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Character analysis

Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys)

in Philadelphia, Here I Come! by Brian Friel

Con, Joe, and Tom — known as "the Boys" — are Gar O'Donnell's closest friends in Ballybeg, and they act together as a single dramatic unit in Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come! They mainly appear in Episode II, when they come to say goodbye to Gar on the eve of his move to Philadelphia. Instead of providing the heartfelt send-off Gar longs for, the Boys turn out to be disappointingly shallow. Their conversation revolves around trivial gossip, crude jokes, a borrowed football, and vague promises of visiting Gar in America "some night." This visit is a pivotal moment for Gar — he approaches it with the genuine hope that his friends will offer him something meaningful to take with him, a real memory or moment of connection. Instead, Private Gar cruelly mocks the encounter as it happens, revealing the Boys' visit as empty and their friendship as largely superficial. The scene highlights one of the play's main themes: the lack of communication and genuine human connection in rural Irish life. The Boys are not malicious; they are simply limited, caught in the same stagnant routines of Ballybeg that Gar is eager to leave behind. Their very normality makes them both relatable and condemnable. They reflect what Gar's life would look like if he stayed — and, ironically, they also represent what he will lose and might even romanticize once he is gone.

About this character

Form
Play
Author
Brian Friel
First published
1964

The person01–03

01·Who they are

Who is Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys)?

Con, Joe, and Tom — collectively "the Boys" — are three young men from Ballybeg who make up the social circle of Gar O'Donnell in Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come! They function as a unit instead of distinct individuals, a deliberate choice by Friel that highlights their role in the play. They have names but lack distinct personalities. They embody the interchangeable nature of their small-town environment, presenting similarities in outlook, vocabulary, and emotional range. Alongside their ringleader Ned, they reflect the communal, laddish culture of rural Donegal — a world of borrowed footballs, recycled gossip, crude humour, and a future that mirrors the past. They are not villains; rather, they are ordinary young men, and that ordinariness is essential to the narrative.

02·Arc & motivation

What is Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys)'s arc and motivation?

The Boys do not experience a traditional arc; their purpose is to resist change and development. In Episode II, they arrive to bid Gar farewell, yet their visit lacks any real meaning due to their limited emotional expression. Their underlying goal, if it can be termed as such, is to continue their routine: fill silence with noise, deflect intimacy with banter, and leave without having truly connected. Their motivation stems not from cruelty but rather from a desire for comfort, preferring the predictability of routine over emotional depth or vulnerability.

03·Key moments

What are Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys)'s key moments?

The farewell visit in Episode II stands as their primary significant moment in the play. Gar approaches it with a desire for something meaningful from his friends — a genuine word, a shared memory, or an acknowledgment of their friendship's significance. Instead, he receives inconsequential chatter about a football match, a potentially unreturned borrowed ball, and a light-hearted promise to visit him in America "some night." The ambiguity of "some night" conveys a profound emptiness. Meanwhile, Private Gar offers a sharp commentary, mimicking the Boys' voices and revealing the hollowness of the interaction in real time. This scene transforms into a blend of cruel comedy, inciting both laughter and discomfort. The Boys depart unchanged, unaware of their impact, and unwittingly damning.

The cast04–05

04·Relationships

What are Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys)'s most important relationships?

With Public Gar, the Boys symbolize his entire peer social world, which provides him little support on the night he needs it most. Public Gar maintains a façade of cheerfulness, performing friendship even as it fails him. With Private Gar, they become subjects of mockery; Private's sharp mimicry dissects their banality, turning genuine disappointment into performance. Beneath the cruelty, however, lies real hurt; genuine care drives mockery. With Ned, the Boys serve as an audience to his dominance, following his conversational lead and amplifying the laddish tone he establishes. In contrast to S.B. O'Donnell, the Boys structurally mirror Gar's father: on his final night, every important relationship — with father and friends — leaves him emotionally isolated. This failure transcends generations to reflect a universal condition in Ballybeg. Against Kate Doogan, the Boys' superficial farewell starkly contrasts Gar's lost connection with Kate, who once represented authentic emotions; the Boys signify what remains after that potential has faded.

05·Connected characters

How is Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys) connected to the other characters?

Gar O'Donnell (Public)

The Boys are Gar's closest peers in Ballybeg. Their farewell visit in Episode II is one of Public Gar's last social interactions before emigration; he receives them with suppressed hope, masking his longing for a genuine goodbye beneath cheerful small talk.

Gar O'Donnell (Private)

Private Gar mercilessly dissects the Boys' visit in real time, mocking their banality and exposing the emptiness of the friendship. His running commentary transforms the scene into a painful comedy, revealing how deeply Gar is let down by people he genuinely cares about.

Ned

Ned is the dominant, most vocal member of the Boys' group and functions as their de facto ringleader. He drives the conversation during the farewell visit and most fully embodies the laddish, emotionally closed culture the Boys collectively represent.

