Male and Female Paralysis in James Joyce's Dubliners

Male and Female Paralysis in Dubliners

Critics widely recognized that each story within James Joyce’s Dubliners contains a theme of paralysis. In fact, Joyce himself wrote, “My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis” (Joyce, letter to Grant Richards, 5 May 1906). Contained in this moral history called Dubliners are twelve stories that deal with the paralysis of a central male character and only four that deal with so called paralysis within a central female character. It could be said that Joyce did this merely because he is a male, therefore could write the character better. However, Joyce writes female characters just as convincing as male characters. In looking at the male-centered stories versus the female-centered stories I find a difference. As the author Marilyn French says in her book Shakespeare’s Division of Experience, “The basic distinction in human social order since the beginning of recorded history has been gender” (French, 11). While it is obvious that each of the stories within Dubliners deal with paralysis, I contend that the paralysis within a male character and the paralysis within a female character are essentially different.

Male paralysis is evident in the story “Araby,” about a young boy’s obsession over his friend’s sister. His life revolves around thinking about her and when the next time he is going to see her will be, even though he has never had a conversation with her. He comments, “I had never spoken to her except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood” (Joyce 20). His life is ruled by this fascination, and when she final...

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...wrote the male and female characters differently within Dubliners.

Works Cited:

Benstock, Bernard. Critical Essays on James Joyce. G.K. Hall & Co. Boston, Massachusetts: 1985.

French, Marilyn. Shakespeare’s Division of Experience. Summit Books. New York, New York: 1981.

Joyce, James. Dubliners. Washington Square Press. New York, New York: 1998.

Seidel, Michael. James Joyce: A Short Introduction. Blackwell Publishers, Inc. Oxford, UK: 2002.

Works Consulted:

Fairhall, James. James Joyce and the Question of History. Cambridge University Press. New York, New York: 1993.

Garrett, Peter K., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Dubliners. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1968.

Torchiana, Donald T. Backgrounds for Joyce’s Dubliners. Allen & Unwin, Inc. Winchester, Massachusetts: 1986.