Monday, August 19, 2019
A Message of Awareness :: Essays Papers
A Message of Awareness James Joyce’s book Dubliners, is composed of several intriguing short stories. Joyce’s main emphasis is to send a â€Å"wake up call†to the people of Dublin about the appalling conditions of Ireland. In a letter to his publisher Joyce tells him that he â€Å"seriously [believes] that [the publisher] will retard the course of civilization in Ireland by preventing the Irish people from having one good look at themselves in my nicely polished looking-glass†(qtd. in Beja 33). Joyce proves his assertion through his use of characters and situations in the short stories â€Å"The Boarding House,†â€Å"A Little Cloud,†and â€Å"The Dead.†In addition, autonomy and responsibility play a major role of how the characters act and react to certain situations that connect to the hard times of Ireland. In Dubliners, characters often face situations that are portrayed as â€Å"light and dark.†In â€Å"The Boarding House,†Mrs. Mooney’s actions and interactions are primarily portrayed as being manipulative. She is a â€Å"dark†person and Joyce uses examples to support this. Joyce describes Mrs. Mooney as a person that is stern and is â€Å"all business.†Mrs. Mooney’s characteristics imply that she is someone to fear. In addition, Mrs. Mooney’s boarding house is run with much order. Joyce states that Mrs. Mooney â€Å"governed her house cunningly and firmly, knew when to give credit, when to be stern and when to let things pass,†which a viewer can acknowledge that Mrs. Mooney is a â€Å"dark†and fierce women when it comes down to taking actions on others (56). Furthermore, Mrs. Mooney has such a stern and superior control over the tenants that Joyce states that the â€Å"young men spoke of her as The madam,†which means a lady of respect (57). They know that Mrs. Mooney is one lady to be feared. In â€Å"The Boarding House,†Mr. Doran’s actions with Polly caused him to be fearful of Mrs. Mooney. Joyce explains how Mr. Doran’s feelings about receiving consequences from Mrs. Mooney are â€Å"dark.†Joyce exaggerates the depth of Mr. Doran’s nervousness towards receiving his sanctions were so fierce that â€Å"he felt his heart leap [†¦] in his throat†(61). Mr. Doran’s actions are so fearful that he acts as if he is being tried for murder. Mr. Doran’s fears of the consequences are so â€Å"dark†that He longed to ascend through the roof [of the Boarding House] and fly away to another country where he would never hear again of his trouble.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.