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“DUBLINERS” by JAMES
JOYCE
ORIGIN OF THE WORK
The collection of stories is supposed to be a series short stories meant for a weekly
magazine called “The Irish Homestead”. But later on Joyce, at the time he was under
the pseudonym Stephen Dedalus, he managed to succeed on the republication of
his own work known as “Dubliners” - even though he thought about a diffrent title,
which is “Epiclets” (little epics). Primarily conitained ten then they became twelve
tales after that he wrote three more stories. The novel was written on 1904. The
purpose of the “book is not a collection of a tourist impressions but an attempt to
represent certain aspects of the life of one of the European capitals”. And one of his
main reason it’s the fact that no one present Dublin to the world in a moral and
historical way. After all we are talking about his birthplace. Though his literary
innovation he aws able to make a new literary genre (short story form), follwed by
its own rules.
GENERAL PLOT
One of the main features it’s the precise historical setting (naming public buliding,
streets, monuments…) with refrences about historical figures and episodes. There is
a clear description and psychological descripction into the social insight of the Irish
society in early 20th century. There are fifteen short stories arranged in four
sections to cover different periods of a person’s life: three about children, four
about young people, four on adults and the last three on public life (politics, culture,
religion).
1° STORY: THE SISTERS
A young boy learns of the death of the Father Flynn, a priest and a good friend of
this young boy. Although the neighbors commet on the priest’s ambiguous
behaviour, the boy’s feeling grieved but at the same time curious but somehow a
feeling of relief comes in response to Father Flynn’s death. When he and his aunt
visit Father Flynn’s sister who now wonder what they will do without the
responsibility of caring for their brother.
MAIN THEMES (symbol of death and paralysis)
Paralysis: stongly associated with the priest (F.F), which is related with Catholicism
that influences and oppress the Irish along with Great Britain
Mystery: Father Flynn is surrounded by a sense of elusiveness, there is no explicit
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JOYCE
explanation about the nature of his madness or sins. But some hits like one of his
sister speaks of him as a disturbed man with psychological problems
Multiple points of view: allowed a more complete interpretation
2° STORY: AN ENCOUNTER
An adventure obsessed narrator and his friend Mahony skip school to explore Dublin
and enjoy a day of freedom. Then day goes well for them until an encounter , an old
man, in a field near the edge of the city. Their meetings started pleasantly enough,
but the old man’s repetitive talk about sweethearts and corporal punishment rapidly
made the guys uneasy
MAIN THEMES (analyses of the narrator’s feelings)
Punishment: religious mentality of irish people, it’s a side effect of disobedience.
The old man spoke precisely about sins and punishment (bad boy and how they
deserve to be whipped)
Conscience and instincts: the narrator is a conscientious boy and shows a moral
attitude, way different than his friend Mahony – who has an instinctive behaviour
and associate with the wild part of human soul. Also the queer man is associated
with knowledge and conscience but in a corrupted and degraded form.
Exoticism: Wild West and Indian fights along with fascination with sailors. Feeling
the need to escape reality and to find something more exsciting abroad. But are
dreams that won’t come true so there’s a returning to ordinary life
3° STORY: ARABY
A boy suffered from an all consuming crush on a neighborhood girl. He is afraid to
talk to her, but thinks about constantly. When she speaks to him, asking if he is
going to a bazaar called Araby, the boy promise salso to bring back a gift. After a
series of delays, he finally get to the bazaar but sadly it is closing and he can’t find
something to buy. At the end he realizes that impressing the girl ia a hopeless cause
MAIN THEMES
Orientslism: a variant of exoticism, the girl is connected with a mysterious and
fascinating Oriental atmosphere. The bazaar so called Araby is a symbol of magic
and enchantment. But this childish infatuation is opposed with the bitterness and
disappointment of reality
Detachment: the narrator is an older detached self, who remembers his chilhood
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“DUBLINERS” by JAMES
JOYCE
with an ironic and judicial attitude (double point of view). The romantic and naive
memoriesof the past are mixed with a more mature perspective
