"Dubliners"

Book Review # 102232

English > Analysis
Literature > English

"Dubliners"

A critical analysis of James Joyce's "Dubliners", a collection of short stories published in 1914.

3,269 words () | 0 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the the predominant strain of James Joyce's stories are told within Dublin's geographic sphere and how it is Dublin that remains the central universe of Joyce's writing, holding him hostage even in his subsequent freedom after he left Dublin. The paper looks at how the themes of escapism and the fallible monomyths as well as the ideas of stagnation and frustrated helplessness are described frequently in "Dubliners". The paper explains that there are fifteen short stories in all and then examines how each one offers emerging and blatant evidence of the paralysis of Dublin, with the background of each story remaining a pervading theme of being unable to escape.

From the Paper:

"Tone is an important aspect of Joyce's Dubliners, it drives the connection between each story, along with several other themes, such as an individual on some sort of journey which ultimately proves to be a failure, resulting in a return to the place they originated from - call it a negative boomerang effect; that's what it seems like to me. Is it perverse to enjoy reading the downfall of all these young hopefuls? I hope not, because I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The form of the stories are short (duh) and concise; I love the clarity of the language used. Joyce is so blatant in his cutting down of these people that I can't help but ponder the correlations between these characters and his own history. Perhaps he writes to exercise his own Dublin demons..."