Upon reading the stories this week, I again noticed that the characters always have a moment revelation in which they recognize the truth of the situation, but do nothing to change it. In “After the Race”, Jimmy loses a game of cards, and gives a speech as he was intoxicated completely embarrassing himself. He hangs his head in his hands, knowing that regret will set in the next day, but the funny part about this is the next day is already there. This story suggests that regret is always lurking; as he ignores the situation he covers it with his obsession of wealth. The next short story, “Two Gallants” is about two men who convince a maid to steal from their employers. These men both live a shallow life, and are not very ambitious. The ironic thing about this story is these men are far from ‘gallant’, as the title of the story is “Two Gallants”. One of Joyce’s techniques throughout the Dubliners is using deep underlying messages about Irelands past, for instance, in “Two Gallant” a harp is used which is a traditional symbol of Ireland. Again, Lenehan’s dinner reflects the colors of Ireland’s flag, green peas and orange ginger beer. As we talked in class, the stories gradually begin to change and the characters start to grow as the stories go on. For example, the first few stories were about young boys, to teenagers and finally the last story “The Dead”. I find this very interesting, and as I continue reading these stories I find myself becoming more involved in each story.
Ashley Belcik
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After having read further into “The Dubliners,” it is becoming more apparent to me that , in my opinion, the stories don’t really lead anywhere. Joyce tells us what happens to these odd characters, but there is nothing more in the story after that. In “After The Race,” we learn of the drivers and what has happened after the race, but with Joyce’s subtleness, it is hard to realize what is really being stressed. Nothing really happens in this story, but by the symbolism, we know that he relates the nationalities of the men to the countries. Which means that all the other countries are outgoing and energetic, while Ireland sits there and listens without making any objections or implications. The story leads to nothing and we are left felling as if the story was useless. In “The Two Gallants,” the two un-gentlemanly men are nothing but bums. Jobless and unattached the two men are playing women. One makes his girl steal money form the family she works for. This story also leads nowhere as in the end, it ends with her stealing a gold piece for him, a low life. In most of Joyce’s stories, there is a sense that the story will lead to something bigger, but in the end we find ourselves in the same position.
ReplyDeleteLeah Scabilloni
I agree with Ashley, as she states that all the characters have a moment of revelation. As we continue on in "The Dubliners," Polly, in "The Boarding House," realizes what she had been waiting for. Same is true in "A Little Cloud.” After talking to Ignatius, Little Chandler wonders why he had ever chose to marry “the eyes in the photograph.”
ReplyDeleteLeah Scabilloni
For this week, we were assigned to read After the Race and The Two Gallants in the Dubliners. In these two stories, the main characters still seem to be paralyzed in their own ways. For Jimmy in After the Race, it seems that paralysis prevents him from leaving the poker game on the yacht, but it doesn’t seem to affect him, and he mentioned how he was happy to be there in the end. Lenehan from the Two Gallants doesn’t seem to be bothered by his paralysis either. He even wonders if he will always live the same life of not working and not settling down forever, but he decides that he is fine being stuck with that life after he has had something to eat. In class we discussed more themes found in these two stories. In After the Race, Jimmy only speaks about other countries and not his own, which brings out and underlying theme of a lack of nationalism for Ireland during that time. And in The Two Gallants, the fact that Corley and Lenehan don’t work shows that it was common in Ireland for men not to contribute to positive changes in society. These themes make me question why Ireland seemed to have lost all hope around the time that The Dubliners was written. In response to the post from Ashley Belcik, I also see how the main characters in these stories are progressively becoming older, and even though this collection of short stories, I find myself wondering if James Joyce personally experienced any of the things his characters have endured. It is possible that he has simply written about these specific events to further symbolize his views on Ireland during his lifetime.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Iams
I found these last two stories, "After the Race" and "The two Gallants" were harder to read and understand than the first two stories in "The Dubliners". After talking about them in class, it was easier to understand what was behind the words in the stories. In "After the race" and after talking about it in class, it is apparent that they are relating the men to opposing countries. In "The two Gallants" the men in the story, in my opinion, weren’t treating women as they should be treated, and in the end they only wanted something out of one, which was money. After finding out what the word Gallant meant, it was kind of ironic that Jaymes Joyce would name this chapter “The two Gallants” because the men in the story weren’t really anything near gentleman. I didn’t really find the symbolism with “paralysis” in these stories; maybe it was because it was harder for me to read. After reading these, I decided that I liked the other stories better and that they had a more obvious symbolism to it. Also I couldn’t find the railing in the “Two Gallants”, and again maybe I wasn’t looking for it as much as I was trying to understand the story.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Leah:
I agree with Leah when she says that these stories really dont go anywhere, and that the only story that went anywhere was "Eveline". I agree also with Leah, because we think that a story is going to go somewhere, and then in the end it kind of leaves us in the dust.