Epiphany: story ends with a clear example of epiphany. A sudden flash of revelation
he understands a bitter truth about his life ( his whole vision of love is based on
illusionsand vanity. A typical element in Dubliners is that many characters realise
something bitter and disturbing about themselves
4° STORY: EVELINE
A young woman named Eveline lives alone with her abusive father after her mother
died and all her brothers are gone. She works an unsatisfying job in a retail, but she
meets a man named Frank, and she became romantically involved with him. Frank
wants Eveline to runa way with him to Buenos Ayres, but Eveline has second
thoughts at the last minute
MAIN THEMES
Teenage love: the story opens with the pro and cons of her future life, Frank
appears a sweet and a romantic partner – who can make her happy by providing
respect, affection and a social position. For the teenage girl Frank seems a good
opportunities but her love story might be a childish dream
Family: a traditional institution, has a central role in everyday life and its tendencyto
repeat the same relationship generation after generation
Stream of consciousness: Eveline sits at the window meditating (free indirect
speech to reproduce the character’s flow of thoughts. Memories are continusly on
Eveline’s mind and it’s given a a continuous movement form past nostalgia to future
expectations
5° STORY: AFTER THE RACE
A young man named Jimmy becomes part of a group of international acquaintances
from France, the United States, Canada and Hungary. Jimmy’s family is well off, but
his new friends are wealthy on a much larger scale. Only after he loses a large sum in
a card game with them does Jimmy begin to realize that they might be out of his
league
MAIN THEMES
Reckless youth: young excited men who drink alcohol play cards and drive fast cars
not caring about the risks all these activities carry with them. It prefigure a much
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JOYCE
more despairing picture of older men who are drunk lose all their money gambling
and turn form high speed to paralysis
Social classes: describes citizens from all social classes and Jimmy Doyle is the first
wealthy Dubliner. Jimmy wants to imitate other European families. But after all
Jimmy’s final failure in the card game may foreshadow the future loss of the family
capital as further proof of the Irish inability to obtain success
6° STORY: TWO GALLANTS
Two men in their early 30s, Corley and Lenehan, try to live like much younger men.
Lacking steady work, they spend their days drinking and looking for easy accessto
women. Corley tells Lenehan about his experiences womanizing housemaids, and
reveals a plan to have his current girl steal from her employer for him. Lehehan
wonders if he might prefer to settle down
MAIN THEMES
Circles: the story has a circular structure, lenehan wanders around the same part of
the city again and again. Also represent the circles in his mind as he’s waiting
Corley’s return
Vagueness: both characters are using a vague expressions that is difficult to
understand what is their purpose (but it’s clear that’s not something good. Only at
the end the narrator reveals that Corley is actually interested in the girl’s money
Role reversal: the irony of this situation is further underlined by the title, which
defined the two friends as “gallants”, the exact opposite of what they are
Leeches: Lenehan is associated as a leech a parasite, who depends on others
(represent a repulsive side of Dublin). Mean while Coley seems proud of his
behaviour on the other side Lenehan knows his life is meaningless and sad, as soon
he remains alone
7° STORY: THE BOARDING HOUSE
A man on his thirties named Bob Doranhas an affair with Polly, the much younger
daughter of his landlady, Mrs. Mooney. Fearing he may lose his job and destroy
Polly’s reputation if one word about the affair comes out, Mr. Doran reluctantly
caves to Mrs. Mooney’s pressure to marry Polly
MAIN THEMES
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JOYCE
Manipulation: the disonest and manipulative Mrs. Mooney, a mother who will do
anything to find a husband for her young daughter. Mrs. Mooney’s physical
robustness is a symbol of her strong personality
Entrapment: Mrs. Mooney’s calculations result in the entrapment of her victim
Ambiguity: Polly seems less hypocritical than her mother and her lover, but the
narrator defines her as “little perverse madonna”. At the end of the story her tears
and the declaratiojn that she may kill herself show desperate girl but she changes
completly attitude as soon as her lover leaves the room
Open ending
8° STORY: A LITTLE CLOUD
Little Chandler questions his life choices, including a good job, a wife and a child.
