An Encounter is a short story by James Joyce. It is second in a collection of Joyce's short stories called Dubliners. It involves a boy, the narrator, and his friend, Mahony, taking a day off from school and going to the shore, to seek adventure in their otherwise dull lives. As the narrator says, "The mimic warfare of the evening became at last as wearisome to me as the routine of school in the morning because I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad." This article is in need of attention. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... Dubliners audio book cover Dubliners is a collection of short stories by James Joyce, published in 1914. ...

The episode revolves around, not only their trip, but the people that they see. There are enormous social events that the boys witness, and the narrator in an act of maturity, seems to at least be able to notice the situations. For example, the boys are mistaken for Protestants by some local children. The narrator also notices that many of the children are "ragged" and extremely poor. Near the end, the boys are approached by an older man who gives them an odd feeling. Previously, it seems to the reader that the man had been 'sizing them up' and then began to talk of mundane subjects, such as Sir Walter Scott and young sweethearts. At one point, the man excuses himself and it is implied that he masturbates before returning to the boys. He then begins a drawn-out monologue on the subject of whipping and other such corporal punishment. Deeply unsettled, the narrator looks to his friend Mahony for comfort though he admits to harboring negative feelings about him. Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing a split from within the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-to-late Renaissance in Europe —a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ... Portrait of Sir Walter Scott, by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (14 August 1771–21 September 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe during his time. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

All in all, the tale tells of society itself, between the Catholic and Protestant violence, Irish poverty, lecherous old men, foreigners and the schooling of boys at the time period. The boys encounter all this in this short story, giving us a broad view of Dublin itself. Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland, located near the midpoint of Irelands east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. ...