Finnegan

Finnegan, the title character, whose name is derived from Finn MacCool, for two hundred years the legendary captain of Ireland’s warrior heroes; the name change is coined in a Joycean pun “Mister Finn, you’re going to be Mister Finnagain.” Finnegan, a hod carrier, has fallen from a ladder and is apparently dead. The fall is symbolic of the various falls (with implied corresponding resurrections) of humankind. At the wake, Finnegan’s friends become noisy and unrestrained, and in the course of the festivities, at the mention of the Irish word for “whiskey” (usquead-baugham!), Finnegan sits up, threatening to rise. The mourners soothe him back. With Finnegan’s demise, a new day is structured, and the hod carrier is supplanted by a man who has arrived to start life as Finnegan’s successor.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker, also Here Comes Everybody and Haveth Childer Everywhere. HCE, the newcomer, is a tavern keeper. In keeping with the metamorphosis, his initials are a carry over from Finnegan’s vocation of “hod, cement, and edifice.” Another connection between the two men lies in Earwicker’s emerging from Howth Castle and Environs, to which locale Finnegan’s interment fades in the story. HCE has wandered widely, leaving his progeny along the way, from Troy and Asia Minor, through the lands of the Goths, the Franks, the Norsemen; he has traveled in Britain and Eire; he has Germanic and Celtic manifestations; up through history he becomes Oliver Cromwell. In short, he is Here Comes Everybody and Haveth Childer Everywhere, representing civilization. At present, he is Earwicker, HCE, a sympathetic character, harrowed by relentless fate. In Phoenix Park (the Garden of Eden), he is caught exhibiting himself to several girls. This impropriety and the Dubliners’ resentment of HCE as an intruder give rise to rumors that plague Earwicker, as the scandal takes on aspects of troubled times throughout history. The tumult in Earwicker’s soul is consistent with the struggles of all battles in the past. The trials and tribulations of HCE continue until, after a description of the shadows on a windowblind of him and his wife in copulation, HCE turns from his wife. He is now the broken shell of Humpty Dumpty. The hopes of the parents are in the children. The cycle of man is ready to start anew.

Ann

Ann, also Anna Livia Plurabelle, HCE’s wife. Just as Earwicker becomes Adam, Noah, Lord Nelson, a mountain, or a tree, so is ALP (as Ann is referred to generally throughout the book) metamorphosed into Eve, Isis, Iseult, the widow who serves at the wake, a passing cloud, a flowing stream. In this last transformation, as the River Liffey (which flows through Dublin), Ann plays her most important role. At the source, as a brooklet, she is a gay, young girl. Passing her husband’s tavern, she is comely, matronly. Flowing on through Dublin, she becomes the haggard cleaning woman, carrying away the filth of the city. She finally moves on to the ocean, from which she rises again in mist to become rain and start again as a mountain stream. As Earwicker’s wife, Ann plays the part of the motivator of her husband’s energies. She is the housekeeper. She is the mother of his children. Among the various polarities spelled out in the book, Ann is love, opposed to war as depicted by Earwicker.

Kevin

Kevin, also Shaun the Postman, Chuff, Jaun, and Yawn, one of their sons. In his domestic role as Kevin, he is the extrovert, the man of action. He is the political orator, the favorite of the people, policeman of the planet, bearer of the...