Essay on "The Dubliners"
...a series of related moments of sudden insight and understanding. The epiphanies throughout the stories all seem to have a common connection. They all seem to be tied together by a sense of darkness, which pervades the whole collection of short stories, suggesting a state of total confusion; it is also stressed by aimless wandering in the evening or at night through the meanders of Dublin streets which lead nowhere or come to a blind end, such as in Araby. There is no real action or movement in any of the stories except for walking, usually just in circles, like in Two Galants, and inevitably bringing about frustration and disappointment. The opening sentence of The Sisters, "There was no hope for him this time," basically sums up the entire feeling and emotion of the book. There is a definite feeling of loss and hopelessness. The epiphany in each story is obvious to the reader, but rarely often to the actual characters in the story itself. Joyce modified the word "epiphany" from the religious term referring to the revelation of Christ's holiness to Magi. Joyce's definition, however, refers to a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the simplicity of speech or of body language. He believed that it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most fragile and brief of moments. For Joyce, it means that any ordinary object or action could bring about a sudden revelation into the truth and a deep understanding of life. The main theme, which runs throughout all the stories in Dubliners, is the disappointment and darkness, both physical and moral, linked to religion, politics, and culture. In his eyes, Dublin is the heart of this darkness and all the citizens are victims. This series of epiphanies are not simply about paralysis, but the revelation of paralysis to its victims. Most characters come to an awareness of their own condition and for a moment they are in complete understanding of how they are and h...