Grace

Above all this piece speaks of the human desire to do and be better. As the title Grace implies this story depicts a man’s need to be forgiven and repair not only his reputation but also his sense of self-respect. Mr. Keran hits rock bottom amidst strangers. The enablers who helped him reach this point have vanished. However, Mr. Keran’s real friends step in, covertly carrying out an intervention, they try to offer him a chance at redemption through Catholicism. He eventually is persuaded, this attests to the collective appeal of religion. Structurally the story follows the directional flow of the context, ultimately depicting Mr. Keran’s rise back to grace. Joyce touches on the discrepancies between the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. This story shows how much of an impact our friends can have in our lives, for better or worse.

“He wished the details of the incident to remain vague. He wished his friends to think there had been some mistake, that Mr. Harford and he had missed each other. His friends, who knew quite well Mr. Harford’s manner in drinking, were silent.” (p.262)

This passage, like the majority of them, is from the narrator’s perspective. It informs us of Mr. Keran’s embarrassment as well as the empathy his friend’s feel for him. There is repetition present in the first two sentences (he wished… he wished). Mr. Keran’s desire to avoid the details of his incident reveals remorse. This makes him vulnerable to the manipulations of his friend’s. They can convert him because he feels foolish and wants to be redeemed in their eyes.

Four sentence styles:

“The constable, a young man with thick immobile features, listened.” (p. 256)

This sentence has an interrupting modifier. (pattern 11)

“On the mantelpiece of this little office a little leaden battalion of canisters was drawn up and on the table before the window stood four or five china bowls which were usually half full of black liquid.” (p.258)

This sentence uses prepositional phrases. (pattern 14)

“Such a sight!”

This is a short, dramatic sentence. (pattern 19)

“He was quite unconscious that he was the victim of a plot which his friends, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. M’Coy, and Mr. Power had disclosed to Mrs. Keran in the the parlour.”

This sentence has a series of appositives. (pattern 7)