Dubliners, The Sisters
How is ‘The Sisters’ an ideal story with which to open ‘Dubliners’?
How is it less than ideal?
James Joyce sets all his work in the Dublin city. Dublin itself is
almost like a character in these stories; due to the great use of
slang, “there was something uncanny about him” and “while my aunt was
ladling”. ‘The Sisters’ along with the next two stories are taken from
Joyce’s personal memories. In the first three stories Joyce emphasises
on certain themes, in which the stories deal with childhood, the
central character is ‘I’, who is also the narrator of the stories (he
tells the story). However the ‘I’ is an important factor in Dubliners
as the forth story changes to ‘she’. The ‘I’ talks about significant
experiences in his childhood.
The first story is an ideal opening in ‘Dubliners’. ‘The Sisters’
deals with death, clearly Joyce’s intention of creating such
‘darkness’ and ‘sadness’ in the opening of this novel is to transmit
the experience of the reader to somebody else; the revealing truth of
life and death. However the emphasis is not so much on the plot but on
moments in time, that have impact and significance, and the thoughts
and feelings of the central character and little observations of human
behaviour. One of the reoccurring themes in this story is the way the
dead affect the living. For example, in ‘The Sisters’ what the dead
person may have said or thought or done continues to effect the
central character long after the person has gone.
‘The Sisters’ is about a young boy who has an experience in death of a
close friend; the priest. The plot revolves around his struggle to
deal with the death of an important figure whom he looks up to and
cherishes. The narrator admits he was uncomfortable around father
Flynn but Joyce never tells us the whole story, he only gives us
enough information to know that father Flynn is a malicious figure.
When analysing ‘The Sisters’ Joyce picks upon various languages and
themes; for example, the role of music, the themes of darkness and
death , and the use of contrast; ‘Persia’ meaning romance, something
beautiful contrasted to ‘the catacombs’, galleries with tombs.
Paralysis is a major theme in this first story. Many of the characters
are emotionally paralysed. The priest in ‘The Sisters’ has a stroke
and is physically paralysed. Joyce makes this as a symbol of
emotionalised paralysis of other characters. This paralysis is caused
by a combination of factors such as drink, poverty, the church etc.
When the priest goes mad in ‘The Sisters’, it is because he lost
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
Have you ever thought about murdering one of your siblings, or close family members? Brother took it all the way in “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. Doodle, Brother’s younger sibling, was expected to die since birth; he was a premature child. The family didn’t name him for three months because they were afraid that he was going to die any second. Doodle learned how to talk way before he could walk, forcing the narrator to pull him around in a gocart everywhere he went. Brother became embarrassed of Doodle and taught him to walk. Doodle dies at age six, and Brother is responsible for his death. The narrator is responsible, because he knew about Doodle’s undeveloped organs, and over-worked him. Brother’s only motivation to teach Doodle to run, swim, climb and walk was the fact that he was embarrassed to have a crippled sibling. Finally, he was aware that Doodle was afraid of being alone and left him to die.
Experiencing a tragedy at a young age causes many problems as that individual grows up. The most common effects are changes in usual behavior, episodes of crying or sadness, and suicidal thoughts. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, the death of a close sibling causes two characters to act out and experience these effects.
...pared because of the infidelity and betrayal to their loved ones, and contrasted because of the different emotions that each of the main characters from feeling regretful and very indifferent.
Since Sister was affected the most by certain actions of the family, Welty narrated this short story through Sister’s point of view to show how the function of the family declined through these actions. Sister was greatly affected when her sister broke the bonds of sisterhood by stealing her boyfriend and marrying him. Secondly, Sister was affected by the favoritism shown by her family towards her younger sister. Since her sister was favored more than her, this caused her to be jealous of her sister. For example, Sister shows a lot of jealousy by the tone she uses when describing what Stella-Rondo did with the bracelet that their grandfather gave her. Sister’s description was, “She’d always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when sh...
The dawn of the 20th century changed the perspective of the nation and introduced many different ideas and concepts. At the turn of the century, a new and influential ideal known as the “Gibson Girl” arose. The “Gibson Girl” image, created by the American illustrator Charles Gibson, represented the perfect female archetype of the era. In the first decade of the 1900s, the Gibson Girl, exuding confidence and poise, proved increasingly popular, and acted as an icon that women everywhere attempted to imitate. She eventually developed from an illustration into a reality as many girls applied the ideal to themselves. The Gibson Girl contrasted greatly with the common farm girl who, unlike the Gibson Girl, worked for a living. At first glance, one might perceive that the farm girl led a much more difficult life than the Gibson Girl. However, upon consideration, the Gibson Girl’s life proved just as demanding, if not more, than that of the farm girl, and illustrated upper-class society’s unrelenting superficiality and focus on perfection.
