Topic: The moral and social underdevelopment in Dublin life in James Joyce 's short stories “The Little Cloud” and “ After The Race”.
In James Joyce’s short stories there is always an opportunity for spiritual growth for the characters, but almost always this possibility remains unrealized. The main characters are always faced with a "wall," beyond which they can’t see hope. They always feel depression or melancholy because of a lack of harmony, along with the sense that their happiness is unattainable. Jimmy and Little Chandler show the desire to gain freedom both in the world and within themselves. But in the world depicted by the writer, there are no full-fledged, harmonious relations between people. Social relationships are distorted
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They drank Ireland, England, France, Hungary, the United States of America!….What jovial fellow! What good company they were! "(Joyce, 40-41). At first glance, the author presented Jimmy as a young man thirsting for life, as if he is untouched by the stagnation that paralyzed the Dublin. But inside, he is the same son of a “dead” Dublin as the Little Chandler in the “A Little Cloud”. Feelings of Jimmy are felt in the construction of phrases, in exclamations, individual remarks and it shows how happy he is. But the author 's corrections to the point of view of the hero are significant. Although, they are done gently, without pressure, in semitones: "That night the city wore the mask of a capital" (Joyce, 39). This phrase clearly belongs more to the author than to the main character, but have a connection to the main character also. Behind the author 's irony clearly sounds a bitter soreness for his compatriots, for the wasted youth of the Dubliners, their ambitions to be like “them”. "After The Race" is not just a story about a merry party held by four very young people, but also correlate with historical situation of Ireland in the end of XIX century. This is a story about Dublin, about the sad fate of his youth in it. The dramatic motif of wasted life sounds very deep in the subtext of the story. "After The Race" is a brilliant example of how the author, behind the narrative of seemingly insignificant events, can convey
The short stories of Ireland are distinct and many times distinctly Irish. “The Limerick Gloves” by Maria Edgeworth, “The Pedlar’s Revenge” by Liam O’Flaherty, “The Poteen Maker” by Michael McLaverty, and “Loser” Val Mulkerns are each distinct Irish short stories that deal with Irish topics in original ways. These stories are stylistically and thematically Irish. They are moralistic and offer clear themes that pertain to Irish values. This analysis will explore the Irish-ness of the works and explore their meaning when held against Irish literary tenants.
In the early twentieth century, Ireland, and more specifically Dublin, was a place defined by class distinctions. There were the wealthy, worldly upper-class who owned large, stately townhouses in the luxurious neighborhoods and the less fortunate, uneducated poor who lived in any shack they could afford in the middle of the city. For the most part, the affluent class was Protestant, while the struggling workers were overwhelmingly Catholic. These distinctions were the result of nearly a century of disparity in income, education, language, and occupation, and in turn were the fundamental bases for the internal struggle that many of Joyce's characters feel.
In "Two Gallants," the sixth short story in the Dubliners collection, James Joyce is especially careful and crafty in his opening paragraph. Even the most cursory of readings exposes repetition, alliteration, and a clear structure within just these nine lines. The question remains, though, as to what the beginning of "Two Gallants" contributes to the meaning and impact of Joyce's work, both for the isolated story itself and for Dubliners as a whole. The construction, style, and word choice of this opening, in the context of the story and the collection, all point to one of Joyce's most prevalent implicit judgments: that the people of Ireland refuse to make any effort toward positive change for themselves.
All of these literary elements are portrayed in Joyce’s “The Dead”. His story depicts aspects of everyday life in the Irish capital of Dublin. Joyce portrays the parochialism and piety as well as the repressive conventions of everyday life. Joyce’s characters dream of a better life against a dismal and impoverishing background where the cumulative effects of life are full of despair and hopelessness. Through Joyce’s modernist approach to narrating he uses a structure of symbolic meanings and revelatory moments called “epiphanies”. Joyce viewed Dublin as the “Centre of Paralysis” in Ireland (Puchner, Martin 177). Joyce viewed Dublin as a city of blunted hopes and dreams that were lost in the sea of misery. A city Joyce viewed that was filled with poor who were desperate to move out of the slums that they spent their entire lives living in. Dublin’s population was constantly growing and not enough jobs
The setting of the story, Dublin, has been written in such a way that only
“People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early childhood, but nothing can compare with the Irish version”(11).
