Literary Analysis

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Recommended: Themes In James Joyce'S Short Story “Dubliners”

Literary Analysis

Author James Joyce has written many short stories which were composed to explain Dublin’s way of life. The book is known to his readers as Dubliners. His short stories have been written to help readers understand the many different feelings that were established in Dublin during a time of crisis. During this time in Dublin many changes were occurring and the city was rebuilding from the tragic potato famine and certainly rebuilding as a country. In three certain stories, “The Sisters”, “An Encounter”, and “The Dead,” the literary symbols of escape and journey appear within individuals which are always trying to run from the problems of society. These actions taken help understand why the characters have feelings of escape and run from the society of Dublin in this era. Certainly, in all three stories the major theme expressed can be determined when individuals try to escape society and the reality of Dublin.

In James Joyce’s Dubliners, his writing establish many feelings of escape from reality and life throughout the story of “The Sisters.” The characters tend to escape through journeys. To begin, in the “The Sisters,” after the death of Father Flynn, the boy realizes as he takes a long walk that he has fantasized of being away from everyone and everything: “As I walked along […] I felt that I had been very far away, in some land where the customs were strange – in Persia, I thought. … But I could not remember the end of the dream” (Joyce 5-6). The boy dreams of being away from reality in an entirety where he journeys alone to escape everyday life in Dublin. A second journey which introduces the theme of escape is when Eliza remembers the time that her brother, Father Flynn, spoke o...

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...e Dead” one can see the main theme of escape through people. Society clearly finds an escape through each other on everyday basis.

In Dubliners, many themes are introduced to the readers to help understand the main focus of Dublin at the time. Characters are always placed within society and are always trying to escape the problems geared toward them. To continue, feelings of aloneness bring escape throughout things such as journeys away from the city Characters are always trying to find a way to get away from everyday life and the certain realities that are shared between everyone. People are always escaping through journeys and also through other people but are always trying to find places to be alone. In all three stories, the circumstances of Dublin at the time have individuals expressing the need to escape society and the realities of everyday life.

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