In conclusion, this was an awesome story. The above questions were the catalyst to the real truth that would make the brother to that little girl free at last. His son was determined to break the cycle and remedy this generational condition, although the means by which he used were terrible. But, he would get through to his father. He shed light in the dark place by first beating his father into sobriety, so that he could think clearly. He then helped his father to open up to the discussion concerning the secret he had held on to for so long. Then, he also convinced his father to burn the “Shawl” of his deceased sister. And finally, his father realized what the true story was. A story that would in turn loose the tie that bound them all together with generational sorrows.
All siblings are cruel to one another in many different ways; but the story written by James Hurst called "The Scarlet Ibis" takes the idea to a whole new level.
At the outset, Atwood gives the reader an exceedingly basic outline of a story with characters John and Mary in plotline A. As we move along to the subsequent plots she adds more detail and depth to the characters and their stories, although she refers back with “If you want a happy ending, try A” (p.327), while alluding that other endings may not be as happy, although possibly not as dull and foreseeable as they were in plot A. Each successive plot is a new telling of the same basic story line; labeled alphabetically A-F; the different plots describe how the character’s lives are lived with all stories ending as they did in A. The stories tell of love gained or of love lost; love given but not reciprocated. The characters experience heartache, suicide, sadness, humiliation, crimes of passion, even happiness; ultimately all ending in death regardless of “the stretch in between”. (p.329)
Two young boys Andrej and Tomas are forced to live their life traveling from town to town scavenging for things to keep them alive whilst caring for their baby sister Wilma after soldiers tore them away from their family. Experiencing their family being ripped apart and loved ones murdered before their eyes the boys are left questioning what did they do to deserve this? The boys have learned to live
The coming of age novel, Atonement by Ian McEwan, discusses guilt, forgiveness, and the complicated nature of love through the struggles of growing up. The novel begins in England during World War II, where 13-year-old Briony Tallis is part of a family with dysfunctional dynamics. Her older sister, Cecilia, experiences true love with the family’s gardener, who is the son of their housekeeper, but their relationship is riddled with many obstacles. Most troubling is that Briony naively imagines their intimacy as something more aggressive towards her sister. Her innocence and shielded view of the world causes an unfortunate series of events that tears the family apart and alters the course of the rest of Briony’s life. In Atonement, McEwan demonstrates the maturation of love and how prosperous, yet destructive love can be between lovers and family alike.
Most children experience agony and hope as they face the struggles of sibling rivalry throughout their childhood. This situation has been experienced by children, of whom may or may not have siblings, for hundreds of years. Several stories represent this crisis, including the Biblical story of Abel and Cain which was written over 3000 years ago. Abel of whom was forced to be Cain’s ash-brother. Cain had developed an intense feeling of jealousy of Abel when his offering to the Lord was rejected while Abel’s was accepted. This caused him great agony, but he wasn’t the only one. The fairytale “Cinderella” encompasses the ideas of sibling rivalry as well as the agonies and hopes that correspond with it.
Have you ever stood in front of a mirror with tears in your eyes? Have you ever wished you could change something about yourself? Have you ever hated the person staring back at you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, The Cimorelli sisters are here to help. The Cimorelli sisters help everyone who are experiencing tough times in life and act as a social media support system.
The poignant novel, Crow Lake, is written by Canadian author, Mary Lawson. The novel is narrated by Kate Morrison, who is the second child in the Morrison family. Seven-year-old Kate, her one and half year old sister, Bo, and her two older brothers Luke and Matt, are left orphans after their parents die in a car accident. Kate Morrison shares her past and present interactions with her siblings, as she is now an adult. From the beginning of the novel, the author illustrates that there will be conflict in Kate and Matt’s relationship, since in the prologue, Kate says, “what took place between Matt and me can’t be explained.” (Pg. 3) The novel shows that siblings are closer with each other when they are younger. Also, breakdowns of previous relationships affect new relationships that appear in people’s lives. Finally, the novel shows that when
father is old, and his sister is very young. As it turns out though, in