Summary

“A Painful Case” by James Joyce tells the story of Mr James Duffy, a middle-aged man who lives on the outskirts of Dublin, in an area called Chapelizod. He works as a bank clerk in Dublin and leads a solitary and very orderly life.

At one of the concerts he attends at Rotunda, he meets a woman his age, Mrs Sinico. With the occasion of another concert, the two meet again and Mr Duffy finds out that the woman is married, but does not seem to be bothered by this fact. On the third accidental meeting, the man proposes her to meet by appointment. From then on, the two of them meet regularly. Mr Duffy’s visits raise no suspicion with Mrs Sinco’s husband, who is a ship captain. The husband assumes the man has an interest in his daughter and not his wife.

Mr Duffy sees the woman as a companion and a confessor. Mrs Sinico seems fascinated by the man and his perspective on the world. He tells her that he used to attend meetings of the Irish Socialist Party, but when the party split in three, he st...