This essay examines the vocabulary and metaphors of militarism that run through Dubliners. The culture of aggression appears frequently in the childhood stories; children engage in war games and read the stories of military adventure. In “Araby,” the story about romance, for instance, the boy protagonist is compared to a romantic knight, a warrior protecting the chalice of his beloved’s image. The dance in “The Dead” becomes the vehicle for a clash; the name for the kind of dances makes the military connection explicit. “Eveline” begins with “invade,” a military word that is used in everyday life.