Blog Post- Week 4

Upon reading “The Dubliners” I have noticed a theme that is similar in each story. The stories all have their own epiphanies in the end, but each story is very dark and dramatic. My personal preference is the complete opposite of Joyce’s choice. If the stories were happy upbringings then I think that Joyce wouldn’t be able to get her point across about Ireland. My favorite story this week was “A Mother”. The mother in this story, Mrs. Kearney, seems to get what she wants most of the time but this time it only increases her own anger. First of all, she marries her husband just to be married, not for love. Then Mrs. Kearney goes about by taking her daughter, Kathleen, out of the concert she was to perform in, annoying everyone in the audience. Also, her mother had ruined Kathleen’s musical career. As I read this story I started to question myself about Mrs. Kearney’s circumstances. I also read, “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”. Ivy Day represents nationalist politician, Charles Stewart Parnell, who is remembered on this day. As I read this story I found myself very confused for most of the story. The reason for my confusion was because there were so many different characters. Joyce talked about these characters like we should have known who they were. Just like the rest of the short stories in “The Dubliners” this story represents problems that are occurring in Ireland.

-Ashley B