Alex Rhodes.
Throughout the “Dubliners” Joyce’s reoccurring opinion that Ireland has nothing to offer and that you have to leave the country to do anything worthwhile with your life is apparent. In almost every story so far there have been comparisons of Ireland with other countries such as England , France, and Germany. Not only has Joyce shown that he thinks that these other countries have far more to offer than Ireland, he makes the characters from those other countries appear more well rounded, interesting, and more educated than the Irish. In “The Two Gallants”, the Irishmen are shown as useless to their country by being middle-aged and jobless men who take advantage of women ,along with behaviors that show no change. In the last story “A Little Cloud”, the main character’s lifestyle is looked down upon by his friend because he has chosen to settle down with a wife and child in Dublin, rather than choose a life of adventure by seeing the excitement other countries have to offer. His friend, Gallaher, has traveled all around and experienced beautiful, exciting cities such as Paris, and spends the entire meeting with Little Chandler going on and on about how great everywhere else, as well as how little time he spends back home.
ReplyDeleteresponse to leah:
ReplyDeleteI agree with leah’s opinion of how all of these short stories seem to lead to nothing in the end. I feel that when I am reading these stories I am looking out for certain suggestions, but never really find anything significant because Joyce’s writing is so veiled by symbolism from 100 years ago that it is hard to correctly decode anything.
Even though Joyce’s stories are still very hard to read, I’ve found myself enjoying them more this week. The stories we read this week continued the theme of Ireland’s hardships. In “After the Race”, Jimmy is the representative character of Ireland and who everything seems to go wrong with, including losing the card game and terribly embarrassing himself. The same is with “Two Gallants”, where Lenehan and Corley are far from gallant gentlemen and abuse Ireland with their stealing of goods. I enjoyed these stories at first because they were more entertaining than the past stories we have read, but I still had a lot of trouble trying to figure out Joyce’s symbolism. For example, I had no idea that a harp was a symbol for Ireland until we talked about it afterward in class. While I am starting to like reading this book more, I still don’t feel like I get much out of it until we go over it in class.
ReplyDelete-Victoria Hampton
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ReplyDeleteI agree with both Brittni and Leah’s opinions of how all of the short stories seem to end without making a point. But while they don’t necessarily like this style of writing, I do. I have a short attention span when reading books so the fact that Joyce jumps from story to story keeps my interest more than other books.
ReplyDelete-victoria hampton
This week were assigned to read “After the Race” and “The Two Gallants.” I found that both of these were a lot harder to read then the first two we read. The first story we had to read “after the Race” was really confusing and didn’t really understand the point of it until we discussed the story in class. The story was about a rich man and his nation Ireland which he did not like and basically wanted to be from somewhere else. He invested in companies outside of Ireland and went to school outside of it as well. The second story “The Two Gallants” was a little bit clearer but I also didn’t understand the point of it or what it had to do with the other stories. “The Two Gallants” was about two boys who were about 30 years old who don’t have jobs and kind of take advantage of women. The one boy Lenehan realizes his life is going no where but doesn’t try to fix it and the other, Corley, just treated women like crap and didn’t care. During the story Corley has a girl, who is a maid, who steals things from the house she works at for him and he has no guilt doing so.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Leah
I agree completely with what you are saying. James Joyce is going no where with these stories. I thought the stories would lead into each other or at least have something in common but it’s hard to see the relation. I know it’s about Ireland and religion but the two stories we read this week I didn’t really see the connection between the two.