When he reunites with his old friend Gallaher, who has become a reporter in
London. Gallaher describes his adventures with women and travel to Chandler, who
fantasizes about living a similar lifestyle and becoming a poet. When he gets home,
Chandler comes to feel remorse for resenting his family
MAIN THEMES
Literature: little Chandler loves poetry and dreams of writing poems about his
melanchonic feelings
Provincial attitude: one of the first character, Chandler, to have a successful career
abroad, he is arrogant and feels superior to his friend but actually hasn’t developed
much
Envy: Chandler wishes to change his life and follow his dream abroad, as all the
Dubliners he gives up and returns to his depressing everyday routine. Chandler has a
strong feeling of envy towards Gallaher, the protagonist feels a sense of unjustice of
destiny
9° STORY: COUNTERPARTS
A man named Farrington works as a clerk in a law office, but his boss repeatedly
scolds him for shoody work, exacerbated by Farrington’s habit of sneaking out
during the work day to drink. After a bad day, Farrington goes on a pub crawl with
his friends, but he becames more irritable as the night goes on, culminating in his
defeat in an arm wrestling match. When Farringtongoes home, he beats his son
because dinner is not waiting for him and the kitchen fire is out
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“DUBLINERS” by JAMES
JOYCE
MAIN THEMES
Violence: displays a violent language. The reader discovers that the protagonist has
a violent disposition, ends up beating his son Tom – which the narrator offers a
realistic and vivid description
Alcohol: violence is accompanied by alcohol. His drinking habits are a reaction to
frustrations, which is a part of a vicious cycle
Villain and victim: Farrigton is a violent, aggressive and often drunk person, who
beats up his son and bullies his wife. Hae hates his job to the point of lying about his
assignments and imsulting his boss. Mr. Alleyne is a toxic boss who shouts at his
employee and treats him rudely. After all Farrigton is the villain but also the victim
of the story
10° STORY: CLAY
A laundry worker named Maria attends a Hallow Eve partyat the home of a man she
nursed as a child. She buys a cake to give her hosts as a gift and is distraught when
she finds she left it behind the tram. Another bad omen emerges when Maria draws
a lump of clay, associated with death, in a party game
MAIN THEMES
Simplicity: Maria is a caring person who is loved by everyone, she tries to bring
peace in the workplace chats amiably with strangers on the tram and happily laughs.
The author gives to the reader a break from all these negative impressions
Loneliness: despite of her helpfulness, the protagonist is a lonely. She unmarried
probably for her unattractive features. Her life is uneventful that minor episodes like
forgetting her plumcake on the tram can become a major problem and make her
wanting to cry. At the end the reader perceives that she is alive but not living
Traditions: the story ends up in a family reunion with traditional food, drinks and
games (attachtment of the pastvgives an inability to move on and develop. The final
scene give the reader a pleasant side of this celebration but a simple game can turn
in a gloomy moment, with the foreshadowing of death
11° STORY: A PAINFUL CASE
Mr. Duffy, a bachelor, forms a close friendship with a married woman, Mrs. Sinico.
When Mrs. Sinico indicates that she wants more from Mr. Duffy’s friendship, their
relationship ends. Four years later, Mr. Duffy reads a newspaper article reporting
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JOYCE
that Mrs. Sinico has been hit and killed by a train. He learns of her decline into
alcoholism and feels guilty for ending their associationand condemning her to a life
of crushing loneliness
MAIN THEMES
Isolation: Mr. Duffy is also a lonely character but he refuses other people’s
company. Ghe is a misanthrope who feels superior than others and doesn’t want to
mix with ordinary human beings
Abandoment: the woman is abandoned without any remorse or considerations for
her feelings, leading to a slow process of degradation that will end with her death
Restraint: the protagonist of the story feels superior because he is able to restrain
himself and control his baser instincts. Only at the end Mr. Duffy feels how
desperate his life is because of his rectitude, he is “an outcast from his life’s feast”
12° STORY: IVY DAY IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM
Workers on a city campaign gather at the end of a workday to share stories of
canvassing and their opnions about their candidate’s positionon nationaliost issues.
The workers are divided in their opinion about the King of England’s upcomig visit to
Dublin, and to varying degrees, about Nationalism. A poem about Charles Parnell an
advocate for Irish home rule, brings them together in respect for the man’s memory
for a brief moment
MAIN THEME
Politics: several people are involved in the municipal elections and spend their time
chatting instead of actively campaigning for a candidate that no one seems to like.
