In “Two Gallants,” the sixth short story in the collection Dubliners, James Joyce is particularly careful and astute in his opening paragraph. Even the most cursory reading reveals repetition, alliteration, and clear structure within just these nine lines. The question remains, however, how the beginning of "Two Gallants" contributes to the meaning and impact of Joyce's work, both for the isolated story itself and for Dubliners as a whole. The construction, style and word choice of this introduction, in the context of the story and the collection, all point to one of Joyce's most pervasive implicit judgments: that the Irish people refuse to make any effort for positive change for himself. 1) The gray and warm evening of August had fallen (2) on the city and a soft and warm air, a memory (3) of summer, circulated in the streets. The streets, closed(4) for Sunday rest, were teeming with cheerfully colored crowds(5). Like illuminated pearls, the lamps shone from the(6)tops of their tall masts onto the living texture below(7)which, ever changing shape and hue, sent(8)into the warm, gray evening air an immutable-(9) ceasing to murmur. (p. 59) The first paragraph of this story is a microcosm, in terms of structure, of the broader construction of "Deux Gallants": both are clearly circular in style, beginning and ending with references and stylistic devices similar. The most explicit clue to the story's structure is the use of the word "circulated" (line 3), but Joyce also offers concrete evidence early on. He begins with a reference to “the gray and warm evening” (line 1) and includes in the final sentence the phrase “the gray and warm evening” (line 8). ...... middle of paper ...... on page 64, let's say, Yet Erin is still asleep in her darkness, The pure light is still slow to dawn. Joyce attempts in "Two Gallants" and other stories among Dubliners to begin the "dawn" process -- a move away from static "paralysis" toward a sense of collective action for positive change -- but limits himself to the finite role of lighting metaphorical lamps. However bright and sharp his light may be, he must still rely on the Irish people, in whom he has little or no confidence, to fight for the change he says they so desperately need. Works Cited1 by Gifford, Don. Joyce Annotated: Notes for Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982, page 59. All other quotations from Joyce, James. The portable James Joyce, ed. Harry Levin. New York: books about penguins, 1976.