Literary Analysis: Clay and The Dead

1335 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: James joyce the dead analysis

Literary Analysis: Clay and The Dead

In the fifteen Dubliners stories, city life, religion, friends and family bring hope to individuals discovering what it means to be human. Two stories stood out in James Joyce’s Dubliners. One story attempts to mislead readers as it is hard to follow and the other story is the most famous story in the book. In the stories “Clay” and “The Dead,” James Joyce uses escape themes to deal with the emotions of the characters, Maria and Gabriel living in the Dublin society. Both stories take place during the winter on Halloween and Christmas, which are the holiday seasons and the season of death.

In “Clay,” the main character, Maria is a patient, old woman and a former maid for rival brothers Joe and Alphy Donnelly. Now that they’re all grown up, she seems to be “lost” in her life, childless and unmarried, and is now an employee at a Laundromat. Maria has struggled for what seems like most of her life both financially and socially. Maria lives on a small but independent income from a job that earns her the respect of co-workers and bosses. Glimpses of poverty are seen in this story when Maria becomes concerned that she lost the cake that she bought for the Donnelly family. “Maria said she had brought something special for papa and mamma, something they would be sure to like, and she began to look for her plumcake” (99). Maria’s loss of the cake is painful because she paid a big price for it. Maria was trying to treat her loved ones despite her limited income.

Although Gabriel from “The Dead” isn’t poor like Maria, he isn’t very wealthy either unlike his aunts. Gabriel is just an average writer. He doesn’t hold annual parties like his aunts do every year to make him seem snobbish to others. J...

... middle of paper ...

... U.S.A: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002.

Langbaum, Robert “The Epiphanic Mode in Wordsworth and Modern Literature.” New Literary History Vol. 14 (1983): 335-358. JSTOR. University of Dayton, Roesch Library. 18 February 2004 <http://www.jstor.org>.

Munich, Adrienne “Form and Subtextt in Joyce’s ‘The Dead’” Modern Philology Vol. 82 No.2 (Nov. 1984) 173-184. JSTOR University of Dayton, Roesch Library.20 February 2004 <http://www.jstory.org >

Norris, Margot “Narration under a Blindfold: Reading Joyce’s ‘Clay.’” PMLA Vol. 102 (1987): 206-215. JSTOR. University of Dayton, Roesch Library. 18 February 2004 <http://www.jstor.org>.

Orfe Literature. Ed. James Joyce. 17 February 2004. <http://tintan.hypermart.net/liter/joyce/dubliner10.html> .

Owens, Coilin. “Clay (3): The Mass of Mary and All the Saints.” James Joyce Quarterly 28 (1990): 257-266.

Show More
Related

  • Thematic Purpose Behind Snow

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Joyce is praised for his distinct stylistic purpose and furthermore for his writings in the art of free direct discourse. Though at times his language may seem muddled and incoherent, Joyce adds a single fixture to his narratives that conveys unity and creates meaning in the otherwise arbitrary dialogue. Within the story “The Dead”, the final and most recognizable piece in the collection Dubliners, the symbol of snow expresses a correlation with the central character and shows the drastic transformation of such a dynamic character in Gabriel Conroy. The symbol of snow serves as the catalyst that unifies mankind through the flawed essence of human nature, and shows progression in the narrow mind of Gabriel. Snow conveys the emission of the otherwise superficial thoughts of Gabriel and furthermore allows for the realization of the imperfections encompassed by mankind. Riquelme’s deconstruction of the text allows for the understanding that the story cannot be read in any specific way, but the variance in meaning, as well as understanding depends solely upon the readers’ perspective. Following a personal deconstruction of the text, it is reasonable to agree with Riquelme’s notions, while correspondingly proposing that the symbol of snow represents the flaws, and strengths of Gabriel, as well as the other characters as it effects all equally.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein, Community, and the Individual

    1689 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • History In The Shining

