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“Little Chandler’s thoughts ever since lunchtime had been of his meeting with Gallaher, of Gallaher’s invitation and of the great city of London where Gallaher lived . . . As he sat at his desk in the King’s Inns he thought what changes those eight years had brought. The friend whom he had known under a shabby and necessitous guise had become a brilliant figure on the London Press.”
The relationship between Little Chandler and Gallaher is complicated. The two of them are old friends and have a rich history together but, at the same time, Gallaher is living the life that Little Chandler always wanted but could never achieve. This, understandably, leads to complex emotions. Little Chandler and Gallaher’s relationship illustrates that there can be a very fine line between admiration and jealousy. In this quote, Little Chandler is proud of his friend. However, his resentment begins to grow with every minute he spends in Gallaher’s presence.
“Every place is immoral… Of course you do find spicy bits in Paris. Go to one of the students’ balls, for instance. That’s lively, if you like, when the cocottes begin to let themselves loose. You know what they are, I suppose?”
Gallaher delivers this line to Little Chandler after Little Chandler asks him if Paris is an immoral place. Here, Gallager confidently asserts that “every place is immoral” and goes on to describe Paris’s raunchy side. For example, the “cocottes” that Gallaher mentions is a reference to Parisian prostitutes. This is a key moment for Gallaher’s characterization because it depicts him as a vulgar man who is more interested in Paris’s seedy underbelly than he is in travel or culture. Gallaher’s indecorous behavior is contrasted with Little Chandler’s “pious” demeanor.
