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.
Who they are
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.
Arc & 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.
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.
Relationships in depth
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.
Connected 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.
Use this in your essay
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.