SOURCE: Lazar, Mary. “James Joyce's ‘A Little Cloud’ and Chandler's Tears of Remorse.” Journal of the Short Story in English, no. 36 (spring 2001): 41-63.

In the following essay, Lazar analyzes Joyce's “A Little Cloud,” arguing that the relationship between protagonist Little Tommy Chandler and his son is the crucial element of the story.

Joyce's “A Little Cloud” has not generated significant critical debate, despite Warren Beck's unorthodox interpretation of the denouement in 1969. Although speculation about the title has resulted in several theories—the most recent from Corinna del Greco Lobner suggests links to Byron and Dante and refines Stanislaus Joyce's terse observation that the story reveals “a little cloud over married bliss” (“Background” 526), scholars have generally agreed that the ineffectual protagonist abuses his infant son and refuses to take responsibility for his own shortcomings. I suggest that Chandler's relationship with the child—not with his wife Annie or journalist...