A Long Long Way

by

Sebastian Barry

Joe Kielty, a young Irishman from County Mayo, is a member of Willie’s company in the British Army. His cousin, Joe McNulty, dies in the gas attack near St. Julian, but Joe Kielty survives and continues on in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers throughout the war. Joe Kielty is a strong soldier and a champion Irish dancer. He’s gentle, kind, and brave, and his calm demeanor often reassures Willie and his other friends in times of danger. At the end of the novel, he helps Christy Moran bury Willie.
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Joe Kielty Character Timeline in A Long Long Way

The timeline below shows where the character Joe Kielty appears in A Long Long Way. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
...the soldiers to be ready to fire at advancing enemies. The cousins Joe McNulty and Joe Kielty man the machine-gun. However, the battlefield remains so quiet that Captain Pasley orders the men... (full context)
Chapter 11
Youth, Naivety, and Growing Up Theme Icon
Political Conflict and Divided Loyalties Theme Icon
Then Willie talks with Pete O’Hara, Joe Kielty , and Quigley about the most recent news from Ireland, which O’Hara reads from the... (full context)
Chapter 14
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
...and the living could return home. In his terror, Willie starts praying aloud to Gretta. Joe Kielty hears him and promises that they’ll be alright. O’Hara also encourages Willie, and Willie’s spirits... (full context)
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
...full of hundreds of British and German corpses. Captain Sheridan, Christy Moran, Willie, O’Hara, and Joe Kielty force their way through the decaying bodies, many of them retching from the smell of... (full context)
Youth, Naivety, and Growing Up Theme Icon
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
...battalion are killed from the shooting and bombing. Willie weeps as he marches forward with Joe Kielty and Pete O’Hara beside him. (full context)
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
...finds himself leaping down into the enemy trenches. A German soldier almost strangles Willie, but Joe Kielty strikes him with a hammer. The German soldiers surrender, and Christy Moran groups them up... (full context)
Chapter 15
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
...desire to have fun. At the end of the night, the pianist plays a reel. Joe Kielty reveals himself to be a champion Irish dancer. All the men—whether they’re Irish, Scottish, Welsh,... (full context)
Youth, Naivety, and Growing Up Theme Icon
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
When the soldiers return to their barracks, Willie compliments Joe Kielty ’s dancing. Then he asks Joe why he joined the army. Laughing, Joe recounts how... (full context)
Chapter 17
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
...longer work as a seamstress, so Christy became a soldier to support her. O’Hara and Joe Kielty express sympathy for Christy’s wife, and Christy is relieved not to be laughed at. (full context)
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Political Conflict and Divided Loyalties Theme Icon
...relieve the soldiers who led the attack, and Biggs goes ahead to find Christy Moran, Joe Kielty , and a few other men who went too far up the ridge. Biggs is... (full context)
Chapter 18
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
Resilience and Shared Humanity Theme Icon
...Timmy Weekes that Dostoevsky would be frightened by their current circumstances. Then Willie, Timmy, and Joe Kielty wonder if battles portrayed in novels are like real battles. Willie says they must be... (full context)
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
...to move forward. A great number of soldiers fall, dead or wounded. Willie, Christy Moran, Joe Kielty , and Timmy Weekes successfully reach the allotted line and stop. A second wave of... (full context)
Chapter 21
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
...tells the terrified men to fire, but soon he orders them to pull back instead. Joe Kielty stays behind to cover them. Christy, Willie, O’Hara, Timmy, and the other soldiers of their... (full context)
Chapter 23
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
When Willie rejoins his platoon, he happily greets Joe Kielty and embraces Christy Moran, who gives him one of Timmy Weekes’s books—a Dostoevsky novel—to keep.... (full context)
The Horrors of War Theme Icon
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
Resilience and Shared Humanity Theme Icon
...had any meaning, and he feels alone. He joins in the song and is shot. Joe Kielty catches him before he falls. Just before he dies, Willie sees four angels with the... (full context)
Family, Camaraderie, and Love Theme Icon
Christy Moran and Joe Kielty bury Willie where he died. They mark the grave with a wooden cross, and Christy... (full context)