Philadelphia, Here I Come!

by

Brian Friel

Joe Character Analysis

The meekest boy in Gar’s group of friends, Joe is the only one who actually wants to talk about the fact that Gar is about to leave Ballybeg. On the night before Gar’s journey, he, Ned, and Tom come to the O’Donnell household to have one last night together, but nobody except Joe is interested in celebrating Gar. Instead, Ned and Tom—both of whom Joe admires—talk about soccer and women, and every time Joe tries to bring the conversation back around to Gar, they brush him off. Finally, Ned and Tom decide to leave to go drink elsewhere, but Joe stays behind because he doesn’t want Gar to be all alone on his final night in Ireland. Because Gar can sense how badly Joe wants to follow his other two friends, though, he insists that he should leave, too. Joe, for his part, hesitates at first to do this, but then becomes excited about the idea of having a wild night with Ned and Tom, so he jumps up to leave. Before doing so, he gives Gar a heartfelt goodbye in which he inadvertently makes it known that Madge invited the boys to the house, meaning that they wouldn’t even have come to say goodbye if she hadn’t urged them to do so.

Joe Quotes in Philadelphia, Here I Come!

The Philadelphia, Here I Come! quotes below are all either spoken by Joe or refer to Joe. 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:
Communication and Affection Theme Icon
).
Episode II Quotes

Joe and Tom and big, thick, generous Ned . . . No one will ever know or understand the fun there was; for there was fun and there was laughing—foolish, silly fun and foolish, silly laughing; but what it was all about you can’t remember, can you? Just the memory of it—that’s all you have now—just the memory; and even now, even so soon, it is being distilled of all its coarseness; and what’s left is going to be precious, precious gold…

Related Characters: Private Gar (Gareth O’Donnell) (speaker), Public Gar (Gareth O’Donnell), Ned, Tom, Joe
Page Number: 66
Explanation and Analysis:
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Joe Quotes in Philadelphia, Here I Come!

The Philadelphia, Here I Come! quotes below are all either spoken by Joe or refer to Joe. 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:
Communication and Affection Theme Icon
).
Episode II Quotes

Joe and Tom and big, thick, generous Ned . . . No one will ever know or understand the fun there was; for there was fun and there was laughing—foolish, silly fun and foolish, silly laughing; but what it was all about you can’t remember, can you? Just the memory of it—that’s all you have now—just the memory; and even now, even so soon, it is being distilled of all its coarseness; and what’s left is going to be precious, precious gold…

Related Characters: Private Gar (Gareth O’Donnell) (speaker), Public Gar (Gareth O’Donnell), Ned, Tom, Joe
Page Number: 66
Explanation and Analysis: