Elements Of Generational Paralysis In Dubliners By James Joyce

Throughout the stories in Dubliners by James Joyce we notice elements of the unpleasant paralyzing effect of Dublin. Dublin is portrayed as a catalyst for the inability of its citizens to move forward in their lives. The characters that Joyce writes about create a general idea of the paralysis observed in residents of Dublin. We can recognize elements of “generational paralysis” in the stories that depict children, in particular, with parents and/or guardians who already exhibit the perils resulting from this form of paralysis. These children really have no chance in life to have a future beyond Dublin. As readers, we experience instances when characters of Dubliners have tried to move away but are still held back by the paralyzing effects

The organization is an expansion from the first story to the last. I believe that the two stories that begin and end the collection are most important and they hold the most significant elements of Dublin life. It is very important that the collection begins and ends with death and that we regard how all the generations are affected by it. In Fritz Senn’s article “‘He Was Too Scrupulous Always’ James Joyce’s ‘The Sisters’” he talks about the deeper meaning of the word “paralysis”. The word is looked at as “strange” to the boy narrator and he takes a more literal meaning to the word (67-68). Senn believes, “all through his career Joyce seemed incapable of using words in one single bare sense only” (66). Senn throughout his article takes a look at the deeper meaning of the word paralysis and how Joyce was able to use this word in every sense of it through “The Sisters” and also brings in “The Dead”. I have chosen to agree with Fritz Senn’s claim that Joyce brings deeper meaning to the word “paralysis” in his compilation of Dubliners, but I will display a new idea of how paralysis has affected the generations that are shown throughout “The Sisters”, “A Mother”, “Eveline”, and “The Dead”. The characters in these stories represent the idea of generations being paralyzed, most likely resulting from previous generations’