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A 30-year-old man living in Dublin, Lenehan has the air of a man who has seen better times. Though relatively young and the son of what was (at least at one time) a well-to-do family, his hair is thin and graying, his belly is thickening, and his face is “ravaged.” Lenehan is vaguely associated with earning a living through gambling on horse racing. His friend, Corley, dominates Lenehan’s personality at the story’s beginning. Lenehan laughs at Corley’s jokes, permits Corley to push him off the sidewalk with his thoughtless way of walking, and generally reacts appreciatively to Corley’s crude and unappealing persona. The narrator of the story explicitly explains that Lenehan is good at ingratiating himself with those around him; he’s deft at edging his way into a group and getting included in the next round of beers, for instance, without getting branded a mooch. After Corley goes off with his lover, though, Lenehan becomes an entirely different person. He has an air of “gentility” that recalls the melancholic nobility of the harpist the two men encountered on their walk. He laments his financial and personal instability, recognizes the shallowness of his social life, and wishes he were settled and fulfilled, instead of verging on 31 and still wandering Dublin’s streets on the verge of financial disaster and without a wife or family. Lenehan’s introspective moments indicate that though he plays Corley’s manipulative game, he wishes it were otherwise. He wishes that his life were more meaningful, rather than aimless and hollow. That he cannot see any way to achieve those goals more broadly implies the general failure of Ireland—Ireland’s culture, society, and economy seem to make Lenehan’s dreams hopelessly beyond his reach.
Lenehan Quotes in Two Gallants
The Two Gallants quotes below are all either spoken by Lenehan or refer to Lenehan. 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:
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Two Gallants
Quotes
—That takes the solitary, unique, and, if I may so call it, recherché biscuit
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Most people considered Lenehan a leech but, in spite of this reputation, his adroitness and eloquence had always prevented his friends from forming any general policy against him.
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Lenehan’s gaze was fixed on the large moon circled with a double halo. He watched earnestly the passing of the grey web of twilight across its face.
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—Well...tell me, Corley, I suppose you’ll be able to pull it off all right, eh?
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—You’re what I call a gay Lothario, said Lenehan. And the proper kind of Lothario too!
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—She was...a bit of all right, he said regretfully.
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He knew that he would have to speak a great deal, to invent and amuse, and his brain and throat were too dry for such a task. The problem of how he could pass the hours till he met Corley again troubled him a little. He could think of no way of passing them but to keep on walking.
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He was tired of knocking about, of pulling the devil by the tail, of shifts and intrigues. He would be thirty-one in November. Would he never get a good job? Would he never get a home of his own? [...] Experience had embittered his heart against the world.
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His friends talked very little. They looked vacantly after some figures in the crowd and sometimes made a critical remark.
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He knew Corley would fail; he knew it was no go.
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Lenehan Quotes in Two Gallants
The Two Gallants quotes below are all either spoken by Lenehan or refer to Lenehan. 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:
).
Two Gallants
Quotes
—That takes the solitary, unique, and, if I may so call it, recherché biscuit
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Most people considered Lenehan a leech but, in spite of this reputation, his adroitness and eloquence had always prevented his friends from forming any general policy against him.
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Lenehan’s gaze was fixed on the large moon circled with a double halo. He watched earnestly the passing of the grey web of twilight across its face.
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—Well...tell me, Corley, I suppose you’ll be able to pull it off all right, eh?
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—You’re what I call a gay Lothario, said Lenehan. And the proper kind of Lothario too!
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—She was...a bit of all right, he said regretfully.
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He knew that he would have to speak a great deal, to invent and amuse, and his brain and throat were too dry for such a task. The problem of how he could pass the hours till he met Corley again troubled him a little. He could think of no way of passing them but to keep on walking.
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He was tired of knocking about, of pulling the devil by the tail, of shifts and intrigues. He would be thirty-one in November. Would he never get a good job? Would he never get a home of his own? [...] Experience had embittered his heart against the world.
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His friends talked very little. They looked vacantly after some figures in the crowd and sometimes made a critical remark.
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He knew Corley would fail; he knew it was no go.
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