The Structure: Childhood, Adolescence, Maturity, Public Life The stories are arranged in four groups. The first three stories are about childhood. “The Sisters” is about a boy and a dead priest. “An Encounter” is about two boys who skip school and meet a strange man. “Araby” is about a boy who has a crush on his friend’s sister. He goes to a bazaar to buy her a gift. He arrives late. The bazaar is closing. He feels “anguish and anger.” The second group is about adolescence. “Eveline” is about a young woman who plans to escape to Buenos Aires with a sailor. She cannot leave. She stays. The third group is about maturity. “A Little Cloud” is about a frustrated poet. “Counterparts” is about an alcoholic clerk who beats his son. The final group is about public life. “Ivy Day in the Committee Room” is about corrupt politicians. “The Dead” is about a party. The structure is a ladder. The reader climbs from childhood to death.
Epiphany: The Sudden Revelation Joyce called the moments of revelation in his stories “epiphanies.” An epiphany is a sudden spiritual manifestation. The character sees the truth for a moment. Then it fades. In “Araby,” the boy sees that his love is foolish. In “Eveline,” she sees that she cannot escape. In “The Dead,” Gabriel sees that his wife still loves a dead boy. The epiphanies are not happy. They are painful. They are also liberating. The character knows the truth. He cannot act on it. He is still paralyzed. But he knows.
The Dead: The Masterpiece “The Dead” is the longest and most famous story in “Dubliners.” It is set at the annual party of two elderly sisters, Kate and Julia Morkan. The protagonist is their nephew, Gabriel Conroy. Gabriel is a writer. He is educated. He gives a speech at the party. He feels superior to the other guests. He loves his wife, Gretta. He is confident. After the party, Gabriel watches Gretta on the stairs. She is listening to a song. She is crying. She tells him about a boy she loved when she was young. His name was Michael Furey. He died for her. He stood in the rain and sang to her. He caught a cold. He died. Gabriel realizes that he will never be loved like that. He looks out the window. Snow is falling. It is falling on the living and the dead. His soul fades. The story ends: “His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world… His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
The Style: Scrupulous Meanness Joyce called his style “scrupulous meanness.” He meant that he did not comment on the characters. He did not judge them. He presented them. The reader must judge. The style is simple. The sentences are short. The words are ordinary. There are no metaphors. There are no similes. The effect is powerful. The reader feels the paralysis because Joyce does not explain it. He shows it.
The Paralysis: The Theme The theme of “Dubliners” is paralysis. The characters cannot move. They cannot change. They are trapped by Ireland. They are trapped by the Church. They are trapped by family. They are trapped by themselves. Joyce escaped. He moved to Paris. He wrote “Ulysses.” He never returned. “Dubliners” is his goodbye. It is a love letter. It is a hate letter. It is both.
Conclusion: “Dubliners” is a collection of stories about failure. The boy fails to buy a gift. The woman fails to escape. The man fails to love. They fail because they are human. They fail because they are Irish. Joyce loved them. He also left them. The reader leaves them too. But the reader remembers.
