The Fall

The Fall is the central motif of Finnegans Wake—appearing on the first page and echoing throughout. Every fall implies a rise; every death promises resurrection.

The First Fall

The book opens with a fall:

"The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner- ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur- nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr..."

This 100-letter thunderword announces the fall of:

• Tim Finnegan from his ladder
• HCE from respectability
• Adam from Eden
• Humpty Dumpty from his wall
• Lucifer from Heaven
• All of us into mortality

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Tim Finnegan's Fall

From the Irish-American ballad "Finnegan's Wake":

Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street, A gentleman Irish mighty odd, He had a tongue both rich and sweet, An' to rise in the world he carried a hod.

Tim is a hod carrier who:

1. Falls from his ladder
2. Is presumed dead
3. Is waked by friends
4. Revives when whiskey splashes on him

This comic resurrection provides the book's basic pattern: fall → wake → rise.

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HCE's Fall

HCE's fall is social and psychological:

The Crime

Something happened in Phoenix Park involving:

• Three soldiers (witnesses)
• Two girls (objects)
• One cad (HCE or his accuser)

The Scandal

• Rumors spread
• A ballad mocks him
• He is tried (in dreams)
• His reputation crumbles

The Pattern

Stage	Event
Height	Respected publican
Accusation	The cad's encounter
Exposure	The ballad spreads
Trial	Festy King in court
Fall	Social death
Possible Rise	Dawn in Book IV

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The Fall in History

Joyce layers historical falls onto Finnegan/HCE:

Figure	Fall
Adam	Eating the apple, expelled from Eden
Lucifer	Pride, cast from Heaven
Parnell	Adultery scandal, political ruin
Napoleon	Waterloo, exile
Oscar Wilde	Trials, imprisonment
Humpty Dumpty	The wall, irreparable

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The Fall and Original Sin

The Fall is ultimately Original Sin:

"O foenix culprit!" (p. 23) (O felix culpa! — O happy fault!)

Augustine's "felix culpa" suggests the Fall was necessary:

• Without sin, no redemption
• Without fall, no rise
• Without death, no resurrection

HCE's guilt may precede any specific act—he is guilty because he is human.

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The 32-Foot Fall

The number 32 recurs throughout:

• 32 feet per second squared: Acceleration of falling bodies
• 1132: The date of the fall (also 32 reversed)
• 32 counties: Ireland whole

The physics of falling embeds itself in the text's numerology.

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Humpty Dumpty

The nursery rhyme provides a key template:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again.

HCE is Humpty:

• Egg-shaped (humpbacked)
• On a wall (precarious height)
• Fallen (irreparably?)
• Fragmented (into all his avatars)

But unlike Humpty, Finnegan rises again.

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Falling Words

The Fall echoes in the Wake's vocabulary:

Direct References

• Fall, fell, falling
• Tumble, tumpty, dump
• Drop, droop, descent
• Collapse, crash, crumble

Punned References

• "Wallstrait oldparr" (Wall Street + Old Parr + wall)
• "Foenix culprit" (Phoenix + felix culpa)
• "Humptyhillhead" (Humpty + Howth Head)

Sound Patterns

The thunderwords themselves are sounds of falling—crashes, rumbles, the noise of collapse.

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The Fall and Dublin

HCE's body is Dublin's geography:

Body Part	Location	Fall Aspect
Head	Hill of Howth	Height before fall
Body	The city	The fallen state
Feet	Phoenix Park	Scene of the crime

The sleeping giant (Finn/HCE) lies fallen beneath Ireland, waiting to rise.

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The Fall as Dream

The entire book may be a falling dream:

• We fall asleep
• We dream of falling
• We wake with a start
• The cycle repeats

This connects to:

• The hypnagogic jerk (falling sensation)
• The descent into unconscious
• The night as "little death"

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Falls in Each Book

Book	Primary Fall
I	Finnegan/HCE's initial fall
II	The children's games (who falls?)
III	Shaun's progressive collapse
IV	The final fall into sea/death

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The Rise

Every fall promises resurrection:

"Finn, again!" (p. 628)

Fall	Rise
Tim Finnegan dies	Whiskey revives him
HCE is disgraced	Dawn brings renewal
Adam is expelled	Christ redeems
Night falls	Morning comes

The Wake ends where it begins—the fall is also the rise.

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Reading the Fall

Tips

1. Watch for heights — Walls, ladders, towers, hills
2. Note the sounds — Thunder, crash, rumble
3. Track the numbers — 32, 1132, 100
4. Feel the gravity — Everything descends

Key Passages

• p. 3: The first thunderword and fall
• pp. 44–47: The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly
• p. 627: "Finn, again!"

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Further Reading

• Margot Norris, The Decentered Universe of Finnegans Wake
• John Bishop, Joyce's Book of the Dark
• FWEET — Search "fall" appearances

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See Also

• The Thunderwords — Sounds of falling
• HCE — The fallen father
• The Crime — What caused the fall
• Vico's Cycle — Fall as part of the pattern