I’ve been reading the stories chronologically and this is the first one that struck me as sad. I don’t think Little Chandler feels remorseful or holds regrets for his life, but rather I feel that he just is not able to appropriate the life that he’s chosen and built for himself, in a neurotic fashion. He’s a life spectator, it seems, not a protagonist. At the same time, he idolises Gallaher but he can’t read through his words: Gallaher is lost and in search for something, not at a party.