Symbolism is a powerful tool used by people every day to force people to look past the obvious and find the deeper meaning. Symbolism is used by authors, musicians, priests, and many others. James Joyce, a well-known Irish author, uses symbolism repeatedly throughout his collection of short stories published in 1916. In these stories, titled Dubliners, Joyce uses symbolism not only to enhance the stories, but to also show the hidden, underlying message of each story without coming out and saying it directly. Joyce’s stories are centered on the problems of Dublin and through his use of symbolism Joyce is able to focus attention on what problem each story is addressing. James
Joyce 's novel demonstrates a city and a society full of contradictions, parochial ideas, and paralysis. The Dublin inhabitants are divided by the river Liffey, into 'North and South ', 'rich and poor classes
When Joyce applies personification to the setting, he creates the mood of the story, and directs the reader to the double meanings found in the personified setting. As an example of mood, winter brings with it the connotation of impending gloom, as the narrator claims, "...the houses had grown sombre...the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns" (379). This idea of Winter casts itself as the mood, where the feeling of awkward introspection is predominant. The lamps like the people of Dublin, have grown weary of there own, during Ireland's own battle with identity. In the broader scope of Joyce's imagery for the short story, it may be said Ireland itself is like the adolescent struggling to find its way. Joyce's messages of "complacency" during the tremendous social and political upheaval are encapsulated in the stories like "Araby," that collectively represent the book "Dubliners."
Human beings yearn for better lives, often through escape. The main characters in James Joyce's Dubliners are no exception. Characters such as Eveline in "Eveline" and Little Chandler in "A Little Cloud" have a longing to break free of Dublin's entrapment and pursue their dreams. Nevertheless, these characters never seem to achieve a better state; rather, they are paralyzed and unable to embark on their journey of self-fulfillment. Joyce employs this motif of the empty promise of escape and its subsequent frustration through one's own responsibilities and purely physical acts. Through this, Joyce interconnects the different Dubliners stories to show that escaping life in a place as paralyzing as Dublin is no easy task on the individual.
Firstly, Joyce incorporates multiple figures of speech and elements of design to express a purpose through the events that occur in the story. As mentioned before, this story is written in first person perspective of a boy who lives with his aunt and uncle. The perspective best allows readers to understand what this boy encounters every day and his opinion on certain topics. Furthermore, it also allows readers to perceive the feelings this boy has for a girl. For example, the author mentions the boy playing and says, “The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed. Our shouts echoed in the silent street. The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes behind the houses…” (Joyce, 1). This quote highlights the lively and childish fun the boy has with his friends.
In “Counterparts”, in the collection Dubliners by James Joyce, many themes are developed over the course of the short story. Farrington is oppressed by his boss and at home and he cannot stand being controlled by his smaller boss and his monotonous work. He finds comfort in the bar, however this comfort turns into his humiliation and anger again. His anger towards the characters due to being bossed around and his own clumsiness controlling him is a reoccurring theme in the story.
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”.
In “A Little Cloud” by James Joyce, Gallaher plays a key role in shaping how Little Chandler conducts himself, as well as provoking the abrupt change Chandler has towards his family and life. Gallaher seems a successful, cultured, and metropolitan man who achieves much of what Little Chandler hopes to do in his life. While Little Chandler becomes stuck in his boring job, Gallaher travels around Europe writing newspaper articles and exploring an adventurous life that Little Chandler strives for. This life of Gallaher’s not only evokes jealousy in Little Chandler, but also anger and changes the way he sees his life and the life he truly wants. Little Chandler changes throughout the story because of his meeting with Gallaher, who parades the perfect life Little Chandler always wanted, and causing Little Chandler to regret his life choices and stimulates frustration and resentment towards his current life.
One of the key aspect of modernism was portraying the mundane and average in an honest (and often depressing) light, so it is unlikely Joyce would have made the choice to have a young narrator express himself in such an advanced and unusual way. Throughout the story, the narrator seems to have underlying animosity toward the event that took place. At the beginning of the story, the narrator describes how his evenings were spent, “When we met in the street the houses had grown sombre. The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed” (19). Even when describing fun activities, like playing outside with neighbors, the narrator uses negative language. Typically, a memory about a failed childhood crush would be met with a shrug, but the narrator still has feelings of anger toward this event all these years later. This is because this story illustrates what was likely one of the the first instances of paralysis the narrator encountered in his life. The story has value because of the implications it has on the future of the narrator. The negative tone of the story reflects how the narrator still feels disgust toward this event many years later because it was the first in a