Mr Power

Mr Power is a younger friend of Tom Kernan whose growing respectability stands in contrast to Kernan’s declining fortunes. In “Grace,” he acts as both practical rescuer and member of the circle that tries to draw Kernan back toward religious observance: he gets him home after a drunken fall, reassures Mrs Kernan, and helps arrange a retreat.

Identity and Social Position

Power works in the Royal Irish Constabulary Office in Dublin Castle. He is considerably younger than Kernan, and their trajectories cross in opposite directions: Power is rising socially as his friend declines. Yet Kernan retains a kind of social credit among men who knew him at his height, and Power is among those who continue to esteem him as a character. Power himself is described as debonair, though inexplicable debts are already a byword among his circle, complicating the picture of uncomplicated respectability.

Bringing Kernan Home

When Kernan is found in a bar after an accident, Power recognizes him and calls out to him as an old friend. Kernan makes light of what has happened, but speaks thickly; the constable is still trying to establish where he lives. Power enters the scene at the point when the men are debating whether to get a cab, and the account then follows the practical consequence of the intervention: Kernan is taken by car to a small house on the Glasnevin road and helped inside.

At the house, Mrs Kernan puts her husband to bed while Power remains downstairs in the kitchen. He asks the children where they go to school and which book they are studying. Their horseplay, in the absence of their mother and in awareness of their father’s helplessness, surprises him; he notices their manners and accents and grows thoughtful. The domestic scene gives his rescue a wider context: Kernan’s drinking has left his family to manage both his absence and his incapacity.

Friendship and Intervention

Power does not treat the incident as an isolated mishap. Mrs Kernan says that her husband has been drinking since Friday and complains that he never seems to think he has a home. Power responds by promising that they will make Kernan turn over a new leaf. He proposes speaking to Martin Cunningham, whom he calls the right man for the task, and says they will come back one evening to discuss it. Mrs Kernan sees him to the door and thanks him for bringing her husband home.

The promise is a gesture of friendship, but it also anticipates a more organized intervention. Power’s concern is expressed through action and through the social network around Kernan: he can call on Cunningham and join other friends in making a plan. The gap between his assurance and the later, carefully euphemized description of that plan leaves the effort poised between practical solicitude and religious persuasion.

The Retreat and Narrative Role

Later, when Kernan asks what the friends have in mind, Cunningham initially calls it a “little ... spiritual matter.” Power then tells him plainly that they are going to make a retreat. Cunningham confirms the arrangement, naming himself, Power, and M’Coy among those who will take part. Power is thus one of the friends helping to organize the Catholic retreat intended for Kernan, following his promise to Mrs Kernan that the group would try to change his habits.

The narrative presents Power through these linked acts rather than through an extended private history. His social ascent, continuing regard for Kernan, and role in the rescue place him on the side of assistance; his presence in the retreat plan shows that this assistance also takes a religious form. The contrast is quiet but pointed: the man who has declined into a drunken collapse is surrounded by friends who still consider him worth retrieving, while Power’s own debts prevent his respectable position from appearing entirely secure.