An Analysis of Dubliners from the Perspective of Paralysis

【Abstract】 James Joyce is a literary giant and one of the most important and influential novelist of the 20th century. Joyce left his country at a young age and his exile provides him with a critical distance. He expresses his strong and mixed feeling toward Ireland and Irish people in his novels， especially his first short story collection Dubliners. The thesis intend to analyze the novel from the perspective of paralysis， the reasons of paralysis and different paralyzed relationships in Dublin.

【Key words】James Joyce； Dubliners； Paralysis

【作者簡介】蒙婕（1984-），女，陜西西安人，西安外國語大學(xué)英文學(xué)院2016級在讀研究生，研究方向為英國文學(xué)。

【基金項目】本論文屬于西安外國語大學(xué)研究生科研基金項目，項目編號：syjs201759。

1. Introduction

Joyce wrote Dubliners not only for remembering his childhood， but also for presenting Irish people to all. The paper will introduce James Joyce and Dubliners from the perspective of paralysis； dig out the reasons behind paralysis of Dublin society in late 19th century and beginning of 20th century； analyze the characters and relationship hinted in the lines.

2. Reasons of Paralysis from Different Aspects

“Paralysis” is the inability of physical movement， but it is also a spiritual， social， cultural， political， and historical malaise. Joyce depicts a deeply paralyzed society and despairing people in Dubliners. Let’s see the paralysis from the economic， religious and political aspects.

3. An Analysis of Paralysis

3.1 Paralysis in Religious Life. “The sisters” as the opening story of the collections， was first wrote in 1904 after Joyce being asked by George Russell to conjure up something “simple， rural？” for the Irish homestead. He used this opportunity to begin exploring the paralysis of Dublin life （Bulson 40）. He ignored Russell’s simple request to avoid ”shocking” readers and wrote his first story about a nameless little boy’s relationship with an aged and dying priest. The story implied the moral tone of the entire collection “There was no hope for him this time”（Joyce 1） “him” refers to the priest of Catholic Church.“No hope” show the author’s attitude towards the illusory religious.

3.2 Paralysis in Social Life. The social life refers to public life. The paralysis is everywhere. In “counterparts”， Mr. Parker is a middle age married man. Whenever he stays in the office and starts to work， “A spasm of rage gripped his throat for a moments and then passed， leaving after it a sharp sensation of thirst. The man felt that he must have a good night’s drinking”（85）. In order to avoid the work responsibility and spend more time in drinking in the bar， he purposely lied the manager in work， and even sold out the only valuable possession – watch. After another one night drinking， he went back home. One of his little son was still waiting him for cooking dinner for him. After hearing the fire out， he “jumped up fiercely… striking at him vigorously with stick…”（96）. He got paralyzed by alcoholism， ignoring all the responsibility from the work also the family.

3.3 Paralysis in Marriage Life.

Marriage is a gradual process with beginning of falling in love， getting married， family life. Although there is no a completely story in the Dubliners which covers the full screen of marriage， Joyce presents us with different short stories concerned different marriage process. In “Eveline”， the girl Eveline earns the wages to support the whole family but lives under his father’s violence. As she doesn’t want to live a hard life as her dead mother， she fell in love with one man Frank， which she thought they would explore another life. Eveline wants to escape from the unhappiness marriage in Dublin. What she pursuit is the real love and her own happiness， but at the last moment， she gave up. Dublin is not only the paralysis centre of Irish but also the world.

4. Conclusion

Through revealing different characters trapped in their lives in Dublin， we may find that the entire Dublin is paralyzed. Economically， they were controlled by British government. Psychologically， their mind got illusioned by Christian’s lies. Politically， Irish government did nothing for freedom of their nation but busy with confliction inside the ruling party. All those made people trapped and paralyzed in all kinds of social relationships.

References：

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