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Dubliners (1914) by James Joyce Introduction Joyce said that in Dubliners his intention was to write a chapter in the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because the city seemed to me the centre of paralysis. The 15 stories which make up the collection are studies on the decay and banality of lower middle-class urban life and the paralysis to which Joyce refers is both intellectual and moral. The characters who appear in the stories lead un eventual and frustrated lives, which are described through carefully chosen details. The fact that there is very little action points again to the paralysis and monotony of life in a modern city. The stories are divided into 4 groups. As Joyce explained: I have tried to present (Dubins paralysis) under four of its aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life.
The stories are arranged in this order... The sisters After the race An encounter CHILDHOOD The boarding house ADOLESCENCE Araby Eveline Two gallants A little cloud Ivy day in the committee room Clay A mother PUBLIC LIFE Counterparts MATURE LIFE Grace A painful case And then the last story, The dead, is longer, subtler and it can be considered as Joyce's 1 st masterpiece. Themes Though, at first glance, the stories seem simply to be realistic, objective descriptions of everyday life, they are psychologically eventful. The psychological action often takes the form of an EPIPHANY in which a commonplace action or object brings a character an unexpected revelation truth and a deep understanding of life. The chief theme which holds the 15 stories together is the failure to find a way out from PARALYSIS, both physical and moral, linked to religion, politics and culture. Dublin is the heart of this paralysis and all citizens are victims.
The moral center of Dubliners, however, is not paralysis alone but the revelation of paralysis to its victims. Each character comes to a knowledge, an awareness of his own condition and for a moment hes able to see with clarity what is the best way to make all his / her dreams and hopes come true. But each character is always defeated from the environment, which shows to possess more strenght. Thats why we have the impression of inactivity, almost immobility. The idea of a moral paralysis is expressed sometimes in terms of physical arrest, in a real weakening of characters impulse and ability to move far or in the right direction because of their frustration or their complete lack of orientation.
Paralysed by boredom and anguish the characters try in vain to escape from the oppressive morale imposed by the materialistic society and they often look for love because love is the right way to escape from solitude and the sense of enclosure they experience. Most of the short stories, though, end with a defeat and a consequential frustration of the character. Very often its a banal situation, a trivial gesture or sight which cause the self realization of the characters about their no-way-out lives. That sudden awareness is properly called epiphany, which is exactly the sudden revelation of a hidden reality through casual words or events. When Joyce's heroes realize their condition we become aware that the revelation of Dublin to its citizens reveals our world and ourselves.
Characters The characters are also unable to relate successfully either to each other or with the world; if Dubliners are paralysed in their relationships, their paralysis is often of a sexual nature. Narrative technique The omniscient narrator and the single point of view are rejected: each story is told from the perspective of a character. Narrated monologue, in the form of indirect thought and often of free indirect thought, is widely used: it consists in the presentation of the protagonists thoughts through limited mediation of the narrator and allows the reader to acquire direct knowledge of the character. Language The linguistic register is varied, since the language used in all the stories suits the age, the social class and the role of the characters, though most of the times the language is realistic. Historical hints The series of short stories included in dubliners depict a broken morale in and around the city of Dublin. The early 1900 s marked a time of disheartened spirits not only in Dublin but all of Ireland.
England still clutched Ireland under its own control, thats the main reason which made citizens bitter and dismayed. It wasnt until 1922 that Ireland freed itself from England. Up until that time, Ireland was occupied and ruled from Britain. The occupation had begun hundreds of years before, but from the end of the 18 th century, a distinct Irish nationalism began to evolve. From 1801 onwards, Ireland had no Parliament of its own. It was ruled by the Parliament in Britain which consisted of the House of Commons and House of Lords.
Meanwhile, in the 1840 s, a small group formed out of the Young Ireland movement. The leader, Thomas Davis, expressed a concept of nationality embracing all who lived in Ireland regardless of creed or origin. A small insurrection in 1848 failed, but their ideas influenced the coming generations. The unity of Dubliners In Dubliners the most important aspect is the systematic use of symbols.
Such images, significantly disposed, give a firm texture and pattern to the individual stories of Dubliners and points out the integrity of the work as a whole. This unifying aspect is evident in the realistic elements of the book and appears in the struggle of certain characters to escape the circumstances of existence in Ireland and especially in Dublin, the centre of paralysis. In Dubliners, none of Joyce's protagonists moves very far though some aspire to go far. Yet their dreams of escape and the desire to fly away to another country are really suggestive. In Dubliners, the meaning of movement is complicated by that symbolic paralysis which Joyce himself referred to, an arrest imposed from within, not by the external situations, but by a deficiency of impulse and power. thats why it should be no surprise to discover in a book developing the theme of moral paralysis a structure of movements and stases, a system of motions and arrests, involving every story.
