Ada

Ada, Farrington’s sharp-faced wife and the mother of their five children, is introduced through a domestic imbalance that changes with her husband’s drinking. When he comes home in a fury after a humiliating day, she is away at the chapel, and the brief exchange about her absence and the dinner she has left behind places her within the strained routine of the household rather than giving her an independent scene or voice.

Identity and Household

Ada lives with Farrington and their five children. The narration describes her as a little, sharp-faced woman and makes the marriage’s power dynamic conditional: when Farrington is sober, she bullies him; when he is drunk, he bullies her. Neither is presented as holding consistent authority. Instead, domestic power shifts with his intoxication, leaving the children in a home marked by reciprocal intimidation.

Farrington’s Return

After spending his money and pawning his watch, Farrington returns from the city furious and humiliated. His tram lets him down at Shelbourne Road, and he makes his way home along the wall of the barracks, loathing the return. The kitchen is empty and its fire is nearly out. He calls upstairs for Ada, but the only person who comes down is their young son, Tom.

Absence and the Domestic Routine

Farrington asks where Ada is and whether she has left him dinner. Tom answers that she is at the chapel and begins to say that there is dinner for his father. Ada’s absence is thus established through the child’s reply, while her care is registered indirectly in the meal left behind. The scene gives no account of why she has gone to the chapel or what she thinks of Farrington’s return; her presence in the household is conveyed through the routines and questions that remain when she is not there.

Narrative Role

Ada’s characterization is compressed into a description of the marriage and a single report of her whereabouts. This economy makes the shifting pattern of bullying central: Farrington’s humiliation outside the home does not dissolve when he crosses its threshold, and his return places the household under the pressure of his anger. Ada matters to the episode as both a participant in that unstable domestic relation and an absent figure whose expected presence—at the kitchen and in the provision of dinner—frames the scene, even though the narrative does not show what happens between them after she returns.