Dubliners by James Joyce is a collection of short stories that aims to portray Ireland, its people and its problems. With the use of three short stories written by Joyce “Araby”, “Eveline” and “After the Race”, and the help of five secondary sources from Blake G. Hobby “Alienation in James Joyce's Dubliners”, Neil Murphy “James Joyce's Dubliners and Modernist Doubt: The Making of a Tradition,” Patrick Parrinder “Dubliners,” Susan V. Scaff “The Work of James Joyce” and William York Tindall “The Escape Theme”; we will see the similarities between these three stories. Even though the characters have a balanced life, a job, a family and friends, they want to escape from their situation and from the authorities that put pressure on them, such as the Church and the family. However, when they finally have the opportunity to escape, they are left paralyzed and disillusioned by reality. Joyce thus demonstrates that the characters are influenced by the sociopolitical context of Ireland at the time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Religion is a common theme in these three stories. The Church, in fact, is represented through different elements and influences the behavior of the characters. As reported by Susan V. Scaff, “the Catholic Church left its mark on the Irishman, its rigid customs producing in him the instinct to flee.” In “Araby,” the narrator is surrounded by religion because he lives in a house whose former tenant was a priest, died and left behind his religious effects. Joyce describes the house as an old and dirty place, expressing a rebellion against the Catholic heritage. The boy attends a Roman Catholic school and all the people around him are Catholic. Furthermore, Patrick Parrinder states that “an anticlericalism is found in a much earlier Dubliners story, 'Eveline'” because he prays to God and asks for guidance in his decision making. However, religion is portrayed with guilt, sacrifice, and promises. She made sacrifices taking care of her family, her duties, and “did hard work to keep the house together and to make sure that the two small children, who had been entrusted to her care, went to school regularly” (Joyce 603). Furthermore, she feels obligated to keep the promises she made to her mother on her deathbed and to God, that is, “to keep the house together as long as possible” (Joyce 604). Joyce criticizes religion as Eveline's guilt forces her to stay in Dublin. Furthermore, Jimmy Doyle was educated at a “large Catholic college” and studied at Dublin University, which at the time was associated with England's Protestant ruling elite due to the British occupation. Susan V. Scaff reports that some “doubts about the authority of the priests” are modeled in the three stories. Indeed, Joyce denigrates the Catholic Church in his writings because he believes that religion retards Ireland's development. For him, the Church plays an important role in the lives of the Irish and, as it influences their decisions, they end up making mistakes that put them in an endless cycle of sadness and negative feelings. This is why Patrick Parrinder says: “the Church, in Joyce's eyes, represents a more humane and subtler system of repression”. The Catholic Church takes advantage of people by making them believe in great results and a better life, while the opposite happens for the characters. They eventually realize that it was a false idealization. The three stories are set in a dark environment where death is present in people's lives and in Ireland because the country was occupied by England. Therefore, Joyce symbolizes a state of inaction, as if the country is dying and people's lives have stopped. In “Araby,” the death of the priest underlines the morbid description of the house. Theredescription emphasizes the presence of death, darkness and stench. Finally, the narrator says, 'Looking into the darkness...I saw myself as a creature driven and mocked by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger' (Joyce 366). It gives a premonition of death and no future for the boy. Eveline has been left behind, by people dying or leaving. Her brothers have left her and her mother is like a ghost, still haunting her with the promise she made. Even though the characters have family and friends, they are isolated. The boy in “Araby” daydreams because of unrequited love; Eveline is away from her lover Frank who is in Argentina, and Jimmy Doyle finds himself alone, “with his head in his hands, counting the beats of his temples” (Joyce 38). The characters seem alone, in a morbid and heavy atmosphere. Life in Dublin, according to Joyce, is death. The Irish were not living to the fullest and darkness was upon them. The religious references also suggest that religion makes Dubliners believe that their undesirable life will end and a better one will begin. For example, Eveline “wanted to live…she had the right to happiness” (Joyce 604), as if a new life was about to begin. According to Susan V. Scaff, “Joyce makes the Christian belief in death and resurrection the central motif.” Therefore, death is not a sensitive topic for Joyce because, although the characters are unhappy in their current life, they still have the possibility of reincarnation. According to William York Tindall, a fugue can have three different aspects. It can be negative if the goal is to get away from an intolerable situation. It can be positive if the goal is to find freedom and create a new life. The third reason for eloping is a romantic purpose. In the three Dubliners stories the characters want to escape because they become aware of their undesirable life. In “Araby”, the boy defies the expectations that family, nation and religion impose on him because he thinks that the bazaar is the solution to finding happiness and love. His escape opportunities are his love for Mangan's sister and his trip to the bazaar. Eveline wants to escape from her home in Dublin, which reminds her of her childhood, her abusive father and her dead mother. Unlike the boy in “Araby”, she has a concrete plan to go to Argentina, “she has to escape, Frank would save her, give her life, maybe even love” (Joyce 604). In "After the Race", Jimmy Doyle attempts to escape his responsibilities as a student and a man. Jimmy's father pays for Jimmy's education and does not encourage his son to work, so Jimmy is financially dependent on his father. Symbolically, the characters want to escape the hold that Ireland and religion have on them. They want a better life where they will be safe and find freedom and love. Blake G. Hobby states that “rituals with awkward silences and musical parodies in Dubliners draw attention to the state of alienation of city dwellers, highlight their need to escape”. In “Araby”, the music of British coins reminds us that Ireland was occupied by England; “Eveline” contains many allusions to the heart and heartbeats, as if she is anxious to stay in Ireland; and in “After the Race,” the music played during dinner distracts Jimmy Doyle from the reality of his life in Dublin. According to Susan V. Scaff, Joyce asks how characters can be "reborn and renewed, whether in their family or in their religious life or in history's greatest theater." The characters embody the Irish people who do not want to stay in their “home”. They want to find the security and attachment in adulthood to let their power blossom. Susan V. Scaff states that “Joyce develops the theme of paralysis already in Dubliners, describing scenes of fear, reticence, immobility and passive withdrawal in thesecurity of home and family". In fact, hope or contentment very quickly gives way to despair, vanity, anguish, anger and shame. Each character is paralyzed and struggles to make good decisions. In these stories, not many of the futures look bright because the characters are stuck in a disenchantment as if they can never be happy. According to Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud in “Alienation in James Joyce's Dubliners,” a disillusioned person is “isolated, full of inner conflict and anxiety, repressed by cultural institutions and values, and acts in irritated rebellion against order established and the accepted forms". ”. In “Araby,” when the boy reaches the market, he is disappointed by the reality of what he finds “porcelain vases and flowered tea sets,” as well as people speaking with English accents (Joyce 365). Once again Joyce reminds us of the occupation of Ireland at that time. Blake G. Hobby states that "he highlights his own suffering, fictitiously creating himself 'as a creature driven and mocked by vanity,' a person whose suffering and disillusionment are great." The boy realizes that the bazaar is not as exotic an escape as he expected. He is still in his normal world, and even his love for Mangan's sister is a false escape, a vanity, a mistaken belief in his own particularity. For Neil Murphy, "'Araby ends with resounding ambiguity... mystery, unsure meaning and uncertainty." Eveline plans to escape Ireland with her lover to a better life, but at the last moment, she finds escape "impossible", freezes, and turns "her white face, passive like a helpless animal" to him (Joyce 604 ). Remaining in Ireland, Eveline remains unhappy and self-destructs. Neil Murphy notes that “the heroine passes through multiple time zones, despite her spatial immobility.” Indeed, Joyce describes Eveline's childhood when she lived with her siblings and parents, recounts the first time Eveline met Frank, as well as her future life in Argentina. Even though Eveline is physically in Ireland, Joyce tells us about her memories, personal reflections and the environment. She can't move with Frank because she's scared, mentally trapped and doesn't have the courage to leave Ireland. She would prefer to stay with a life that is familiar to her, even if she is not completely happy. For Neil Murphy, Joyce's characters "suffer