and happiness to Mr. and Mrs.
Ignatius Gallaher.'
Ignatius Gallaher in the act of drinking closed one eye expressively over
the rim of his glass. When he had drunk he smacked his lips decisively, set
down his glass and said:
`No blooming fear of that, my boy. I'm going to have my fling first and see
a bit of life and the world before I put my head in the sack - if I ever do.'
`Some day you will,' said Little Chandler calmly.
Ignatius Gallaher turned his orange tie and slate-blue eyes full upon his
friend.
`You think so?' he said.
`You'll put your head in the sack,' repeated Little Chandler stoutly, `like
everyone else if you can find the girl.'
He had slightly emphasized his tone, and he was aware that he had betrayed
himself; but, though the colour had heightened in his cheek, he did not flinch
from his friends' gaze. Ignatius Gallaher watched him for a few moments and
then said:
`If ever it occurs, you may bet your bottom dollar there'll be no mooning
and spooning about it. I mean to marry money. She'll have a good fat account at
the bank or she won't do for me.'
Little Chandler shook his head.
`Why, man alive,' said Ignatius Gallaher, vehemently, `do you know what it
is? I've only to say the word and tomorrow I can have the woman and the cash.
You don't believe it? Well, I know it. There are hundreds - what am I saying? -
thousands of rich Germans and Jews, rotten with money, that'd only be too
glad... You wait a while, my boy. See if I don't play my cards properly. When I
go about a thing I mean business, I tell you. You just wait.'
He tossed his glass to his mouth, finished his drink and laughed loudly.
Then he looked thoughtfully before him and said in a calmer tone:
`But I'm in no hurry. They can wait. I don't fancy tying myself up to one
woman, you know.'
He imitated with his mouth the act of tasting and made a wry face.
`Must get a bit stale, I should think,' he said.
--------------------------------------
Little Chandler sat in the room off the hall, holding a child in his arms.
To save money they kept no servant, but Annie's young sister Monica came for an
hour or so in the morning and an hour or So in the evening to help. But Monica
had gone home long ago. It was a quarter to nine. Little Chandler had come home
late for tea and, moreover, he had forgotten to bring Annie home the parcel of
coffee from Bewley's. Of course she was in a bad humour and gave him short
answers. She said she would do without any tea, but when it came near the time
at which the shop at the corner closed she decided to go out herself for a
quarter of a pound of tea and two pounds of sugar. She put the sleeping child
deftly in his arms and said:
`Here. Don't waken him.'
A little lamp with a white china shade stood upon the table and its light
fell over a photograph which was enclosed in a frame of crumpled horn. It was
Annie's photograph. Little Chandler looked at it, pausing at the thin tight
lips. She wore the pale blue summer blouse which he had brought her home as a
present one Saturday. It had cost him ten and elevenpence; but what an agony of
nervousness it had cost him! How he had suffered that day, waiting at the shop
door until the shop was empty, standing at the counter and trying to appear at
his ease while the girl piled ladies' blouses before him, paying at the desk
and forgetting to take up the odd penny of his change, being called back by the
cashier, and finally, striving to hide his blushes as he left the shop by
examining the parcel to see if it was Securely tied. When he brought the blouse
home Annie kissed him and said it was very pretty and stylish; but when she
heard the price she threw the blouse on the table and said it was a regular
swindle to charge ten and elevenpence for it. At first she wanted to take it
back, but when she tried it on she was delighted with it, especially with the
make of the sleeves, and kissed him and said he was very good to think of her.
Hm!...
He looked coldly into the eyes of the photograph and they answered coldly.
Certainly they were pretty and the face itself was pretty. But he found
something mean in it. Why was it so unconscious and ladylike? The composure of
the eyes irritated him. They repelled him and defied him: there was no passion
in them, no rapture. He thought of what Gallaher had said about rich Jewesses.
Those dark Oriental eyes, he thought, how full they are of passion, of
voluptuous longing!... Why had he married the eyes in the photograph?
He caught himself up at the question and glanced nervously round the room.
He found something mean in the pretty furniture which he had bought for his
house on the hire system. Annie had chosen it herself and it reminded him of
her. It too was prim and pretty. A dull resentment against his life awoke
within him. Could he not escape from his little house? Was it too late for him
to try to live bravely like Gallaher? Could he go to London? There was the
furniture still to be paid for. If he could only write a book and get it
published, that might open the way for him.
A volume of Byron's poems lay before him on the table. He opened it
cautiously with his left hand lest he should waken the child and began to read
the first poem in the book:
Hushed are the winds and still the evening gloom, Not e'en a Zephyr wanders
through the grove, Whilst I return to view my Margaret's tomb And scatter
flowers on the dust I love.
He paused. He felt the rhythm of the verse about him in the room. How
melancholy it was! Could he, too, write like that, express the melancholy of
his soul in verse? There were so many things he wanted to describe: his
sensation of a few hours before on Grattan Bridge, for example. If he could get
back again into that mood...
The child awoke and began to cry. He turned from the page and tried to hush
it: but it would not be hushed. He began to rock it to and fro in his arms, but
its wailing cry grew keener. He rocked it faster while his eyes began to read
the second stanza:
Within this narrow cell reclines her clay, That clay where once...
It was useless. He couldn't read. He couldn't do anything. The wailing of
the child pierced the drum of his ear. It was useless, useless! He was a
prisoner for life. His arms trembled with anger and suddenly bending to the
child's face he shouted:
`Stop!'
The child stopped for an instant, had a spasm of fright and began to
scream. He jumped up from his chair and walked hastily up and down the room
with the child in his arms. It began to sob piteously, losing its breath for
four or five seconds, and then bursting out anew. The thin walls of the room
echoed the sound. He tried to soothe it, but it sobbed more convulsively. He
looked at the contracted and quivering face of the child and began to be
alarmed. He counted seven sobs without a break between them and caught the
child to his breast in fright. If it died!...
The door was burst open and a young woman ran in, panting.
`What is it? What is it?' she cried.
The child, hearing its mother's voice, broke out into a paroxysm of
sobbing.
`It's nothing, Annie... it's nothing... He began to cry... '
She flung her parcels on the floor and snatched the child from him.
`What have you done to him?' she cried, glaring into his face.
Little Chandler sustained for one moment the gaze of her eyes and his heart
closed together as he met the hatred in them. He began to stammer:
`It's nothing... He... he... began to cry... I couldn't... I didn't do
anything... What?'
Giving no heed to him she began to walk up and down the room, clasping the
child tightly in her arms and murmuring:
`My little man! My little mannie! Was 'ou frightened, love?'... There now,
love! There now!... Lambabaun! Mamma's little lamb of the world!... There now!'
Little Chandler felt his cheeks suffused with shame and he stood back out
of the lamplight. He listened while the paroxysm of the child's sobbing grew
less and less; and tears of remorse started to his eyes.
