Dubliners Essay

All the short stories contained within James Joyce’s Dubliners serve as a microcosm of his perception of Dublin’s atmosphere and social state at the time. Joyce’s perceptions of the city are shown through the fictional characters he writes about and their accounts of failure, isolation, and disconnect living in Dublin. It is interesting that all of these stories feature some sense of absence, however specific or abstract. This notion of incompleteness allows us to resonate emotionally with the characters at the discretion of Joyce, however when Dubliners is viewed holistically, this concept of gnomon paints Dublin as a place where something essential to happiness and fulfillment is missing. The first three stories of Dubliners all deal with youth, and feature children as the protagonists. A common theme for authors to discuss when dealing with adolescence and youth is the loss of innocence or purity a character undertakes as they age. Unlike most authors however, Joyce tackles the loss of innocence within the context of Dublin and its people. In “An Encounter” and “Araby,” what are supposed to be fun adventures for the protagonists both end up unfulfilling and ultimately corrupting. In “An Encounter,” it is the contact with a disturbing older resident of Dublin that brings the loss of innocence to the main character. The man is clearly malicious and set out to exploit the purity of the kids; the casual and nonchalant title of the story suggests that “An Encounter” like this one isn’t atypical of Dublin. In “Araby,” we expect the main character’s epiphany to be the realization that he does not need material goods to express his love for Mangan’s sister. Instead, the narrator sees his experience at the bazaar as an indication that his love for Mangan’s sister was misguided and unrealistic. Based on these two outcomes, the question is raised: What is missing from Dublin that allows these two seemingly genuine ventures to become so negative and corrupting? In “An