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Canon Mick O’Byrne
Ned is the ringleader of Gar’s group of friends. A brutish young man obsessed with women and soccer, he visits Gar’s house on Gar’s last night in Ballybeg. Although the group of boys is supposedly there to celebrate Gar’s imminent departure, all Ned can talk about is the soccer team they’re all on, speaking extensively about how badly they’re going to beat the next team they play and failing to mention that Gar won’t even be present for this match. As Ned speaks, Private Gar notes how wildly inaccurate his stories are, since he exaggerates his memories to make himself and his friends seem more impressive, funny, and stereotypically masculine than they actually are. Before long, Ned and Tom decide to leave Gar’s house to drink at a nearby hotel in the hopes of connecting with two women they saw in town earlier that day. Just before he departs, though, he turns and gives Gar his belt, saying that Gar can use its large buckle to whip anyone who harasses him in America. With this awkward, stilted show of affection, he sets off into the night.
Ned Quotes in Philadelphia, Here I Come!
The Philadelphia, Here I Come! quotes below are all either spoken by Ned or refer to Ned. 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:
).
Episode II
Quotes
They open the door. Ned hesitates and begins taking off the broad leather belt with the huge brass buckle that supports his trousers.
Ned: (shyly, awkwardly) By the way. Gar, since I’ll not see you again before you go –
Tom: Hi! What are you at? At least wait till you’re sure of the women!
Ned: (impatiently to Tom) Agh, shut up! (to Public) If any of them Yankee scuts try to beat you up some dark night, you can…(Now he is very confused and flings the belt across the room to Public.) You know… there’s a bloody big buckle on it… manys a get I scutched with it…
[…]
Ned: You’ll make out all right over there…have a…
Tom: I know that look in his eyes!
Ned wheels rapidly on Tom, gives him a more than playful punch, and says savagely:
Ned: Christ, if there’s one get I hate, it’s you!
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Explanation and Analysis:
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…
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Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Ned Quotes in Philadelphia, Here I Come!
The Philadelphia, Here I Come! quotes below are all either spoken by Ned or refer to Ned. 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:
).
Episode II
Quotes
They open the door. Ned hesitates and begins taking off the broad leather belt with the huge brass buckle that supports his trousers.
Ned: (shyly, awkwardly) By the way. Gar, since I’ll not see you again before you go –
Tom: Hi! What are you at? At least wait till you’re sure of the women!
Ned: (impatiently to Tom) Agh, shut up! (to Public) If any of them Yankee scuts try to beat you up some dark night, you can…(Now he is very confused and flings the belt across the room to Public.) You know… there’s a bloody big buckle on it… manys a get I scutched with it…
[…]
Ned: You’ll make out all right over there…have a…
Tom: I know that look in his eyes!
Ned wheels rapidly on Tom, gives him a more than playful punch, and says savagely:
Ned: Christ, if there’s one get I hate, it’s you!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
