The Dubliners Paralysis Essay

Paralysis is a state of helpless stoppage, inactivity, or inability to act. Moral is the distinction between right and wrong. Moral paralysis is a merger of the two. The Dubliners written by James Joyce, is a book filled with tales of people dealing with moral paralysis. A short story titled Clay in The Dubliners, tells the tale of a young woman. Maria is a single maid working at a Protestant charity for troubled women. She’s a simple woman and looks forward to having dinner with her good friend Joe Donnelly and his family. A series of events that occur during her trip to the Donnelly’s show a weakness in her ability to deal with mistakes and accept the side affects of being human. Maria becomes overwhelmed with guilt, frustration, and is
At the thought of the failure of her little surprise and of the two and four-pence she had thrown away for nothing she nearly cried”(84) . The issue of forgetting a cake on a tram doesn’t seem serious enough to become so overcome with emotion one is near tears. Maria however, did just that, she felt guilty about engaging in a conversation, despite the temporary joy and happiness it brought her because it led her to forget the cake for the Donnelly’s. The combination of not only losing the cake but losing the money from purchasing the cake adds to the burning guilt she has inside her. As the story progresses a trend can be seen, Maria tends to act over emotional and anxious about small issues that are just apart of
Over the next few days I gave myself pep talks regularly to calm my nerves about attending a new school with a population six times that of my old high school. When the first day of school finally rolled around I sort of felt happy. I was looking forward to a new start and an opportunity to make new friends, take different classes and learn more about my new environment. When I got onto the bus that morning I sat quietly as the rest of the bus was filled with the chatter of friends reuniting from their long exciting