How we cite our quotes: (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #1
He thought that in her eyes he would ascend to an angelical stature; and, as he attached the fervent nature of his companion more and more closely to him, he heard the strange impersonal voice which he recognized as his own, insisting on the soul's incurable loneliness. We cannot give ourselves, it said: we are our own. (A Painful Case.11)
The closer Mr Duffy gets, the more convinced he is of his loneliness. That's strange, right? But it's true of many characters in Dubliners. Once they know what they're missing, they, well, know what they're missing.
Quote #2
His life would be lonely too until he, too, died, ceased to exist, became a memory—if anyone remembered him. (A Painful Case.32)
It's hard not to think of worst-case scenarios when there's no one around to tell you that that's exactly what you're doing. Sure, it may seem melodramatic to us readers, but for Mr Duffy, his isolation is all too real.
Quote #3
He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealizing his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror. Instinctively he turned his back more to the light lest she might see the shame that burned upon his forehead. (The Dead.424)
Shame is one of the worst kinds of isolation, because it always takes place in front of somebody you want to please but can't.
Quote #4
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. (A Little Cloud.126)
And shame in the presence of a crying baby is enough to make anyone shut down.
Quote #5
Mr James Duffy lived in Chapelizod because he wished to live as far as possible from the city of which he was a citizen and because he found all the other suburbs of Dublin mean, modern, and pretentious. (A Painful Case.1)
Self-enforced isolation: another way of saying "misanthrope." Honestly, Duffy seems doomed from the beginning. His isolation feels like a personal choice, as if he's ruined his own chance at happiness.
Quote #6
He had neither companions nor friends, church nor creed. He lived his spiritual life without any communion with others, visiting his relatives at Christmas and escorting them to the cemetery when they died. (A Painful Case.4)
Maybe he should meet Eleanor Rigby? They'd make a good pair.
Quote #7
Even now, though she was over nineteen, she sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence. She knew it was that that had given her the palpitations […] And now she had nobody to protect her. Ernest was dead and Harry […] was nearly always down somewhere in the country. (Eveline.9)
Yikes. Some isolation is not by choice. Here, Eveline's at the mercy of the men in her life. Even the opportunity to go to Argentina depends on a dude. Her isolation seems to stem from the fact that she doesn't have a lot of options, and even less say in her own life.
Quote #8
Now that he was alone his face looked older. His gaiety seemed to forsake him and, as he came by the railings of the Duke's Lawn, he allowed his hand to run along them. (After the Race.70).
Lenehan is one of those people who can't stand to be alone. And it's hard to blame him: he loses all his flare when he's by himself.
Quote #9
He waited for some minutes listening. He could hear nothing; the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectly silent. He felt that he was alone. (Ivy Day in the Committee Room.34)
At least Mr Duffy feels something by the end of the story. Of course how he feels about what he feels is never revealed. Hey, he's still a Dubliner after all.