Juno and the Paycock

“A principle’s a principle.”

Mary explains to her mother why she had to go out on strike and then a few moments later says it again in reference to Johnny’s commitment to the Irish cause (442). Johnny says the same thing to his mother later in the act regarding his commitment to fighting for Ireland. In all instances, the younger generation speaks to the older generation about idealism. This quote repeats to show the political and cultural atmosphere of Ireland at this time, with an emphasis on doing the “right” thing for the country.

“Is the light lightin’ before the picture o’ the Virgin?”

Johnny inquires about the votive candle before the picture of the Virgin Mary in the apartment in Act I. This moment foreshadows Act II, when he sees a vision of the dead solider Robbie Tancred kneeling in front of the picture. Johnny asks yet again if someone would check if the candle is still on in front of the picture as if it’s become a superstition or obsession for him. His habitual asking seems to suggest signs of distress, anxiety, and even guilt about his involvement in Robbie’s death and the personal trauma he suffered from the Irish wars.

“Ah, that’s a darlin’ song, a daarlin’ song!”

Joxer Daly’s trademark expression of darlin’ followed by a drawn-out daarlin’ first appears in Act I and continues throughout the play. In this instance, Joxer comments on Jack’s singing. On the surface, this repeated catchphrase seems to show agreement or support, but on a deeper level, it seems to have little or no meaning, suggesting a throwaway line Joxer says without much contemplation of what he just heard or saw; this tic helps characterize Joxer as a “yes man” who is along for the ride and has no personal ambitions.

“‘Tisn’t Juno should be her pet name at all, but Deirdre of the Sorras, for she’s always grousin.’”

Jack refers to a popular Irish folk tale about Deirdre of the Sorrows. Legend has it Deirdre’s birth was forecasted to wreak terrible havoc given men’s fighting over her beauty. In this moment, Jack and Joxer complain about how Juno is always on Jack’s case. They don’t recognize how much freedom they actually have to go to bars and carouse while Juno does all the work and domestic chores.

“Everybody callin’ you “Captain,” an’ you only wanst on the wather, in an oul’ collier from here to Liverpool, when anybody, to listen or look at you, ud take you for a second Christo For Columbus!”

Jack is labeled “Captain” Jack Boyle in the character list, including the quotation marks. Here, Juno acknowledges the hyperbole of the term “captain” and calls Jack out on his exaggerated nostalgia. The sarcastic allusion to Christopher Columbus suggests a long voyage into new terrain, a voyage that was not a part of Jack’s past as a seaman.

“Oh, you’re never tired o’ lookin’ for a rest.”

Juno says this line in response to Jack’s remark that she should give her long tirade against his gallivanting a rest. Beyond the unequal nature of their relationship—her working and him not—the quote also shows the state of the Irish lifestyle for the working class. Juno is constantly tired from working but has to keep pushing. Perhaps the only hope she holds is one day she will find a small bit of restful sleep, either in retirement or likely in death.

“I ofen looked up at the sky an’ assed meself the question–what is the stars what is the stars?”

Jack is in reflection mode with Joxer, recalling his days as a captain sailing along the sea and wondering if he’ll make it with the wind blowing so harshly. Jack takes a philosophical turn here, which shows his multiple dimensions as a laboring, a gallivanting, and a thinking man. The line also shows Jack embodying the uncertainty of the times, including the Irish wars and World War I. He wonders what his place is in his country and in his world with constant instability.

“Ah, you lost your best principle, me boy, when you lost your arm; them’s the only sort o’ principles that’s any good to a workin’ man.”

In response to Johnny’s “A principle is a principle” from above, Juno remarks on the current economic climate of Ireland. Her response expresses the irony of her son’s situation: He fought for Ireland’s independence only to lose his independence as a working-class man. Juno is quick-witted with her responses to her children’s idealistic and idle thoughts.

“You’re done with Joxer, are you? Maybe you thought I’d stop on the roof all the night for you!”

Joxer responds to Jack’s declaration that he’ll no longer hang around with Joxer now that he has received news of the inheritance. This quote shows Joxer speaking in the third person about himself and how he’s essentially Jack’s sidekick, not the main star, waiting around for Jack to call him but able to disappear when he’s not needed. In the play, Joxer is only present when Jack is.

“Oh, me darlin’ Juno, I will be true to thee; Me own, me darlin’ Juno, you’re all the world to me.”

Jack has declared himself a new man, loyal to his wife rather than to alcohol and his drinking buddy, Joxer. This ending line for Act I sets an optimistic tone, suggesting that maybe the working class can indeed see their luck turn. In an otherwise dark play, this line provides some lightheartedness through the rhyming couplets and also shows Jack’s softer, poetic side.

“I don’t know what you wanted a gramophone for—I know Charlie hates them; he says they’re destructive of real music”

In this moment with her father, Mary shows how much she is influenced by what those around her say, including her beaus Charlie Bentham and Jerry Devine. She champions causes, often ones that she sees in her generation, which separate her from her parents. This particular quote seems to be a metaphor for the Irish class system, e.g., how money (gramophone) can destroy principles and common sense (music).

“An’ Irelan’s takin’ a leaf out o’ the worl’s buk; when we got the makin’ of our own laws I thought we’d never stop to look behind us, but instead of that we never stopped to look before us!”

