Dubliners

Joyce tells each of the first three stories in the collection—the only ones to be written from the first person point of view—from the perspective of a young boy slowly losing his childhood innocence. These stories can be read both as episodes of a larger story arc and as stand-alone stories. The three protagonists are the youngest central characters in the collection, with the protagonists of the following stories all advancing in age as the book progresses.

Each of the first three stories carries heavy religious imagery and allusion, most overtly in the opening story, “The Sisters.” While the title references the literal familial sisters of the deceased priest, it also brings to mind the concept of a religious sisterhood. The story opens with the young boy learning of the death of his friend the priest; the priest has died from a paralyzing stroke, catalyzing the collection’s thematic interest in the concepts of The Inertia and Paralysis of the Mundane. As the boy in “The Sisters” stops to consider the sound and nature of the word paralysis, this opening story works as a thematic statement for the remainder of the book. The protagonist, a limited, unreliable narrator, provides the reader’s only understanding of the priest through his own observations and conversations he overhears. Joyce includes hints throughout the story that the priest may have acted inappropriately toward the boy; however, Joyce leaves it up for interpretation whether this detail reflects the reality of the boy’s (and, by extension, Joyce’s) own experience or simply a larger cultural awareness of sexual abuse within the context of the Catholic Church. The narrator displays ambiguous feelings about his relationship with the priest, feeling both protective and inexplicably relieved at his death.

Joyce’s uses depictions of the relationships between his young characters and figures of authority—i.e., parents, teachers, religious clergy—to explore Imbalances of Power throughout the collection. When the boy goes to visit the priest, Joyce uses the boy’s observations of the priest’s home and interactions to undermine the priest’s credibility as a representative of the Catholic Church. The narrator’s memory of the priest’s spilled snuff and his perception of the priest’s corpse as grotesque (directly contrasting the sisters’ praise of it) both hint at the priest’s corruption. The reveal of the priest’s deteriorating mental health, causes the narrator’s childhood innocence to begin to erode as he starts to recognize the disparity of power between the priest and himself.

Joyce explores a similar erosion of innocence in “An Encounter,” which sees a slightly older boy (potentially the same narrator of “The Sisters”) cutting school to go on an adventure with his friend, playing a traditional “cowboys and Indians” game— which, many scholars speculate, parallels the conflict between the invasive rule of the British government and the desire of the Irish to retain their autonomy. Joyce positions the boys’ cutting school as their first experiences of true freedom and rebellion: “We were serious to the point of solemnity, but once during the short voyage our eyes met and we laughed” (21). Joyce cuts the boys’ joy in their new found freedom short, with the appearance of an adult—representative of the very world they’re trying to escape—highlighting the boys’ limited knowledge of the world as the encounter progresses from confusing to uncomfortable. Though the implied threat of the adult’s presence passes without incident, the narrator becomes more aware of the danger and corruption around him—another step forward in his loss of innocence.

In the final first-person story, Joyce explores The Futility of Love and Infatuation, a central theme of the collection. The narrator’s attraction to the girl across the street represents his first experience of sexual feelings. He’s given a perceived opportunity to win the girl’s heart and explore that attraction for the first time, evoking tropes of traditional coming-of-age narratives, positioning him as a hero on a romantic quest, journeying to a far-off place in pursuit of a sacred object. However, Joyce subverts the traditional structure by disempowering the narrator in his quest. As a child, the narrator remains subject to the whims of the adults in his life, which holds him back from success. The narrator exhibits anxiety around his uncle’s appearance, showing his deteriorating trust in the support of adults in his life. When he finally is given leave to go, he embarks alone in a venture reminiscent of the hero’s journey yet is faced with a lackluster market that’s down to its final dregs. In the final lines, the speaker is left in darkness and an onslaught of “anguish and anger” (33), recognizing for first time his own childish hubris and the reality of the adult life ahead of him.