The Reunion after “8” Years and the Dilemma of Infinity: The Implications of Number “8” in a “A Little Cloud”

This article aims to analyse James Joyce’s “A Little Cloud,” focusing on the symbolism of number “8” in the text. Most of all, the fact that Joyce opens his story with the particular number is noteworthy: “Eight years before he had seen his friend off at the Northwall and wished him godspeed.” (D 60) The first line hints about two friends who have been apart for “8” years. They are going to meet again today in “8” years. Besides, Joyce arranges “A Little Cloud” as the “8th” story in Dubliners based on the quite “mathematical” (Rice 26) structure. This paper sees number 8 in “A Little Cloud” as a metonym for the dilemma of Möbius strip. Basically the strip creates ambivalence by affixing two opposite poles. By the happy coincidence, ambivalence or uncertainty is a dominant theme in Joyce’s literature as well. Consequently some Joyceans allude this unoriginability to the same characteristic of a strip. However no study reads “A Little Cloud” in line with the morphology of a strip. There are none to suggest the morphological correspondence between number “8” and a strip, in particular. This study explores these simply overlooked morphological similarities between two motifs to reexamine the theme of circularity in the novel. The meeting of two extremities of a loop generates indeterminacy on its surface along with the dilemma of infinity; likewise, the reunion of two opposite friends unfolds an indeterminate plot along with the dilemma of infinity in life. These parallels make the specific number significant as another morphology of a Möbius strip in the novel. Especially, “A Little Cloud” emphasizes that the reality is not a separate realm from the ideal in essence: it implies that both ends meet unendingly to keep in ultimate equipoise in life.