Juno tries to converse with Charlie here about politics. While patriotism is a prominent theme in this play, the characters are not resistant to political critiques. Here, the working-class Juno expresses her hope that Ireland would have been different from other independent countries but laments that it hasn’t done any better so far.

“Isn’t all religions curious? if they weren’t you wouldn’t get anyone to believe in them…Take the real Dublin people, f’instance: they know more about Charlie Chaplin an’ Tommy Mix than they do about SS. Peter an’ Paul.”

Throughout the play, Jack questions religion and its role in Ireland, given all the pain he has witnessed. He discusses how the people he knows, the “real” Dubliners, are more secular than religious in their knowledge. While Jack speaks generally, it seems that he is personally grappling with his own beliefs, especially in contrast to Charlie’s firm convictions as a Theosophist.

“Scientists are beginning to think that what we call ghosts are sometimes seen by persons of a certain nature.”

Charlie continues the religion discussion with the Boyles, bringing in the element of science. This particular line foreshadows what happens with Johnny a few minutes later when Johnny sees the ghost of Robbie in front of the Virgin Mary statue. Charlie goes on to mention how the energy after killing someone can remain, which spooks Johnny, who has some involvement in and guilt surrounding Robbie’s death in the war.

“An’ I’m goin’ to tell you, Mr. Bentham, you’re goin’ to get as nice a bit o’ skirt in Mary, there, as ever you seen in your puff. Not like some of the dhressed up dolls that’s knockin’ about lookin’ for men when it’s skelpin’ they want”

The neighbor Mrs. Maisie Madigan bluntly addresses the traditional relationship between men and women, likening women to their appearances and highlighting many females’ desire to get their claws on a man. This line also seems to foreshadow what later comes for Mary and Charlie: A sexual relationship that dissolves, leaving Mary heartbroken and pregnant. Mary is often torn between two worlds in this play: education and working-class status, young but burdened with single motherhood.

“I’m looking for a place near the sea; I’d like the place that you might say was me cradle, to be me grave as well. The sea is always callin’ me.”

Jack often reminisces about his days on the sea, especially when he’s with Joxer, preferring his romantic past to his darker present. Jack’s imagistic birth/death quote shows how easily the two contrasting life events are connected. Ireland is in a constant state of fighting, resulting in the death of Irish lives, while fighting for freedom for people to live in an independent nation.

“O Blessed Virgin, where were you when me darlin’ son was riddled with bullets!”

Mrs. Tancred brings down the festive mood of Act II when she enters the Boyles’ apartment. Juno repeats the “riddled with bullets” line in Act III when she discovers the death of her own son. War of various kinds, from country-sanctioned to personal attacks, affect the Boyle family and their surrounding community, leaving questions that religion cannot always answer.

“It’s nearly time we had a little less respect for the dead, an’ a little more regard for the living.”

When “Needle” Nugent enters the festivities of Act II, asking the Boyles and their guests to quiet down while Mrs. Tancred grieves for her son, Juno responds with the above quote. Given the gloom and doom mood of the play and of Ireland in the 1920s, Juno recognizes that the living are the ones who have to struggle to make ends meet day after day. Also, at this point in the play, Juno has not experienced death personally, so this line might change meaning for her by the end.

“Boyle, no man can do enough for Ireland!”

The Young Man says this line to Johnny when he is reluctant to meet the other soldiers to discuss Robbie’s death. Given the number of characters in the play who fight for Ireland, lecture about Ireland, or work day-to-day to survive in Ireland, this quote seems to be all-encompassing. In the case of the Boyle family, it’s not just the men but also the women who work tirelessly on behalf of their native country. The quote speaks to the insurmountable nature of caring for Ireland.

“I’ll not be quiet, I’ll not be quiet; he’s a nice father, isn’t he? Is it any wondher Mary went asthray.”

This quote is the culmination of Johnny’s frustrations. In particular, it shows Johnny’s strained relationship with his father, likely related to the fact that Jack tends to be absent from his familial duties. Given his contributions to the war and the effects he has experienced, Johnny desires a sense of stability and comfort from his family.

“What does it matter what has happened? We are young enough to be able to forget all those things.”

Jerry Devine, Mary’s first beau, expresses to Mary the follies and benefits of youth. He is willing to forgive Mary for leaving him for Charlie. His open-ended statement, though, presents confusion, as Mary thinks Jerry is able to forget about her pregnancy. It turns out he doesn’t know about her pregnancy and isn’t able to forget about that. This line is an example of words and actions not matching.

“It’ll have what’s far betther—it’ll have two mothers.”

Mary expresses her concern about being a single mother without a father for her baby, and Juno responds with the above quote. At this point, Juno is resolved to give up on Jack, and knowing his irresponsible behaviors, she believes that she and Mary can successfully raise her baby together. Given some of the patriarchal statements throughout the play, here there is a moment of feminism—of women taking charge when the men, Charlie and Jack, do not.

“Ah, why didn’t I remember that then he wasn’t a Die-hard or a Stater, but only a poor dead son!”

Juno is in a state of grief after learning of Johnny’s death and feels terrible about her earlier response to Mrs. Tancred about her son’s death. Her words suggest how the political division between the Irish, unfortunately, supersedes basic human compassion. Now, she finally understands death and how, in particular, the death of a child can tightly grip a parent.