James Joyce writes in a very certain style, with a specific articulated method. The short stories that were covered for the week share a theme. That theme, is a theme that is pervasive in Joyce's Dubliners . That overarching theme that pervades the short stories is one of death and how death is dealt with. One may rightly wonder in reading the first stories as to why I would speak of them all as absorbed in the cloth of death. Perhaps it it more of doom, and the foreboding that certain events in life, events common to us all, having in fact in them each a dark hue. In " The Sisters", a priest does in fact die, in the most literal way, it is not a unique event in the stories, however. In "An Encounter " Joyce and his mate end up meeting an old man who is rather odd, and who puts the boys somewhat ill at ease. In reading the excerpt many conclusions can be drawn and to what the exact relationship between Joyce and the old man is, the view could be taken that the old man represents a sort of undeadness, yes the man breathes, though he is antiquated, as some odd carnival show that is broken in every way, though some how still lives on, en viced in the endless ever repeating stories(as they appear to be to Joyce), this I believe portends to death as well.
One may wonder how "Araby" can be about death, or some similar construct, and it is , though a romantic death occurs. A slow, painful sorrow comes over Joyce as the events of the bazaar evening do not go according to plan, nor in fact, the real fact, the events do not go to heart. A death all to familiar .
Jebediah Pritchard
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ReplyDeleteThis week we read the first four short stories in The Dubliners by James Joyce.After we talked about paralysis as one of the main themes in the first two stories, it was very easy to identify this same theme in the other two. In The Sisters, Father Flynn cannot continue his life as a priest because of a stroke. In An Encounter, the narrator does not get up and leave the strange old man who continues to talk to him because he feels stuck there. The narrator in Araby cannot bring himself to buy something at the bazaar for the woman whom he is convinced he is in love with even though he has the money. And in Eveline, the main character leaves her lover even though she seemed to want to go with him in order to better her life. I also noticed that each of these stories has an abrupt and somewhat confusing ending. Of the four stories, Eveline was the one that I enjoyed reading the most because there were certain details that made me want to keep reading. I especially liked the suspense toward the end when Eveline suddenly decides that Frank was going to drown her. In my opinion, the least enjoyable story was The Sisters because there were certain words I didn’t understand, like gnomon and simony.I felt like this story was not as easy to follow because it was the first story and I was not used to Joyce's style of writing yet.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Iams
At first reading the first story in The Dubliners, I was a little bored and a little confused. The writing was a little difficult and I wasn’t sure what the rest of the stories would be like. Like Mrs. Howard said, the main theme in this book is paralysis. In every story that we seem to read in this book, it is apparent that most of the characters are paralyzed in some way. It wasn’t obvious at first that this was the theme, but in the story Eveline, it was. She was obviously paralyzed by her family and her promise to her mother. I was happy for her that she was going to go off and get married, and then was sad when she realized she couldn’t leave. In the Encounter, I was very disturbed by the man that they ran into. I wasn’t, by reading, a hundred percent sure what their motive for skipping school was. It felt as though there should have been a more bigger reason that they would risk their education to go play Indians and not be in school for the day. After discussing the story Araby, I was surprised that some people thought that that was weird and creepy for a younger boy to have a crush on someone older, and then to go buy her a gift. I thought that that was normal, and not at all "odd". Over all, I think my favorite story out of the book was Eveline, because then it was very clear how paralyzed she was in being unable to leave. She was emotionally and physically unable to, and it was a struggle. Not that I liked her hurting, but it seemed like a well written story, that I think many people can relate to.
ReplyDeleteAlex Rhodes.
