Joyce describes him thus: “The tone of his voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. I humbly looked at the great jars which stood like oriental guards on either side of the dark entrance to the stall” (Joyce 553). The stands looked dark and foreign, and also had an uninviting presence. The boy expected a positive experience but noticed that the lady and the two men at the stand spoke with an English accent. Joyce describes that the boy is experiencing something he sees very often in his hometown of Dublin and that this familiar experience has increased the boy's disappointment.