Structure

The short story “Walking Away” by Philip Ó Ceallaigh follows a chronological plot structure, although the narrative thread is sometimes interrupted by flashbacks to the time the story’s two characters first meet.

The story begins in medias res, with the main character thinking about the phone number of a woman he met at a funeral: “Her telephone remained in the pocket of his funeral trousers for over two weeks. He had not forgotten about it, but he had no particular interest in it either.” This beginning arouses interest in the readers, as they might wonder why the woman decided to make a connection with the man at a funeral, and whether the man would follow through and contact her. We also do not know, at this point, whose funeral it was.

The next paragraphs set the scene and provide some context and insight into the man’s general attitude:

The branches dropped their leaves, and the people, now wearing the hats and coats that had long hung in wardrobes, boarded buses and tramcars less lightly than before. Listening to their speech, watching them in the streets, he thought he was looking at people who spoke and moved but did not know why or did not care. During this interval he found i...