from paralysis of will, energy and imagination... the narrative is centered on inner minds and experiences." Jimmy Doyle is paralyzed during a moment of revelation in which he recognizes the truth of his situation, but does nothing to change it as he continues to be an unproductive citizen, messing around with his friends and spending his father's money. After losing badly at cards, Jimmy holds his head in his hands and finds himself sitting alone and terribly in debt. Patrick Parrinder states that “this man's obsession is a form of mental and emotional paralysis” because he will do it again and regret it later. The support given by his father is detrimental to Jimmy's success and he realizes that he has accomplished nothing. Jimmy's father wants the best for his son, but he's actually doing a disservice by paying all his bills, not pushing him to finish college, and only wanting him to make friends in high places and show people he has money. According to “Alienation in James Joyce Dubliners,” Joyce creates “a coherent portrait of citizens following vain desires” because the characters are unable to move from their unpleasant situations. The characters are paralyzed because Ireland was paralyzed at the time Britain occupied the country. According to Patrick Parrinder, “Joyce showed the same reductive impulse in choosing a termdoctor, paralysis, to summarize the spiritual condition of Dublin”. The paralysis is a metaphor for the doomed and self-destructive life of Dublin. Indeed, there has been no progress in Ireland and people have not had the courage and energy to leave their country. For Parrider, “Joyce's portrait of Dublin family life has an uncomfortable sociological accuracy” because it reflects early 20th-century Ireland's position as one of the poorest countries in the civilized world, with a population impoverished by the Great Famine and mass emigration. In the three stories, Joyce's characters are surrounded by family, but still feel isolated and unhappy. The article “The Work of James Joyce” states that “Joyce allows himself the freedom to explore the potential of heroism, love, and devoted family life in the modern world” (Susan V. Scaff 2). The reader realizes that while making decisions we are influenced by our family and friends. In “Araby,” the narrator grew up in an Irish Catholic society in Dublin, became alienated from friends and family, which caused loneliness and despair. He lives with his aunt and uncle, rather than his biological parents. Separation is a common feature of modernists and Joyce's tendency to have children live with someone other than their parents as a symbol of the child's isolation in Dubliners. Furthermore, the ultimate emblem of frustration comes from his uncle when he arrived home late delaying his only chance to go to Arabia. Eveline's choice to go with Frank is not hers, but rather is determined by her family. Her father stops her from doing what she wants and never allows her to make choices. He is a very violent and heavy drinker, which makes her "sometimes feel in danger because of her father's violence" (Joyce 602). Thus, Eveline is partly immobilized by the fear of her father who still threatens her. Jimmy's father is the reason he will never succeed in life on his own. He encourages his son to surround himself with friends and spend money. According to “Alienation in James Joyce Dubliners,” Jimmy is “part of cruel games that leave individuals alone, isolated, and at odds with themselves and the world” (Blake G. Hobby 2). Therefore, Jimmy has no value in terms of money, he has never fulfilled himself and has never been successful. As reported in “The Work of James Joyce,” “family relationships bring tension and misery to characters” (Susan V. Scaff 6). Joyce's characters need to escape because they do not thrive and fulfill themselves within their families. For Blake G. Hobby, “paralysis conveys the alienation of Joyce's characters,” who feel isolated and helpless. Because they cannot escape, the reader may think that they will never be completely happy in the future. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Finally, “Araby”, “Eveline” and “After the Race” have similarities because Joyce shows the same consequences on the characters' behaviors, due to the sociopolitical context and religion in Ireland. The author expresses his opinion personal by showing his support for Irish independence and expressing his rebellion against the Catholic Church. Furthermore, according to Neil Murphy, “because of the ordinariness of their lives, they suggest a kind of universal social malaise”. they are not social outsiders, they need to escape and remain paralyzed, just like the Irish of the time. The country is symbolically dying due to the English occupation and, as a result, the population Joyce really worked to represent these problems with symbols, so the reader must analyze further to understand the message Works.. 2019.