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    The nature of time and history in The Shining is left wholly ambiguous, often disrupted both in the contents of the movie itself and its manner of framing. The movie is framed in different segments, a black scene interrupting the story by marking off time. It starts by counting through months (“September”) to hours (“Two Hours”), thus disrupting and distorting the passage of time for the viewer (“Remembrance of Things Forgotten” 208-209). The history of the hotel provides the supernatural elements. Dick Hallorann, the head chef of the Overlook, explains the Shining (Supernatural visions and elements of the hotel) that way: “When something happens, it leaves a trace of itself behind.” (The Shining 33:00). The specific visions of the past primarily consist of the daughters murdered by an earlier caretaker, a dead woman in the bathtub of Room 237, and the 1920s party that Jack stumbles upon. It’s at the party that Jack meets the murderous earlier caretaker himself, a man named Delbert Grady. He is another anachronism in the party, a man who during the hotel in the winter month and couldn't go to the party,

    Read More

  • James Joyce's The Dead - Gabriel's Search for Self

    3564 Words  | 8 Pages

    The scene with Lily (p.2009) in the very beginning of the story shows us already quite a lot about Gabriel: He appears good-humoured, talkative and behaves very kind to her. In this situation we find one of his many character traits: Gabriel is presented to us as a quite talkative, decent and cheerful 'small talk partner'. This aspect of his character, that accompanies us on many pages, is quite strong. Some scenes, three of them are mentioned here, can be uncovered as good examples of his kind way to spread a cheerful atmosphere: "He felt quite at ease now for he was an expert carver and liked nothing better than to find himself at the head of  a well-laden table." (p.2020) This description of his attitude at the dinner table shows us very good that Gabriel is able to entertain p...

    Read More

  • Ecological Impacts: The Environmental Impact Of The Atomic Bomb

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the biggest and longest lasting environmental impacts of the detonation of the atomic bomb is the radiation contaminations that are left over. These contaminations spread into water, air, animals, soil and into the atmosphere. What’s worse is that these contaminations have materials that have very long half-life meaning that their radiation effects do not decay quickly. “Many of the substances released, including plutonium, uranium, strontium, cesium, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury and cyanide, are carcinogenic and/or mutagenic and remain hazardous for thousands, some for hundreds of thousands, of year” (The Effects of nuclear weapons). The spread of these contaminates will cause significant health risks to animals ca...

    Read More

  • The Upper Class of Society in The Dead by James Joyce

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novella "The Dead" by James Joyce tells the tale of early twentieth century upper class society in the Irish city of Dublin. The story tells of the characters' entrapment, and the tragic lives they lead, hiding behind the conventions of their society. Joyce uses the symbolism to draw a parallel between the natural way in which the snow covers the land and the way in which the characters use their culture unnatural to cover reality. This story comes together, not only to tell of the individual tragedy of these peoples lives, but to tell the tragic story of all of Ireland, as it's true problems become obscured in so many ways.

    Read More

  • The Reflection of Kubric's "The Shining"

    1531 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many people today have read Stephen King’s horror novel The Shining and enjoyed his use of literary devices, but what about the techniques that transferred into Stanley Kubrick’s film? First, The Shining is about an already dysfunctional family, that move into a hotel because the father, Jack Torrence, has gotten a job as the caretaker of the hotel. Before taking the job, Jack is informed that the previous caretaker got “cabin fever” and killed his entire family. His son, Danny Torrence, is psychic and telepathic and begins to see and be bothered by the spirits living in the hotel. These spirits eventually possess Jack and he too tries to kill his family, which also includes his wife, Wendy Torrence.

    Read More

  • Essay On Mythology And Greek Mythology

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    At first glance many similarities between Christianity and Greek mythology can not be seen , however , after closer examination you can see many similarities. Strongly influenced by two different cultures for two completely different periods , each "religion" retains similarities to each other , due in part to its origins. These two religions originated in the geographical area of ​​Eastern Europe, with Christianity gaining popularity at the expense of Greek ( and Roman ) mythology.