Theres above all a tendency to eastward movement among the characters of Dubliners. Interpreted realistically, without record to symbolism, this aspect shows the frustration of Dubliners unable to escape to a more living world. However, from the symbolic point of view, the eastward motion or the desire of it has a much more complicated meaning. Eastward movement theme finds its roots in the catholicism; the ancient custom of building churches with their heads to the east so that the celebrant of the mass faced east: in doing so the priest looked toward Eden, the earthly paradise; the catechumens 4 th century turned to the west to renounce Satan and to the east to recite the creed before they stepped into the baptismal font; Cost returning for the Last Judgment was expected to come from east; East: universally accepted emblem of beginning and place of birth.
So, that unity of Dubliners which critics talk about, is realized in terms of religious images and ideas (most of them distinctively Christian). Joyce's schematic arrangement of virtues and sins in Dubliners First 3 stories faith, hope, love (THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES) From 5 th to the 11 th story pride, covetousness, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth (SINS) P. S. the 7 stories devoted to the sins occupy exactly the central position of the book) From 12 th to 14 th story justice, temperance, prudence (CARDINAL VIRTUES) 15 th story No virtue or sin is given (maybe Joyce aims to suggest its predominance). The pattern of virtues and sins and the pattern of motions and arrests in Dubliners express one development. The stories The sisters-This story is a riddle.
Nothing comes quite clear. The nameless boy who tells the story is puzzled by hints and intricate questions and so are we. The sisters opens simply with night, paralysis and death which, as we have seen, point toward the final story. Central words (they express mens physical, moral, spiritual imperfections): -paralysis (physical imperfection) -gnomon (imperfect geometrical figure) -simony (ecclesiastical sin imperfection) About the plot, almost nothing happens.
The poor Father Flynn is talked about by the old Cotter and the sisters and thought about or remembered by the boy. The story is mostly made of talk and memory from which we learn that Father Flynn was a queer one (un tipo strong), untidy, torpid and probably perverse. Epiphany in the story: the boys nightmare of Father Flynn's grey face and his murmured confession Themes: confession (in the dream) communion (Father F. drops a chalice; when dead he loosely hold a chalice; the glass of wine received by the boy at the table (altar). An encounter-This story seems a continuation of The sisters.
Connections: -both stories are told in 1 st person by the same boy, whos now a little older; -both have archetypal themes: in The Sisters image of the father in An encounter image of the journey or, better, of the QUEST ( = that is, journey with a goal). This quest is for the PIGEON HOUSE, Dublin's electric light and power station on the breakwater in the bay. Symbols: light and power suggest God; the pigeon traditional icon of the Holy Ghost. The boys never get to the Pigeon House. Their quest ends in frustration. They meet an old man near the bank of the Dodder.
He really looks like Father Flynn because of his clothes, teeth and perversity. the old man is called by Mahony as a queer old JOSSER (un tipo molto strong) nothing in Joyce is accidental. JOSSER can be English slang for a simpleton (sempliciotto). Those this is not the right case. But the word can also be Pidgin English ( inglese semplificato most ad elements indigent) fro a devotee of a Joss ( = idol) or a God. Probably not God, as some have thought, the pervert here may imply what men, unable to reach the Pigeon House (that is, The Trinity), find in place of him.
Other themes: -ILLUSION AND DISILLUSIONMENT (desiring relief from the boredom of school and Dublin, the boy wants to escape green eyes = symbol of escape). Theres disappointment because: -the green-eyed Norwegian sailor shouts All right! All right! (that seems commonplace) -the boy meets a pervert with his bottle-green eyes. Epiphany of the story -silence (it is like that which pervades a church after a service) -the stupid conversation of a young lady with two men (this is a typical epiphany because it shows the emptiness of the moment and provides the sinking sensation) The promise of enchantment has benn followed by disenchantment. Last sentence (it shows the moment of realization): gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity.
Eveline This story is the best expression of Joyce's paralysis. The plot is simple. This girl, who has a dull job and leat's a dull life whit a brutal father, is offered escape by a sailor. But Irish paralysis frustrates her bold project.
The end doesnt show awareness but inability, arrest. Images, though less abundant than in the first three stories, are never insignificant. The most important images, however, include life and death: Dust finds its opposites in the good air of Buenos Aires and in the sea. Buenos Aires, never reached, is Eveline's Pigeon House (connection with an encounter). Also in Eveline, as in each of the first three stories, there is a missing priest, represented here by a Yellowing photograph in the parlor. After the race This story was published during 1904.
We notice a Joyce's unfamiliarity with the subject. He almost didnt know anything about cars, yachts etc. etc... Such ignorance may explain the failure of this story.
Jimmy, the protagonist, may represent Joyce during his temporary infatuation with speed, elegance and machine. Big admirer of Frenchmen, Hungarians, Englishmen and Americans, Jimmy finds in their cars and yachts his pigeon house and his Buenos Aires. The bitter realization of his true condition comes with the grey light of day (thats quite unnatural as well).
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