The four stories that we read this week include The Sisters, An Encounter, Araby, and Eveline. All of these stories were pretty difficult for me to read, but once we went over them in class they became much clearer. All of these short stories have a similar theme of paralysis, such as the priest in The Sisters, the narrator in An Encounter and Araby, and Eveline in Eveline. With this common theme among the stories, James Joyce was trying to portray Ireland’s problems as a whole during this time period. Of all of these stories, I believe that Eveline shows Ireland’s problem of being stuck in their old traditions and not being able to move forward the best because as much as Eveline wanted to move on with her life, she couldn’t much like Ireland during this time period. Eveline was also my favorite of these stories because the love story line kept me interested. My least favorite of these stories was Araby because the ending was so abrupt and I wasn’t able to fully understand it until we went over it in class. Although Joyce’s style of writing is difficult to read, I am enjoying these short stories.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Hampton
After reading the first few short stories i began to understand Joyce's style of writing. My favorite Short story was "Eveline". This story hit home for me, because i have a decision to make wich is very similar to Miss hill, who i am assuming is the main character in this short story. I have to make a decision whether to leave the home i am at, or stay here and take care of my mother. In most cases that would be an easy choice. but the ailment my mother suffers from is not one that i can cure. Addiction is such a relentless monster, never totally loosing its grip on someone. i feel like i have to leave and have made plans to. but i still feel held down. Just like Ms Hill, i too have many things to think about. I believe that at some point i will make a final decision on this, and i just hope that my gut feelings will become more evident in the weeks to come. this book portrays a somewhat dark side of addiction and live with an addict. It is VERY hard to live with someone who has these issues, wich is why i have to leave and be there for my mom at the same time.
ReplyDeleteJames Joyce’s book the Dubliners is at first glance a book about short stories that over all have very little in common. But as you delve deeper into the book you realize that it is in fact a very ordered chaos. The difficulty that most people have when they pick up this book is at first keeping all of the stories together and understanding the underlying presumptions made throughout the book. The Dubliners is a fictional book about the realistic characteristics of Dublin Ireland’s population in the early 20th century. As you read the stories throughout the book a few underlying ideas surface to your mind if you can decipher the cryptic text. Joyce never actually comes out and says any of the characteristics of the people that he is writing about, but he heavily implies things over and over again. Even though all the stories can be read on their own, there is another story within the book using all the others implied ideas to form it. As the Dubliners is read, the ideas formulate and paint the picture about the life the people lead. This life is a metaphorical cage that holds the people back from achieving their goals. According to Joyce, this cage is formed by Religion, Alcohol Abuse, Being Paralyzed, Death, Ability to Not Accept Change, Promises, Traditions, and The Land Its Self. Joyce’s Writing style borders on Stream of Conscious Writing in which he writes how a person would think. This is hard to read, but makes a better story if you can understand it.
ReplyDelete-Jason Hallman
The stories that we read this week in the Dubliners by James Joyce are The Sisters, An Encounter, Araby, and Eveline. Just about all of the stories were difficult for me to read and don't understand what the author is trying to say at times until we go over them in class. After that i start to piece things together and it makes sense. Overall i am not that interested in the book since its different compared to most. Doesnt seem like each chapter follows after another and each chapter is related to something completely different. After discussing the book and knowing the main theme is paralysis, things are starting to become more clear and know what to look for in the chapters ahead. The chapter i enjoyed the most was Eveline mainly because i understood what was going on in that chapter out of the four. At the end it surprised me when she decided to stay back to live with her father and not go with her boyfriend Frank since he was abusive. Even though James Joyce writing style is a little difficult to understand, discussing them in class clears many things up and doesn't make the book seem that bad.
ReplyDeleteAfter having read the first few tales of the Dubliners by James Joyce, I felt somewhat confused by his style of writing. Joyce's writing can be characterized as being indirect, purposeful, and dramatic. I had trouble picking up on some of his obscure references pertaining to the lives of the people in his stories. However, after discussing these topics in class, I now have a better understanding of what James Joyce was trying to convey to his audience about his characters trouble with alcoholism, paralysis, and abuse. I most enjoyed the story of "Araby" because nearly everyone can relate to the narrator in feeling let down by the realization that you cannot always get what you want. I felt that it was the most easy to follow and has been the most entertaining thus far. On the other hand, I did not like the story "The Sisters". I found it to be very boring with many hidden presumptions that made reading it difficult. Although the Dubliners can be puzzling to read at times, I like the challenge that James Joyce provides to his readers.