Some of them show political passion but others seem to be looking for votes only to
earn some money
13° STORY: A MOTHER
Mrs. Kearney makes arrangements for her daughter to performa s an accompanist
in a four concert series sponsered by a Nationalist arts society. When one of the
concerts is cancelled due to poor attendance, Mrs. Kearney demands the society
adhere to the contract and pay her daughter anyway. Her insistence on payment
and her argument with the society’s secretary ends her daughter’s musical career
MAIN THEMS
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JOYCE
Irish revival: the musical festival shows a number of poor performances, failure and
personal interests interrupting the show, rather the celebrating the artistic and
patriotic aspect of the event
The musicality of his language: is an important part of his literary style and although
he’s not a poet his prose has a poetical quality, which relies on the precise choice of
sounds he was able to master
Women’s rights: Mrs. Kearney’s acute political awareness of the condition of
women, who were treated as inferior creatures with no rights, due a strong
influence of the Catholic Church and the patriarchal traditions. But Mrs. Kearney is
far from being a positive example
14° STORY: GRACE
Tom Kernan’s heavy drinking causes him to fall down some stairs in a pub and hurt
himself badly. A respectable businessman who has gone into decline, Mr. Kernan
still has powerful and respected friends who want to help him. They arrange to go to
a church service together in the hope that the power of God will help Mr. Kernan to
stop drinking
MAIN THEMES
Moral tale: Mr. Kernan goes through the classical three steps, the fall, the
conversion and the redemption. But it’s all followed by a comic and parodistic
atmosphere
Business like religion: his friends are compared as a group of buffoons, they pretend
to know everything about Catholicism while they provide all sort of misinformation
15° STORY: THE DEAD
Gabriel Conroy attends his aunt’s annual Christmas ball with wife. He has an
awkward conversation with the housemaid isn an attempt to be friendly amd harh
disagreement with one of the guests, who questions his patriotism. These events
make him nervous about a speech he has to give after dinner, but the speech goes
well. Later when he and his wife are in their hotel room, he discoversthat his wife
had a sweetheart who died before she met Gabriel. This story and the other events
of the evening lead Gabriel to question his own mortality and sense of worth
MAIN THEMES
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JOYCE
Human mosaic: the guests at the party belong to different social classes, professions
and ages. The themes and the symbols are also diverse and cover most the recurring
ideas throughout the collection
Success and failure: the story passes continuously from success to failure. The party
has several happy moments with warm for Gabriel’s speech jokes and laughter. On
the other side three women that Gabriel faces show him all his failures ( Lily’s
reaction, Miss. Ivors’s criticism and finally his wife’s revelations)
Death: is the real protagonist. Gabriel’s speech makes references to dead people
and the memories which link everybody to their past, he declares it is necessary to
stop indulging in the past and to look at the future. At the end of the story brings
him back to the dead in a poetical moment of understanding
SETTING
The colletion is mostly set up in Dublin in the early 1900s, author’s hometown. He
describes the all kinds of events – most of them are curropted and uable to move
forward (stucked in paralysis). Somtimes Englend comes into the narration and it
seemas an oppression for the dubliners, it’s an authority that doesn’t let them be
and cuts the wings of freedom
NARRATOR
The narration in most stories seems dominated by an anonymous third person who
pays close attention to circumstantial detail through in a detached manner
STYLE
Joyce writes in a “style of scrupulous meanness”. There is a detailed and realistic
description about Irish people although it’s caharacterized by simplicity the
narration is filled by symbols – important element to have a deep analysis of the
inetrior soul of the charathers. At the time he had an influnce about Freud’s
psychoanalysis and that’s let he collection be more profound in his writing
PERSONAL COMMENT
I did enjoy the reading of Dubliners, not for his simplicity odf his word but also for
the deep meaning of the the serious topics the maneged to put along with irish
tradition. Good plot twits are given in each short stories and it contributes in a less
boring reading. The themes he debates are innovative, fascinating in pysch way. The
curroption, the paralysis, the inability of the characters to make a change of their
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JOYCE
lifestyle it gives a detailed existential crisis of irish society and its deterioration. The
negativity is the main protagonist of this collection in a delight way