S.B. O'Donnell

The Boys' visit implicitly contrasts with Gar's failed relationship with his father. Both the Boys and S.B. leave Gar emotionally stranded on his last night, underscoring the play's theme of pervasive communicative failure across generations and peer groups alike.

Kate Doogan

The Boys' shallow banter during the farewell visit stands in stark contrast to the depth of feeling Gar once had for Kate. Their inability to engage meaningfully highlights what genuine emotional connection — now lost — once meant to Gar.

Study06–07

06·Questions

Questions readers ask about Con, Joe, and Tom (The Boys)

Who are Con, Joe, and Tom in 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!'?

Con, Joe, and Tom are Gar O'Donnell's closest friends in Ballybeg, collectively known as "the Boys." Friel presents them as a single dramatic unit rather than distinct individuals, which underscores their interchangeable, small-town outlook. They appear primarily in Episode II to bid Gar farewell before his emigration to Philadelphia, and their visit becomes a key moment of disappointment and failed connection.

Why does Friel give Con, Joe, and Tom no individual personalities?

Friel makes the Boys interchangeable to emphasise the stagnant, communal culture of Ballybeg rather than individual character. By denying them distinct personalities, he suggests that rural Donegal produces a conformity of outlook, vocabulary, and emotional range — a world where individuality is flattened by routine. Their sameness is intentional; it is a structural argument about the environment Gar is determined to escape.

What happens when Con, Joe, and Tom visit Gar on his last night?

The Boys come to say goodbye in Episode II, but instead of offering Gar a meaningful send-off, they fill the visit with trivial gossip, crude jokes, and talk of a borrowed football. Their only promise is to visit him in America "some night" — a vague phrase that conveys profound emptiness. Gar had hoped for genuine connection; instead, the scene becomes a painful comedy, with Private Gar mocking the Boys' banality in real time.

How does Private Gar respond to the Boys' farewell visit?

Private Gar mercilessly dissects the visit as it unfolds, mimicking the Boys' voices and exposing the hollowness of their conversation. His running commentary transforms the farewell into a blend of cruel comedy and genuine hurt, prompting laughter while revealing Gar's disappointment. The mockery shows that Private cares deeply about the friendship even as he condemns its limitations.

What is the significance of the Boys promising to visit Gar "some night"?

The phrase "some night" is one of the scene's most telling details, conveying a promise so vague it amounts to nothing. It captures the Boys' emotional evasiveness — offering the form of a farewell gesture without any real substance. For Gar, who approaches the visit hoping for something meaningful to carry with him to Philadelphia, the ambiguity of "some night" crystallises how thoroughly his friends have failed him.

How is the Boys' visit similar to Gar's relationship with his father, S.B.?

Both the Boys and S.B. O'Donnell leave Gar emotionally stranded on his final night in Ballybeg. Friel structures the two failures in parallel: just as S.B. cannot bridge the silence between himself and his son, the Boys cannot offer anything beyond surface-level banter. Together, these encounters suggest that communicative failure in Ballybeg is not an individual flaw but a pervasive, generational condition.

Do Con, Joe, and Tom represent what Gar's life would become if he stayed in Ballybeg?

Yes — the Boys embody the future Gar is fleeing. Caught in the same stagnant routines of Ballybeg, they offer a living portrait of the limited emotional and social world that awaits anyone who stays. Ironically, Friel also suggests that once Gar reaches Philadelphia, he may romanticise these shallow friendships from a distance, making nostalgia an unreliable and even dangerous foundation for identity.

What is the role of Ned in relation to Con, Joe, and Tom?

Ned functions as the de facto ringleader of the Boys, driving the conversation during the farewell visit and most fully embodying the laddish, emotionally closed culture they all share. Con, Joe, and Tom largely follow his lead, amplifying the banter he establishes rather than introducing their own voices. This dynamic reinforces Friel's point about the group's collective conformity and their shared resistance to genuine emotional expression.

07·Essay angles

Use this in your essay

Tool · Essay angles

  • The Boys as symbol of stagnation

    Argue that Con, Joe, and Tom embody the Ballybeg existence that Gar seeks to escape — and explore Friel's commentary on the costs of remaining versus leaving.

  • Collective identity as dramatic technique

    Analyze Friel's choice to depict the Boys as an indistinguishable unit, and what this suggests about individuality, community, and emotional repression in rural Ireland.

  • The comedy of failure

    Examine how the farewell scene employs humour — particularly through Private Gar's mimicry — to address themes of loneliness and failed communication, suggesting that laughter and grief coexist in Friel's drama.

  • Parallel failures of connection

    Develop a thesis on the structural similarities between the Boys' hollow visit and Gar's disconnected conversation with S.B., arguing that Friel presents communicative failure as an inherent aspect of Ballybeg life rather than an individual's fault.

  • Romanticisation and memory

    Reflect on the irony that these shallow friendships might be what Gar romanticizes upon reaching Philadelphia — and what this reveals about nostalgia's unreliability as a foundation for identity.

Philadelphia, Here I Come!

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