In “A Little Cloud”, one of James Joyce’s short stories in Dubliners, the plot is based on a meeting of two men who are old friends: Ignatius Gallaher and Little (Thomas) Chandler. They have not seen each other for eight years, and now they are meeting in a pub called Corless’s. Ignatius Gallaher has become successful in his career in London: as Little Chandler remarks in himself, Gallaher has become “a brilliant figure on the London Press” (76). Little Chandler himself, however, is just an office clerk, who has not achieved much, at least not according to Gallaher’s standards. This is why Little Chandler is so excited to meet his old friend, as he expects Gallaher to shed the light of success on him, too.

On his way to Corless’s, Little Chandler starts to think about the possibilities of his becoming a poet, and these thoughts, as well as the fact that he is expecting to meet his successful friend, make him feel ”superior to the people” he passes (79). He is not only moving in Dublin in a geographical sense, but also spiritually, moving away from his own shabby life towards something he highly esteems, and which is symbolized for him by Gallaher. Little Chandler is so immersed in his highly hopeful thoughts and great expectations that he passes the right street and has to turn back.