How James Joyce Influenced the Opinion of The Readers Through Symbolisms In His Book The Dubliners - Essay Example

Essay How James Joyce Influenced the Opinion of The Readers Through Symbolisms In His Book The Dubliners I. Introduction The Dubliners by James Joyce is probably one of the few books that leave a lasting impression on the readers. Centered on the theme of paralysis and decay, this book leaves a strong impression on the readers with the use of symbolism and colors. The book is structured in such a way to show how the citizens eventually become trapped in the society of Dublin Ireland (Stone 1990). Written at the time when nationalism was at its peak in Ireland, “The Dubliners” give us a glimpse of how Joyce perceived the events in Ireland at that time. The point this work of Joyce wants to drive in the minds of his audience is that Dublin is the epitome of paralysis (Levin 1993) and the people in this society are suffering from decay (Friedrich 1990). True enough; the stories in the book are filled with disappointments, frustrations, the feeling of helpless and darkness. The book itself is divided into four parts namely, childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life (Levin 1993) which make it easier for the readers to focus on the type of character that the book in trying to portray. Technically, one can read through “The Dubliners” and treat it as a realistic and straightforward tales of every life filled with disappointments and failures or read the story at the symbolic level thereby interpreting the scenes and the characters of the story thereby transcending into another plane of understanding of the life in Dublin at the time the book was written. For the purpose of this paper, let us take the second option and try to understand how the symbolisms and settings in the book influence the perceptions of the readers and how these settings and symbolisms help the reader form a conclusion at the end of the story. II. Discussion Unlike the other books of James Joyce where the narrator tells a powerful story and leave the reader with no other choice but to follow the plot as it is laid out, the flow of the story in “The Dubliners” gives the reader the power to reads between the lines and form their own opinion of the characters portrayed in the stories. The symbolic setting, the colors and the objects used by Joyce in the stories in “The Dubliners” all add up to the theme of decay and paralysis which is brought about by the influence of religion, especially Catholicism in the lives of the characters of the five stories in the book (Levin 1993). In “The Dubliners” the narrator shows the readers and guides them along the way through symbolisms. By using symbolic settings, describing the possessions and the situations of the characters of the story, Joyce is able to guide the readers towards a conclusion. The characters and symbolic settings used in the stories in the book subtlety veils the author’s opinion of how the Catholic Church and England have forsaken the people of Ireland. In “Araby”, “The Sisters”, The Encounter” and “Eveline” the symbolisms of paralysis and influence of the Church are quite subtle. Instead of directly telling the readers, Joyce took a more neutral tone in these stories and used symbolisms to guide the thoughts of the readers. For instance, in Araby, the setting is just like a church. Note that Joyce described the building as having a great central hall with a gallery circling half of its height (Stone 1990). The building also takes on the characteristics of a church with its dark stalls and curtained sanctuaries (Stone 1990). The whole setting was designed by Joyce to give the readers a feeling that they are in a place of worship and that the character in the story trapped in his religion (Lyons 1981). The feeling that the character in the story is trapped by his religion is evident when he said that he cannot escape the image of the Virgin Mary. Note that the Virgin Mary is one of the symbols of the church and by using the Virgin Mary as a symbol in the story; Joyce led the readers to believe that the character in the story felt trapped by his religion. The powerful presence of the Virgin Mary as conjured by the image of the Mangan’s sister in the story leads the readers to believe that the protagonist of the story is indeed trapped. All throughout the story of “Araby” the narrator hides in the darkness and observed Mangan’s sister from afar. He was awed by her but could not bring himself to go to her. The feeling of being trapped in ones religion can be clearly observed in the story “The Sisters”. Here, the protagonist of the story feels the heavy influence of Father Flynn, the priest in the story (Stone 1990). The priest symbolizes the church and its influence on the people of Ireland (Bramsback 1990). The character in the story felt that the priest is always watching him and waiting for him to confess his sins. He felt retrained by the presence of the priest. Even after the death of Father Flynn, the boy still fears that he would haunt him. Here, Joyce tried to articulate through symbolism the effects of religion on the people of Ireland at that time and how the influence of the church stifled the people of Dublin (Lyons 1981). Joyce cleverly used the boy’s fear of the priest to articulate his ideas on how the church curtails the freedom of the people in Ireland (Brugaletta 1978). This idea of bondage to the church can also be observed by the symbolisms used by Joyce in the story “The Encounter”. Like in the story of “Araby” and “The Sisters”, the main character of this story is also a boy. In the encounter, the boy in the story has to deal with the character of Father Butler. In examining the relationship between Father Butler and the boy Leo Dillon, we can see that the boy obviously fears the priest and strive not to be the object of his ire. Note that when Father Butler caught the boy reading the book The Apache Chief in class, the boy narrated that “everyone’s heart palpitated” while the priest inspected the pages of the book. The boy later on commented that the rebuke made by Father Butler “paled much of the glory of the Wild West”. Father Butler is symbolic of the church and how the boy felt about the restraining