Literary and Character Analysis of Ulysses by James Joyce, Specifically Episode 18: Penelope

Every work of literature – whether long, short, humorous, or frightening – enables all readers to experience a certain set of emotions from the passages within the text; but what do these emotions imply? In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster clarifies that these reactions closely associate with symbolic meanings. He specifies how “every reader’s experience of a work is unique” in order to explain that almost everything stands as a symbol and carries various ideas – depending on the reader’s emotional interpretation (Foster 110). Foster also mentions the concept of intertextuality in which pure originality is impossible, thus resulting with authors influencing one another. Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest stands

In this book there are three major women Linda, Martha, and Mary Anne. Linda's role is positive yet very saddening because she in a way has given Tim O'Brien the power to tell stories so in depth using memories. Mary Anne's role is encouraging because she comes to Vietnam and throughout the journey she discovers herself; she redefines the typical role of women. Martha's role in this book could be considered positive because she is keeping up Jimmy Cross's morale but, at the same time it could be negative because she leads him on. So the role of women in the book is very influential in a positive way.

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

Kline states, “Molly learned long ago that a lot of the heartbreak and betrayal that other people fear their entire lives, she has already faced. Father dead. Mother off the deep end. Shuttled around and rejected time and time again. And still she breathes and sleeps and grows taller. She wakes up every morning and puts on clothes. So when she says it's okay, what she means is that she knows she can survive just about anything.” (10) She dresses as a “Goth”. Molly use to have early on had dyed black hair with white, white face makeup, and dark makeup, black-painted fingernails, and even had her nose pierced. Jack is Molly's boyfriend. He is the first person to try to break through her intimidating facade. People make assumptions about Molly. Molly comes across as rugged and indifferent. Molly's experience with Dina and Ralph has not done anything to change her attitude. Vivian is really interested in Molly, so she asks her questions about her mother and her personal life. Jack picks Molly up from her first day of work with Vivian. Molly does not appreciate the attention and tells Jack this is not part of the deal. Molly is wary of Vivian and all her questions. Molly just wants to complete her hours and get back to her life. Molly keeps her distance because she’s been through this cycle so many times before. Jack tells Molly to start asking Vivian questions about her life to distract her from asking about Molly. Vivian takes notice that

In this book there are three major women Linda, Martha, and Mary Anne. Linda's role is positive yet very saddening because she in a way has given Tim O'Brien the power to tell stories so in depth using memories. Mary Anne's role is encouraging because she comes to Vietnam and throughout the journey she discovers herself; she redefines the typical role of women. Martha's role in this book could be considered positive because she is keeping up Jimmy Cross's morale but, at the same time it could be negative because she leads him on. So the role of women in the book is very influential in a positive way.

In Henry James's “Daisy Miller,” the main character Frederick Winterbourne masks Daisy Miller’s personality with his own imagination. Told from a limited narration point of view, this novel solely emphasizes Mr. Winterbourne’s perception of the world around him, focusing most on Ms. Daisy’s character. Mr. Winterbourne aims to unravel Ms. Miller’s character make-up throughout chapter one, using only his and his aunt’s preconceived notions of women in American society. By being too introspective and imaginative, Mr. Winterbourne is unable to see Ms. Miller as anything more but a conquest, and therefore he is unable to empathize with her as another human being.

Molly Bolt was the only character in the novel to show courage, but she did not show morals, values or strength of character. Her early sexual encounters appeared to be nothing more than childhood stupidity, but Molly never grew out of it. By the end of the book, she still had never had a loving relationship with a woman, and vowed never to settle down with one. At one point she was having an affair with a married woman and her seventeen year old daughter, simply because they were sexually attractive. This shows a great lack of concern for others as well as no disregard for consequences. Without strength of character, Molly Bolt while strong and independent is not the ideal spokesperson for being a lesbian, which might be part of the void of discussion in acedamia regarding the novel.

The women in the novel, Jordan, Daisy and Myrtle, are often seen as immoral. How do you respond to this, taking into account the novel’s social and cultural context?

Taking Daisy with appreciation and without alarm, we also re-read her character and re-evaluate her moral status. We (the readers) seem to meet James’ sophistication with out own, by agreeing on a mixed interpretation of Daisy: she is literally innocent, but she is also ignorant and incautious. (1)

In the story "The Dead" James Joyce gives his protagonist, Gabriel, a characterization through imagery and symbolism. He brings Gabriel into the perspective where the reader can understand him better through techniques and devices.

Throughout James Joyce’s “Dubliners” there are four major themes that are all very connected these are regret, realization, self hatred and Moral paralysis, witch is represented with the actual physical paralysis of Father Flynn in “The Sisters”. In this paper I intend to explore the different paths and contours of these themes in the four stories where I think they are most prevalent ,and which I most enjoyed “Araby”, “Eveline”, “The Boarding House”, and “A Little Cloud”.

Ever the keen social observer, Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) often expressed his reservations about the competences of the female mind through satire or by employing alternate literary voices. However, his ridicule of the female condition does not entail that he was simply a crass misogynist. In reality, the satirist scorned humanity in general: both men and women were unable to escape his seething misanthropy. Swift’s moral satire includes three notorious poems: “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” (1730) “A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed,” (1731) and “Strephon and Chloe” (1731). Human beings tend to delude themselves and see order and beauty where none exists, yet in these poems both the male subject and the reader become disillusioned over the discovery of female humanity. Therefore, Swift seems to imply that life based on delusion usually ends in bitter disappointment, and thus attempts to free us from our prejudices and the futile denial of our basic nature. Furthermore, the author finds in Esther Johnson, or “Stella,” the perfect example of the redemption he aims to imbue in the rest of humanity. Thus, through his poems concerning women, especially Stella, Jonathan Swift reinforces his belief that all humans – even women – are capable of bettering themselves.

James Joyce’s book of short stories entitled Dubliners examines feminism and the role of women in Irish society. The author is ahead of his time by bringing women to the forefront of his stories and using them to show major roles and flaws in Irish society, specifically in “Eveline” and “The Boarding House”. James Joyce portrays women as victims who are forced to assume a leading and somewhat patriarchal role in their families. He uses them to show the paralysis of his native land Ireland, and the disruption in social order that is caused by the constant cycle of abuse that he finds commonplace in Ireland. Joyce is trying to end the Victorian and archaic view of

Another example of feminist in Joyce story is the way Eveline was being treated by her father. He had a harsh temper especially when it came to her. He treated her with disrespect because she was a woman. He would not allow her to talk to the guy she loves. Her father would also abuse her by the words he would use. He would express that Eveline was using his money to do other things other than taking care of the house and her responsibility as the woman in

James Joyce and H.G. Welles had different styles of writing and relied on different forms of narration. H.G. Wells was direct and focused on the external environment or situation. He did not give much insight on the thoughts or internal struggle of his characters, while James Joyce did. Joyce supplied his characters with a greater level of internal comprehension than Wells did and was able to provide more human like characters. This difference is especially seen in H.G Well’s Tono-Bungay and James Joyce’s A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. They do share their views on the lifestyle of religious people, but there is a difference in their style of writing their respective novels. They contrast in how they convey emotional moments, they portray violence in different lights, and their view toward youth is contradictory.