Things Fall Apart
In James Joyce’s Dubliners, a compellation of short stories, that portrays the hardships of everyday life in Ireland during the late 1800’s. Throughout many of these stories, Joyce shows the significance of an individual’s influence on society through examples of drinking, bonding with friends, shared memories/reminiscing, anger/envy, and sexual desire. Many of Joyce’s characters use these common themes to escape the troubles they may face in their everyday responsibilities. More specifically the characters in the two stories “The Dead”, and “Counterparts” provide evidence and specific examples of such re-occurring themes. From these particular instances it is evident that the actions of certain characters have a direct influence on them and society.
In “Counterparts”, the main character Farrington uses alcohol to escape from his daily responsibilities. While at work he feels the need to leave and get a quick drink at a local bar to relieve the thirst in his throat, and hopes that by doing so he can return and finish the contract his boss had ordered. Upon his return to work, Farrington realizes there was not enough time for him to finish the contract by the deadline his boss had set. While sitting at his desk minding his predicament, Farrington thought of a place where he would rather be, “the dark damp night was coming and he longed to spend it at the bars, drinking with friends… (85). So he left work and lied to his boss of the contract. After pawning off his pocket watch for money needed for the night Farrington met up with his friends at one of Ireland’s many bars.
Sitting with his close friend Nossey Flynn, Farrington recited the story of how he skipped out of work that night, when he finished Flynn applauded him and “stood” Farrington a half drink of whiskey.(89) . This interaction between the friends shows how Farrington uses the relationships with hiss friends and joyful reminiscing to escape stress he faces from day to day.
Farrington tries to use the ‘oh so familiar male bonding by physical feats, to escape more common stresses of the night by agreeing to an arm wrestling match with Weathers.
The stereotyping of gender in modern society has become so deeply engrained in our culture that it often goes unnoticed. Laurel Richardson’s “Gender Stereotyping in the English Language” and Louis Gould’s “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story” are two readings which highlight the importance we tend to place on gender norms in addition to the consequences gender typecasting may have on people in regards to their identity. Throughout their articles, Gould and Richardson both explain the ways in which a gender-based vocabulary demonstrates and encourages internalized societal beliefs about the roles of men and women.
Men and women are not made equal. At least this is what Deborah Tannen believes in her article “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently.” Tannen is a professor at Georgetown University, and is often highly revered for her work in linguistics. The article is meant to show the differences in communication learned at an early age by boys and girls. However, in the article, Tannen shows lack of direction with thought and evidence that should be apparent in the work of someone on the collegiate level.
In recent years, gender differences have already been one of the most controversial issues in various research. As an important communication tool of mankind, language is inevitably involved in controversies. However, Rachel Rafelman, a Canadian journalist and the author of “The Party Line” express her thought and opinion in her essay. She not only have some great points on what and how women and men are likely to talk, but also have different points on the talking environment. She comes up with facts and fit real and particle examples in her essay to make it understood. Whereas, Ronald Macaulay, a professor of linguistics and the author of “Sex Difference” uses words of novels to argue and promotes them as a cause of reinforce to men’s and women’s stereotypes in his essay. He argues through his whole as rebuttal and gives some examples to oppose the preconceived notion of sex differences. Over all, both Rafelman and Macaulay are the good writer but Rafelman is having upper to prove her essay better organized using her tones as per requirement.
In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart the life of a man named Okonkwo and the tribe of Umuofia is depicted in three chapters which each represent a significant era in the tribe. In the first chapter, Achebe describes the life of the native African tribe before the coming of the white man. This chapter enables the reader to understand and respect the life of the Igbo. The second chapter describes the beginnings of colonialism and introduction of the white man. Suddenly, the Igbo way is questioned. The natives lives are turned upside down as they search for a way to understand the new religion and laws of the Europeans. The third chapter describes the effect of colonialism on the Igbo tribe. This section explores the many ways which the Igbo people try to adapt to the new society. From the suicide of Okonkwo to the abandonment by other tribe members, it becomes apparent how difficult it was for the African’s to adjust to the change. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness tells of an English man named Marlow and his journey into the Congo and interest in a colonist named Kurtz. Marlow is the narrator of the novel. He describes the natives and the Europeans from a somewhat objective view. He finds colonialism questionable, but also cannot relate to the Africans. Kurtz is the antagonist who exploits the Africans to make money by selling ivory and subsequently goes insane. Both novels depict the colonization of Africa, but each has a markedly different perspective on the African’s lives which were irreparably altered when Europeans came to conquer their land and convert them to Christianity.
