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Analysis Of Dubliners By James Joyce

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Dubliners by James Joyce compiles a variety of snapshots of life and culture; it captures people with very different situations and backgrounds all against the backdrop of early 20th century Dublin. Though the characters are not tethered to reality, the themes often relate directly to events in Joyce’s experience (Gray). The stories in totality do not follow one constant plot, but if one story can be said to represent the collection as a whole, it is certainly “The Dead.” The final story in the series, “The Dead” encapsulates the entirety of feelings that Joyce has towards Dublin and connects Joyce with the narrative in an indirect but powerful way. Each of the other stories contains elements, symbols, or motifs that support or relate to those within “The Dead.” Love, loss, alcoholism, money, and other themes are tools; the reader may learn from them through the ways that Joyce’s characters view them. Ireland was Joyce’s home, but despite his love for the country, he disliked how lethargic it had become. He distanced himself from the its inability to embrace a changing world. Dubliners is not simply a criticism of the Irish, however. Though the first fourteen stories demonstrate Joyce’s judgements on the different manifestations of Dubliners’ paralysis, “The Dead”- written several years after the others and while Joyce was no longer living in Ireland- reveals Joyce’s own altered perception of the condition of Irish culture (Gray). The central purpose of Dubliners is to

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