    Read More

  • Religion In James Joyce's Dubliners

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    A collection of short stories published in 1907, Dubliners, by James Joyce, revolves around the everyday lives of ordinary citizens in Dublin, Ireland (Freidrich 166). According to Joyce himself, his intention was to "write a chapter of the moral history of [his] country and [he] chose Dublin for the scene because the city seemed to [b]e the centre of paralysis" (Friedrich 166). True to his goal, each of the fifteen stories are tales of disappointment, darkness, captivity, frustration, and flaw. The book is divided into four sections: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life (Levin 159). The structure of the book shows that gradually, citizens become trapped in Dublin society (Stone 140). The stories portray Joyce's feeling that Dublin is the epitome of paralysis and all of the citizens are victims (Levin 159). Although each story from Dubliners is a unique and separate depiction, they all have similarities with each other. In addition, because the first three stories -- The Sisters, An Encounter, and Araby parallel each other in many ways, they can be seen as a set in and of themselves. The purpose of this essay is to explore one particular similarity in order to prove that the childhood stories can be seen as specific section of Dubliners. By examining the characters of Father Flynn in The Sisters, Father Butler in An Encounter, and Mangan's sister in Araby, I will demonstrate that the idea of being held captive by religion is felt by the protagonist of each story. In this paper, I argue that because religion played such a significant role in the lives of the middle class, it was something that many citizens felt was suffocating and from which it was impossible to get away. Each of the three childhood stories uses religion to keep the protagonist captive. In The Sisters, Father Flynn plays an important role in making the narrator feel like a prisoner. Mr. Cotter's comment that "… a young lad [should] run about and play with young lads of his own age…" suggests that the narrator has spent a great deal of time with the priest. Even in death, the boy can not free himself from the presence of Father Flynn (Stone 169) as is illustrated in the following passage: "But the grey face still followed me. It murmured; and I understood that it desired to confess something.

    Read More

  • Elements Of Generational Paralysis In Dubliners By James Joyce

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    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’

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Araby And The Dead By James Joyce

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Joyce began his writing career in 1914 with a series of realistic stories published in a collection called The Dubliners. These short literary pieces are a glimpse into the ‘paralysis’ that those who lived in the turn of the century Ireland and its capital experienced at various points in life (Greenblatt, 2277). Two of the selections, “Araby” and “The Dead” are examples of Joyce’s ability to tell a story with precise details while remaining a detached third person narrator. “Araby” is centered on the main character experiencing an epiphany while “The Dead” is Joyce’s experiment with trying to remain objective. One might assume Joyce had trouble with objectivity when it concerned the setting of Ireland because Dublin would prove to be his only topic. According the editors of the Norton Anthology of Literature, “No writer has ever been more soaked in Dublin, its atmosphere, its history, its topography. He devised ways of expanding his account of the Irish capital, however, so that they became microcosms of human history, geography, and experience.” (Greenblatt, 2277) In both “Araby” and “The Dead” the climax reveals an epiphany of sorts that the main characters experience and each realize his actual position in life and its ultimate permanency.

    Read More

  • Violence, a theme in the Movie "The Shining"

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shining is about a family of 3 that heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and

    Read More

  • Horror Films: The Haunted Castle by George Melies

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    Looking for peace and quiet to write his novel, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes the winter caretaker of Colorado’s desolate Overlook Hotel. Despite learning about the previous caretaker’s descent to madness, and the slaughtering of his family, Jack decides to bring along his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), to keep him company during the stay. But shortly after acclimating to life in the Overlook Hotel, the family’s sanity begins to deteriorate. Danny begins to use “The Shining,” a telepathic ability that allows him to read minds and experience premonitions, and Jack starts to succumb to cabin-fever, growing more and more aggressive as time goes on. Finally, when the previous caretaker confronts Jack, things take a turn for the worst, and the only force that can save Danny and Wendy is “The Shining.”

    Read More

  • The Theme of Escape in James Joyce’s Dubliners

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Joyce’s stories “Eveline”, “Counterparts” and the “Dead”, the theme of escape and responsibility is represented by the characters desire to flee their lives. These stories symbolize Joyce’s interpretation of life in Ireland. With careful analysis it can be inferred that the miserable situations portrayed in these stories can be directly tied into how readers may view life in Ireland. Like the characters in Dubliners people desired a better life for themselves in and out of Ireland. The themes common to these stories show an appreciation to opportunity and success in the world. The themes of escape and responsibility present in a readers mind a looking glass for viewing life and society.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

    2504 Words  | 6 Pages

    Peake, C.H.  James Joyce:  The Citizen and The Artist.  Stanford:  Stanford University Press, 1977.  56-109.

    Read More

More about Literary Analysis: Clay and The Dead

Open Document