Dubliners and Wee Folk 3:31

Song without Words  by Frank O'Connor 1931

“No man is as anti-feminist as a really feminine woman.”
― Frank O'Connor

The Plain Facts

1. Length:7 pages 
2. Genre:Irish Literature
3. Characters:Brother ARnold, Brother Michael,
4. Setting:Monastery

So, what's It About Man?

“I suppose we all have our little hiding-hole if the truth was known, but as small as it is, the whole world is in it, and bit by bit grows on us again till the day You find us out.”
The monks show what happens when their secret passions are hidden from each other. The passions grow and grow and soon they rule our day. This story tells much more than this, but the moral is one about authenticity between believers.

First Words

Even if there were only two men left in the world and both of them saints they wouldn't be happy.  One them would be bound to try and improve the other.   That is the nature of things.

Last Words

They gathered them up between them, the cards, the bottle, and the papers hid from under their habits to avoid all occasion of scandal, and went off to confess their guild to the Prior.

Favorite Quote

1. ...and wearing the look of a little boy who had been caught in the jam.
2. but Brother Michael was rather given to a distrust of human nature, the sort of man who goes looking for a moral in everything when there is no moral.
3. Was that coincidence or was it the Adversary himself, taking a hand and trying to draw him deeper in the mire?

What I Loved About the Story

• I loved the duality of the monks described in the story. One monk, "in private life", is a jockey on the Curragh. The monks exhibit the type of behavior that we all do when we pretend to be holier than we are. There is freedom in being open to your brothers at arms.

Turnip Tips

1. Literary Criticism of Frank O'Connor's short stories by (George Brandon Saul)

Where to Find This Story

Collected Stories Frank O'Connor