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Ignatius Gallaher
Annie is Little Chandler’s overworked, frazzled, ill-tempered wife. They have been married for less than two years and have an infant son. Already the marriage is showing signs of strain. Because of limited income, they cannot afford to keep a servant to help with housekeeping and childcare. Annie’s sister, Monica, comes in for two hours a day, but otherwise these responsibilities fall solely to Annie. Readers only see Annie from Little Chandler’s point of view, and she simply appears as yet another dissatisfying aspect of his life. After his meeting with Gallaher, Little Chandler begins to see Annie as cold, small-minded, and conventional. When Annie goes out to run an errand at the end of the story, she returns to find the baby crying hysterically. Her anger at Little Chandler is fierce: she demands to know what he did to the baby, glaring at her husband with hate in her eyes. By contrast, she takes the baby and coos at him gently, trying to soothe his distress: “Mamma’s little lamb of the world!...There now!” This further heightens Little Chandler’s sense of imprisonment by his mundane life and his resignation to his fate. He chose the conventional path of marriage and family, and now has to live with the often-disappointing consequences of that choice. Moreover, his lack of connection to Annie leaves him with no one to turn to for comfort when he realizes that his life is an inescapable trap. In fact, his marriage to her is a major component of his imprisonment.
Annie Quotes in A Little Cloud
The A Little Cloud quotes below are all either spoken by Annie or refer to Annie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Little Cloud
Quotes
He looked coldly into the eyes of the photograph and they answered coldly. Certainly they were pretty and the face itself was pretty. But he found something mean in it. Why was it so unconscious and ladylike? The composure of the eyes irritated him. They repelled him and defied him: there was no passion in them, no rapture. He thought of what Gallaher had said about rich Jewesses. Those dark Oriental eyes, he thought, how full they are of passion, of voluptuous longing!...Why had he married the eyes in the photograph?
He caught himself up at the question and glanced nervously round the room. He found something mean in the pretty furniture which he had bought for his house on the hire system. Annie had chosen it herself and it reminded him of her. It too was prim and pretty. A dull resentment against his life awoke within him. Could he not escape from his little house? Was it too late for him to try to live bravely like Gallaher? Could he go to London?
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—What have you done to him?” she cried, glaring into his face.
Little Chandler sustained for one moment the gaze of her eyes and his heart closed together as he met the hatred in them. He began to stammer:
—It’s nothing.... He ... he began to cry.... I couldn’t ... I didn’t do anything.... What?
Giving no heed to him she began to walk up and down the room, clasping the child tightly in her arms and murmuring:
—My little man! My little mannie! Was ’ou frightened, love?... There now, love! There now!... Lambabaun! Mamma’s little lamb of the world!... There now!
Little Chandler felt his cheeks suffused with shame and he stood back out of the lamplight. He listened while the paroxysm of the child’s sobbing grew less and less; and tears of remorse started to his eyes.
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Annie Quotes in A Little Cloud
The A Little Cloud quotes below are all either spoken by Annie or refer to Annie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Little Cloud
Quotes
He looked coldly into the eyes of the photograph and they answered coldly. Certainly they were pretty and the face itself was pretty. But he found something mean in it. Why was it so unconscious and ladylike? The composure of the eyes irritated him. They repelled him and defied him: there was no passion in them, no rapture. He thought of what Gallaher had said about rich Jewesses. Those dark Oriental eyes, he thought, how full they are of passion, of voluptuous longing!...Why had he married the eyes in the photograph?
He caught himself up at the question and glanced nervously round the room. He found something mean in the pretty furniture which he had bought for his house on the hire system. Annie had chosen it herself and it reminded him of her. It too was prim and pretty. A dull resentment against his life awoke within him. Could he not escape from his little house? Was it too late for him to try to live bravely like Gallaher? Could he go to London?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
—What have you done to him?” she cried, glaring into his face.
Little Chandler sustained for one moment the gaze of her eyes and his heart closed together as he met the hatred in them. He began to stammer:
—It’s nothing.... He ... he began to cry.... I couldn’t ... I didn’t do anything.... What?
Giving no heed to him she began to walk up and down the room, clasping the child tightly in her arms and murmuring:
—My little man! My little mannie! Was ’ou frightened, love?... There now, love! There now!... Lambabaun! Mamma’s little lamb of the world!... There now!
Little Chandler felt his cheeks suffused with shame and he stood back out of the lamplight. He listened while the paroxysm of the child’s sobbing grew less and less; and tears of remorse started to his eyes.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
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