ReplyDeleteJames Joyce has a very unique style of writing. His roundabout way of saying things makes it interesting. The first story The Sisters confused me a bit and I wasn’t sure of what the author was hinting at. When we went over it in class it was much clearer the intention of the story. An Encounter was another awkward story but had more of a direct meaning behind it. It showed how respectful the narrator was when he did not run away from the old creepy man. Arby was the next story and is one of the better ones so far. I like how it showed how kids don’t think and they just make promises they are not sure they can keep. It was a love story with no sappiness. The last story Eveline seemed a bit of place but was defiantly my favorite so far and had the best in showing ho paralyzed people back then were. She had a golden opportunity to leave and didn’t take it. That annoyed me but I saw her way of thinking even though I didn’t agree with her when she said how maybe things weren’t as bad as she thought I think as an outsider things were clearly worse.
ReplyDeleteHaving read the first few stories of Dubliners, there seems to be a dark theme of loss. Loss of life, innocence, sanity, and love are things easily seen in the stories as of yet. In “The Sisters,” the story focuses on a young boy and how he deals with the death of an old priest of questionable mental soundness. The entire short story gives allusions to an unhealthy relationship and hints at the boy’s corruption and loss of innocence. Also in “Araby” does this same matter of losing innocence come up again. In the story, a boy unproductively travels to a bazaar in hopes of buying something to impress a girl and instead is presented with how harsh the real world can be. Abruptly, the boy experiences true disappointment for the first time, forcing him to mature. In a more relatable and easily deciphered story, “Eveline” tells the tale of a young woman trapped in a personal hell but lacks the courage to leave what she knows behind. She loses her only chance at freedom and quite possibly her only chance at love. On the surface these stories seem mildly relatable, but the true story lies deeper. These collections of tales are meant to describe Ireland and the many social and religious problems it once contained. When thinking of the stories in terms of what has been lost, it makes you wonder if James Joyce also felt that Ireland had lost many of the same things.
ReplyDeleteTo comment on Jason Hallman's post, I liked what you had to say about the book itself being chaotic, but that James Joyce had a method to the madness. It is smart to enjoy each story individually but not to forget the collective meaning behind the book as a whole. And you're completely right when you say there is a "metaphorical cage" holding the people of Ireland back from evolving. I liked all of these ideas.
ReplyDeleteTo comment on Jebediah Pritchard's post, I really agree with when you talk about the first four stories and them all being linked by epiphany. I also agree when you spoke on how James Joyce writes about the darker side of life because thats what he feels his country is going through,a "dark period" and has been for a long time now.
ReplyDeleteDear Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Joyce’s writing being hard to follow. As I read the “Sisters” I too was getting lost, and confused. There were words I didn’t understand, but I feel like the stories are becoming more interesting. “Eveline” is also one of my favorite stories so far, it was definitely easier to follow. I totally agree when you said that the end of “Eveline” was suspenseful. I was hoping she would go with Frank, but instead she stayed back.
-Ashley Belcik
After reading the first four stories from James Joyce, the one that stands out more than any is the "Two Gallants". The one thing that strikes me the most more than anything is that this is simply a classic case of two disrespectful young men. In other words, just another two more jerks in the world. I am sure everyone, at one time or another, has sadly had to put up with someone like this. A person who has no respect for women and is doing nothing with their lives and is okay with it because they simply choose not to do anything about it. It is upsetting because many of these people, like the two in the story, have the potential to do something great but are too blinded by their ways to see it. I understand Joyce's frustration because in many ways the two men in the story represent his country in the way that the country will not turn away from its ways even though it is bringing the whole country down. I also understand why Joyce writes the way he does because there is so much potential and chance for greatness if they could only recognize it. I feel that day can come soon.
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