They All Laughed...Until She Sat Down at the Piano and Started to Play
Looking for something to read the other day, I scanned a shelf and spotted a slim volume, James Joyce’s “Dubliners” (1914), many of whose stories I had read decades ago. More than halfway through I came across the interesting passage below that I had no memory of. It’s from the story “A Mother.” Note the characterization of the young woman and the talents she develops in the hope of attracting prospective suitors and eventually a husband.
“Miss Devlin had become Mrs. Kearney out of spite. She had been educated in a high-class convent where she had learned French and music. As she was naturally pale and unbending in manner she made few friends at school. When she came to the age of marriage she was sent out to many houses where her playing and ivory manners were much admired. She stayed amid the chilly circle of her accomplishments, waiting for some suitor to brave it and offer her a brilliant life. But the young men whom she met were ordinary and she gave them no encouragement, trying to console her romantic desires by eating a great deal of Turkish Delight [a candy made of fruit juice and gelatin, dusted with sugar] in secret. However, when she drew near the limit and her friends began to loosen their tongues about her she silenced them by marrying Mr. Kearney, who was a bootmaker on Ormond Quay.”