need for a drink at the local bar. Reading the story, the reader can almost visualize
The first stage of alcohol is early and this stage is when there is a general experimentation with alcohol (Champion 239). Joe Penny’s life changed when he started drinking and also when his drinking escalated. J.P got married to Roxy, had children, and while he was married to his wife, he discovered that he wanted to be a chimney sweep. He was happy and everything was good, but for some reason, he picked up a very bad drinking habit. He was in the early stage, and in the early stage, his main focus was on beer and just beer alone, but that escalated quickly. The next stage is the mental obsession stage, and in this stage, the sufferer has repeated drinking patterns and has learned some alcoholic behaviors (Donahue 55). The alcoholic gains a false confidence, or will to power. Some seemingly profound insights and inspirations come to him, and he attributes this to his drinking. The alcohol feels that he can out-punch or out-wit anyone in the bar, seduce any woman, buy rounds after his money is spent, and drink forever. In the story, J.P. was described as the man who always has a glass of gin and tonic in his hands. He would go to work with a thermos bottle of vodka in his lunch pail, and he starts having real fights with his wife, Roxy (Carver 526). Another stage of alcohol is self-alienation. In this stage, he is reflected as a lesser
The origins of gendered word and phrases are a debated topic. To clarify, a word that has a gendered meaning is an utterance that refers to a particular gender or is categorized to a particular gender. While some people believe that the interpretation of the listener is responsible for deriving the gendered meanings of words, others believe that the meanings of gendered adjectives and phrases originate from speaker intent. I believe, however, the context in which a word is used, how it is presented, and the context with which it is interpreted, affect its meaning. This “context” also includes the cultural background of both the speaker and the interpreter. From my perspective, gendered words gain their meanings from various sources, which include both the intentions of the speaker and the interpretations of the hearer.
As the rising action develops, Joyce constantly eludes to Farrington’s instincts to reach for a drink when work begins to frustrate him. As Mr. Alleyne begins to pressure him to finish his work, Farrington is described to have a “sharp sensation of thirst” (1) and the need to “slake the thirst in his throat” (2) as he is beginning to copy the documents. Not only do these expressions demonstrate that this type of behavior is habitual for Farrington, but it also indicates his eventual night out drinking at bars. Furthermore, Joyce goes as far as blatantly telling readers that Farrington believes he “must have a good night’s drinking” (1). This further solidifies the foreshadowing of Farrington’s bar hopping escapade to drown out his sorrows. Due to this persisting instinct, it is clear that he fails to properly handle his stressful and repetitive job, will most likely resort to a night of drinking as he has in the past, which all in turn has created a basis for his uncontrollable
In Dubliners, James Joyce tells short stories of individuals struggling with life, in the city of Dublin. “It is a long road that has no turning” (Irish Proverb). Many individuals fight the battle and continue on the road. However, some give up and get left behind. Those who continue to fight the battle, often deal with constant struggle and suffering. A reoccurring theme, in which Joyce places strong emphasis on, is the constant struggle of fulfilling responsibilities. These responsibilities include; work, family and social expectations. Joyce writes about these themes because characters often feel trapped and yearn to escape from these responsibilities. In “The Little Cloud”, “Counterparts”, and “The Dead” characters are often trapped in unhappy living situations, often leading to a desire of escape from reality and daily responsibilities.
The relationship of gender and linguistic behavior is a compelling topic which is getting more and more attention since it is closely related to gender studies. It is widely agreed that men and women use language differently in most speech communities, though to various extents (Holmes, 2001). Many works on the topic indicate that gender-specific linguistic behavior is a social practice which is based on gender identities and power relations (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992; Bruckmüller, Hegarty & Abele, 2012).
We all know that men and women are different. They look different, act different, walk, talk, and even smell different. In part, the simple fact that we are different explains why we sometimes have trouble communicating with and understanding the opposite sex. However, a close look at our language may show that there is more to the communication barrier between the sexes than meets the eye.
Today the issue of the difference between men’s and women’s use of language raises hot debates among sociolinguists, psychologists and other scholars. They create various theories that complicate the issue because of the fact that they observe gender differences from various perspectives. One theory is known as “genderlect”, which according to The Free Dictionary is a variety of speech, writing, or conversational style used by a particular gender. An analysis of the writings of both genders reveals one main difference between them: men focus more on status in their writings while women focus more on a connection with the reader (Lyons).
How does language affect our interaction with other genders? Language is the basis of all interaction. The language we use is essential to other’s perceptions of us. We instinctively know this, so we cater our language to suit how we want to be perceived by others. Language is not the only factor in perception though. Other’s interpretation of our language is as important an ingredient in their perception of us as the language we use is. Our perceptions of each other, more than anything else dictate our interactions with each other. The essential question is does interpretation of language vary between genders?
Globalization, love it or hate it, but you can’t escape it. Globalization may be regarded as beneficial from an economic and business point of view, but however cannot be perceived the ditto when examined from the social sciences and humanities side of it. Globalization can be argued as a tool for economic growth, advancement and prosperity through co-operation between the developed and developing countries. The pro-globalization critics argue that the benefits that globalization brings to developing nations surpasses or outcasts the negative impacts caused by globalization and may even go a step further to state that it is the only source of hope for developing nations to prosper and stand out. However, the real question to be asked is as to what extent are the positives argued upon without taking into account the negative aspects of globalization towards developing countries. Moreover, how many developing countries out of many are exactly benefiting or even prospering from globalization is another question to consider. Therefore, my paper will dispute that indeed growth and advancement provided by globalization to developing countries is beneficial in short-term, but in the long-run, it will only bring upon negative impacts and challenges due to the obstacles involved such as exploitation of labour and resources, higher increase in poverty, and effects of multi-national corporations on local businesses and the economy, and to an extent the effects on the developing country itself.
The book An Intorduction of Sociolinguistics is an outstanding introductary book in the field of sociolinguistics. It encompasses a wide range of language issues. In chapter 13, Wardhaugh provides a good insight to the relationship between language and gender. He explains gender differences of language-in-use with concise examples. Wardhaugh riases questions about sexist language and guides readers to look closer at how people use language differently because of their own gender in daily life. According to the Whorfian hypothesis, which indicates that the way people use language reflects their thoughts, different genders adapt different communication strategies.