How we cite our quotes: (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Two gentlemen who were in the lavatory at the time tried to help him up: but he was quite helpless. He lay curled up at the foot of the stairs down which he had fallen. (Grace.1)
Who's helpless and curled up and doesn't have very good motor skills? Mr Kernan, that's who. Of course it's understandable that he's suffering from a little physical inertia after, oh, falling down the stairs. But what's not so understandable is his alcoholism. Tripping is an accident. Drinking's on purpose.
Quote #2
And everything went on beautifully until Johnny came in sight of King Billy's statue: and whether he fell in love with the horse King Billy sits on or whether he thought he was back again in the mill, anyhow he began to walk round the statue. (The Dead.298)
When you're walking in circles around a giant stone statue, well, then you know you're suffering from some serious inertia. What's interesting here is that we're hearing about this person's inertia from yet another person who's suffering from his own type of paralysis—Gabriel. Somehow we're doubting poor Gabe is self aware in this moment.
Quote #3
She stood still for an instant like an angry stone image. (A Mother.74)
There sure are a lot of statues in Dubliners. Even ones that are alive.
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.
Quote #7
It was too late and we were too tired to carry out our project of visiting the Pigeon House. (An Encounter.20)
Exhaustion and weariness are symptoms of inertia: it's like the boys' bodies just don't want to follow what their minds dreamt up. This whole day was about the Pigeon House visit, and suddenly they're just kind of meh about the whole thing. Bummer, right?
Quote #8
All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her. She gripped with both hands at the iron railing. (Eveline.22)
Sometimes staying inert is a choice, as in the case of Eveline. It's a little weird when you think about it. Isn't choosing not to do something still, well, doing something?
Quote #9
Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. (The Dead.459)
If Ireland is like a patient lying etherized upon a table, snow is like the anesthetic: it numbs everything all at once.
Quote #10
He began to doubt the reality of what memory told him. He halted under a tree and allowed the rhythm to die away. He could not feel her near him in the darkness nor her voice touch his ear. He waited for some minutes listening. He could hear nothing […] He felt that he was alone. (A Painful Case.34)
For a man like Mr Duffy to stop his routine and "halt" may seem like the exact opposite of inertia, but in a lot of ways the consequence of this last scene is a giant heaping helping of Newton's good stuff.