As the week went by and had to read the stories, "After the Race" and "The two Gallants" seemed a little more difficult than the first four stories. As I'm reading i can understand and piece somethings together, but when the chapter is over I'm a little confused. Once class starts and we discuss everything, the book doesn't seem that bad. At first i had no idea what gallant meant. Finding out the meaning is gentleman didn't seem right since they weren't treating woman like gentleman. They even used the maid to steal items from someone and eventually made her get a gold coin. Reading the story "After the Race" was easier for me to understand which was mainly about a rich man who wished he was from some where else and invested in companies in other countries. As the stories go on i feel like they will connect to one another with the same characters. As i continue to read theres a different scenario with different characters. In a way it makes me feel like im reading a completely different book every time a new chapter comes. In a way it's interesting since the book is in a different style than most. Only if each story was easier to understand i would enjoy the book more but there's nothing wrong with a challenge.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Burtch
I agree with you completely wondering why James Joyce used the word gallant. They weren't treating woman like gentleman and did the exact opposite. At first i had no idea what the word meant and confused me a little when i found out the real meaning. As the book continues I'm sure there will be more examples like that.
As the stories in the Dubliners age, it seems that the writing level also changes. Joyce seems to have made the allusions and hidden messages much harder to find and much more difficult to interpret. Possible even leaving more than one option to be draw from them. The last story we read, “Two Gallants”, I completely missed one of the allusions to the girl stealing for them. I interpreted it as she was buying the objects for him and he was looking to marry her at the end. This however was not the case. In my mind I think that Joyce’s writing style is actually very different to each person who reads it. I believe that two people can read the same paragraph and draw something completely different like I did in the “Two Gallants”. I am now wondering if later in the book if the allusions and the implied details will cause us to read even more carefully in order to understand what Joyce is trying to convey to us. Over all I believe the stories are too short to fully get drawn into the story and I believe that is causing me to lose interest fast.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Alex said it the best. As the stories progress the symbolism becomes much harder to understand. I also think what he said about reading the story just to understand it more than trying to look for the underlying descriptions. This probably causes most readers to not pick up on all the subtle details like the iron cage of Ireland.
-Jason Hallman
During this past week our class read and discussed "After the Race" and the "Two Gallants" in the book the Dubliners. The story “After the Race” is mainly about a man by the name of Jimmy. Jimmy comes from a wealthy background whose father paid for him to go to the very prestigious Cambridge University in England. Because of this he has little pride for his own country of Ireland. Also, despite Jimmy’s lavish lifestyle he does little to earn it and instead spends his money uselessly. At the conclusion of the story, during a game of cards Jimmy does not rein victorious, he actually emerges from the game losing all of his money. For a moment after losing, Jimmy comes to the realization that he needs to change his lifestyle. However, he decides that he will regret this in the morning not realizing that morning has already come. Joyce uses Jimmy’s lazy and carless behavior as a comparison to the morale of Ireland. The title of the story “Two Gallants” is humorous because gallant means courteous and that is the exact opposite of the two characters in this tale. Corley and Lenehan are deceitful and shallow. The two men convince maids to into stealing cigars from their employers. The men orchestrate a plan for the maid to now steal money. While Corley is off with the maid, Lenehan wanders around town and stops at a pub for a meal. While he eats he ponders his current life and wishes someday to live a comfortable life with a real wife and house. At the end, Corley and Lenehan meet back up to find that their plan was a success.
ReplyDeleteTo comment on what Jason and several others said, I agree that the level of writing by Joyce has become more difficult as his stories progress. I found myself rereading paragraphs more frequently that I had during "The Sisters" or "An Encounter". It has become much easier to misinterpret James Joyce's writing in these past two stories.
I found that reading the last two stories was much harder then the first few stories. In addition I found the hidden references less prevalent in the last two stories we had to read. The first story we read was "After the Race". After I read "After the Race" I was like what did I just read? After we discussed it in class it made a lot more sense. After class I went back and reread the story. I actually picked up on the references. The story basically was about a rich guy who hated Ireland and admired all the other countries. The second story was called "Two Gallants". This story was about two guys who try to get a maid to steal different items from the house she works at. When I read the story I didn't understand why Joyce spent so much time talking about where Lenehan went while he was waiting. I did not see that there were any underlying references. I think the references that Joyce is making are starting to become less obvious. In addition I also think that the writing style is starting to change some. I think the inferences are not so obvious and I think its making it harder to read the stories.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Stephanie had a really interesting point. I noticed the theme of paralysis in the story "Eveline" but I never thought about applying it to these stories. In that story she had the opportunity to leave but she was paralyzed about leaving ireland even though it would have meant a much better life for her.
Jenn Phillips
The story "After the Race" was probably the most confusing for me. I was not sure if Doyle was Jimmy or if Doyle was he father. Im very thankful that we have or descussions in class.
