Dubliners

James Joyce wrote Dubliners as a meditation on Dublin, which he described as “the centre of paralysis” (Walzl, Florence L. “Pattern of Paralysis in Joyce's Dubliners: A Study of the Original Framework.” College English, 1961). On the first page of the collection’s opening story subtly introduces this theme to the reader: “Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis” (7). Each character throughout the 15 stories feels emotionally paralyzed in some way. Many wish to leave Dublin but are ultimately unable to (such as Eveline standing at the docks watching her new life disappear), or simply want to break free from their static state, such as the various working class characters who aspire to a greatness they’re never able to achieve.

“Eveline” reveals a deep thematic interest in the moment when a character finds themself at a crossroads—an opportunity to escape from the inertia and paralysis of their life and pursue a new, propulsive future—but remains unable to break free. In “Eveline,” Joyce presents a girl from difficult, underprivileged circumstances who is offered a clear way out: a paid voyage to a distant land with her new boyfriend, Frank. Eveline doesn’t need to go looking for this door to a new life, it has already been opened for her; all she needs to do is walk through it. She makes it as far as the dock where the ship is boarding but finds herself completely paralyzed: “Her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips in silent fervent prayer. […] All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her” (38). Eveline’s inability to escape the safety of the familiar and pursue the unpredictability of the unknown suggests that, for many of Joyce’s characters, the largest obstacle to their momentum is not their circumstance, but their own paralyzing fear.

In the collection’s early stories, Joyce positions his young male narrator’s youth as the obstacle to his momentum and agency. In “Araby,” Joyce’s young narrator believes he has an opportunity to change the direction of his life by impressing the girl with whom he’s infatuated. However, when the critical moment arrives, he’s held in stasis by his reliance on an adult guardian figure to achieve his goal. His quest is ultimately unsuccessful because his guardian lets him down, spending all day at the pub. By the end of his story, nothing has changed, and the boy feels a sense of paralysis and stagnation.

This cycle of pushing back against inertia in a moment of potential for change, but ultimately remaining in stasis pervades the majority of Joyce’s stories. In “A Little Cloud,” the protagonist sees his reconnection with a friend as an opportunity to have his voice heard, but he soon discards the idea, disillusioned with the reality of the life he has built. In “Counterparts,” the protagonist is given a brief taste of independence before having all sense of personal power eroded over the course of the story. In “A Painful Case,” the main character is held in a state of complete stasis throughout his life until a chance encounter uncovers new possibilities. However, he finds himself unable to rise to the challenge and returns to his everyday routine. Other characters, like Gabriel Conroy and Mrs. Kearney, are paralyzed by their own tragic flaws. With this collection, Joyce highlights what he believed to be a defining characteristic of his homeland.