Actions and Behavior that illustrate the theme of poverty.

Poverty dominates the play, whose characters have barely enough money to stay afloat. The Boyles don't even have enough for Juno to be willing to share tea with Joxer Daly. Jerry Devine states his standards for a husband in terms of money, telling Mary how much he expects to earn, and Bentham leaves Mary when he finds out she has no money to share.

Ironically, the Boyles live in poverty despite both children's beliefs in ideals and principles. Mary, for her part, has gone on strike with her trade union to support a fellow worker and often tells her mother, "a principle's a principle." Yet despite their sacrifices, Ireland remains at war, both Mary and her co-worker now have no work, and the family has barely enough money to survive.

The play's language reveals the dehumanizing effects of poverty. There are several allusions to animals: Boyle is a peacock, possessing pride and useless display; he refers to working as "mulin," becoming a beast of burden. Even Juno has to act like a huntress in order to catch Joxer. There are also a number of animal-related verbs, such as butchering, sacrificing, grousing, galloping, cantering, gobbling, and so on, which imply the animalistic nature of the poor. The references disappear in Act II, when the family thinks they have money; thus we see it is the conditions of life that brutalizes the characters and causes most of them to treat each other in an exploitative way.