ReplyDeleteDoyle in the begining seemed pretty layed back, but yet had his own hidden measures. He would classify success with money. This personaly made me kind of unsure how he was gona play out in the story. His father began as a nationalist and then retired that position and now invests in cars. Now he has children and raises them to they higher potential, but theres a catch in the story. The childern are being sent to Cambrage, England, for further education. England Is Irelands enemy and has keept Ireland "down" for years. England was known for its good education and thats why the best of Ireland continued there. This seemed to be degrading Ireland and giving England the head start. Durring dinner, Jimmy is admirring the people around him, but does not engage in converstaion with anyone. In this chapter, Jimmy symbolizes Ireland and offeres nothing to the table and with the help of France obsesses over other countries. Jimmy takes up on a card game and does poorly. He makes it through the wole game with out quitting, but kept antisipating someone to slap out. In the game, there is also a mix of countries. Farley represented America, Jimmy symbolized Ireland, France was playing, aswell as England. England one and left Farley and Jimmy the "worst losers".I agree with Ashley and Leah's opinion on the characters having an ephany. Jimmy realizes his own stupidity with his choice to loose many games, his life is going down hill, and he knows he will never change. One of the qoutes that made me realize this was when he said he will regret this in the morning, and it is already morning. Just like Ireland knew they had problems, but they weren't gona change as well. The people of Ireland continue to treat Ireland as the land of mistakes. This mistreatment brings me to the next chapter "The Two Gallent's". This story was kind of a Twist. Gallent's represented gentleman, where as Croely and Lenehan were not. Lenehan tends to be the "disiple" of Corely for he is to stupid to realize his own path and has to follow. The first sign of ignorence was when Corely was telling Lenehan about his maid. He had tricked a maid, from a rich house, to steel things for him and she gladly does the deed. He continues to talk to her only for the fact that he wants her to steel cash. Corely tries to make him self look good and tough by getting a maid to follow orders. I questioned in the first place why she was listening to him. Corely wasn't always a womenizer; he use to buy women things, but now figures why the waste if they steel for him. They go to meet the maid and stumble opon a harp player. The harp is another symbol of Ireland as in respect of "her" (Ireland, the maid, and the harp) being played. These "men" are in there early 30's and as you can see, have nothing to offer for their country, their actually steeling form "her". Again there is another ephany by Lenehan. He sees his faults on his life and starts to regret, but again they are not changed. Corely and Lenehan in the end get the gold coin, which I was hopping the maid would not show up. That ending made me cerious to see the next chapter unfold.
Kassie Ligore
The first story after the race was probably the most confusing of the stories we have read so far. I saw the countries and how they played a role in the story but i never saw how deep it was until we talked about it in class. Money and wealth was a very big theme in this story and i liked how Joyce portrayed the counties by this. It also showed how the guy who was representing Ireland had no care about how much money he had lost and thought by the next day it would be no big deal. It showed how Ireland how no thoughts of changing during this time.
ReplyDeleteThe second story Two Gallants had a very great underlying meaning behind it. The title is a great way to confuse the reader because the meaning of gallants and the story show the men to be no where near gallants. I like how Joyce showed that the men were doing wrong and ere getting older in their life but showed no remorse for stealing and being low lives in society. It also showed a low respect for women using them as pawns in their schemes or at least Corley did.
I agree with Kassie with all the hidden meanings they are confusing at first but when we talk about them in class they make the stories a lot better. I also agree with Ashley and Leah on his euphony even though he does not change his ways he does see that everything is going down hill. I like how you point out that the mean are in their early 30’s and are giving nothing to their country because I saw that as a major part of the story and as one of the major problems in Ireland and I can see completely why Joyce didn’t make them young men he mad them true adults.
We are just scrapping the surface of the new book “Angela’s Ashes” and I already can get into this book a little better than the last, “The Dubliners”. Each chapter continues on with the story instead of a book full of chapters with short stories. It’s also easier for me to comprehend what is going on as I read. This book is also by an Irish author, so it had some of the same similarities. Both of the books deal with how bad Ireland is and the main theme associated with Ireland, alcoholism. Even though the book is just starting, I can already tell that I am not going to like the father Frank. He is a joke of a father. He has no job, and the money that he does come along, he goes out and drinks it away. When he does find a job, his first payment goes to the pub, where he drinks too much, has a hangover the next morning, and loses his job. He also makes children who he can’t take care of. The mother is really no better in this book. She pushes the children outdoors to play in the winter. The children eventually get sick and pass away from pneumonia. Then, the sadness, drinking and neglecting start all over again.
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