influence of the church. This feeling of restraint continues to pervade even after the boy in the story went to college. Even after he and Father Butler parted, he still felt the influence of the priest. His fear of the disapproval of the priest can be clearly deduced by his refusal to appear for the ditch day because he might “meet Father Butler or someone out of the college”. Clearly, the influence of Father Butler in the life of Leo Dillon resulted in paralysis. He simply cannot break away from the bondage of his religion. The case of Leo Dillon is actually parallel to the experience of the boy in “The Sisters” where he still fears the presence of Father Flynn even after the priest died. The use of symbolic setting can also be observed clearly in the story “Eveline”. Here, James Joyce cleverly guides the readers to determine on their own the status of the character in the story by describing her possessions. By using symbolic setting as the underlying driving force of the story, Joyce successfully conjured an image of helplessness and decay. The protagonist of the story “Eveline” is portrayed as a woman sitting by the window (Dubliners 512) thereby clearly signifying inaction or paralysis. Joyce described Eveline as having “her head leaned against the window curtains”. The smell of the place was described as the odor of “dusty cretonne”. Eveline represents the life of the Irish at time. Burdened by responsibilities and living a joyless existence, Eveline epitomizes the life of a typical Irish maid (Florio 1993). Told in the limited third person point of view, Eveline gives the impression of a person who is trapped in the setting. " Along the story, hints that Eveline grew up in a Catholic environment can be deduced from the fact that her mother who was described to be a devout while she was alive and that her brother is into the church decorating business. The presence of the image of the priest also reinforces the idea that religion indeed has a huge influence on the life of Eveline. Note that like in the story “Araby”, the presence of the priest leads the reader to believe that the lives of these people must have evolved or influenced by the church. The feeling of being trapped and helpless can be observed by the fact that Eveline never really moved from her setting. Almost nothing ever changed in her life throughout the story. She "had those she had known all her life about her" (Dubliners 512) and she "never dreamed of being divided" (Dubliners 512) from these things. Even though Eveline has a “hard life” (Dubliners 513) and going away with her suitor Frank will give her a chance to reverse her fate and have a better life, she is still trapped by her setting. She cannot get away from the things that are familiar to her thus she continues to sit by the window until the end of the story, forever looking outside but unable to get out from where she is. On the other hand, while the symbolisms in “Araby” The Sisters” and “Eveline” are subtle, the symbolisms in the story “Two Gallants” is more straightforward. Here, the character of the story has more profound ideas and his approach to the story is more aggressive compared to the other stories previously mentioned. In the “Two Gallants”, the mixture of characters and symbolisms took on a quite interested turn. The housekeeper who was also engaged in prostitution was dressed in blue and white. Note that blue and white are the traditional colors associated with the Virgin Mary. Clearly, Joyce tried to influence the thinking of his readers that the woman symbolizing the Church is actually no virgin and the fact that she steals money from the home where worked as a housekeeper tells us that she is not honest either. All throughout the book, Joyce favored the use of brown and yellow colors as symbols of decay and death. Note that in the story “Clay”, Maria touched clay which is the symbol of death and in the story “Two Gallants”, the color of the coin stolen by the housekeeper is gold. Another thing that one can observe in the Dubliners is Joyce’s extensive use of chiasmus which is defined in Abrams, Glossary of Literary Terms as “a sequence of two phrases or clauses which are parallel in syntax, but reverse the order of the corresponding words”. In “The Sisters” one can clearly observe the repetition of scene. The repetition of the scenes creates in the mind of the readers a sense of continuity which leads them to believe that the III. Conclusion James Joyce’s use of symbols in “The Dubliners” leads the readers to conjure pictures of paralysis and decay in Ireland. With the use of symbolism, Joyce is able to influence the thoughts of the readers. Since the tone of the story is neutral and the readers are left to form their own opinions about the characters in the story, the stories in “Dubliners” do not really have that climatic ending. However, because of the symbols used in the stories of “The Dubliners” the readers are forced to think and come up with a conclusion at the end of their readings. Works Cited: Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 161-2 Bramsback, Birgit. "James Joyce and the Divided Irish Cultural Heritage: Glimpses from Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." Homage to Ireland: Aspects of Culture, Literature and Language. Ed. Birgit Bramsback, 21-30. Uppsala: University of Uppsala Press, 1990. Brugaletta, John J., and Mary H. Hayden. "The Motivation for Anguish in Joyces Araby." Studies in Short Fiction 15 (winter 1978): 11-17. Friedrich, Gerhard. “The Perspective of Joyce’s ‘Dubliners’.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: Volume 35. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. 166-169. Levin, Harry. “James Joyce: A Critical Introduction.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: Volume 35. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. 159-164. Lyons, J. B. "Diseases in Dubliners: Tokens of Disaffection." Irish Renaissance Annual 2 (1981): 185-203 Stone, Harry. “ ‘Araby’ and the Writings of James Joyce.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: Volume 35. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. 171-177. Williams, Trevor. "Resistance to Paralysis in Dubliners." Modern Fiction Studies 35.3 (1989): 437-457 Read More