Reading Journal 4: The Dead

Yoo Sun Sung / 111064 / 12v3

Mr. Garrioch

World Literature

March 27, 2013

 

Reading Journal: The Dead

 

             James Joyce's The Dead is the final ending of the series 'Dubliners.' The story is quite long with somewhat elaborate depictions of the Morkans' Christmas party. On a superficial level, the story seems to deal with the different people present at the party, especially focusing more on Gabriel and Gretta. However, in depth, The Dead pictures conflicting emotions Gabriel feels and the eventual epiphany he encounters.

             The flow of the story is quite subtle, without any sudden leaps in the plot or shocking events. The Christmas party is like an ordinary party, except for the fact that it is static in some sense. Or maybe the readers feel that way because the novella follows the eyes and thoughts of Gabriel a protagonist with a twisted mind. He regards himself as royal and educated, above all the others present in the party. Before he makes his speech, Gabriel is worried that the lines from Robert Browning would be "above the heads of his hearers." He becomes sure that "[people's] grade of culture differed from his" when he hears the "indelicate clacking of the men's heels and the shuffling of their soles." Even when Mary Jane plays the piano, instead of feeling the music, he notes how the music is devoid of melody and puts his attention on the young men who left the room. Overall, Gabriel has a pessimistic mindset.

             Such mindset has its own base in the confidence and pride Gabriel has for himself. However, subtle it may be, Gabriel's foundation shakes as he meets person by person throughout the party. The first encounter is with Lily. Gabriel first intention for the conversation with Lily was out of gaiety; however, he made a mistake in doing so and offended her. Instead of trying to explain his original intention, Gabriel just covers up his mistake by suddenly giving a coin as a Christmas present. This shows that Gabriel did not have much successful relationships with other people. He may be regarded as a kind, honorable man such as "aunt's best nephew," but he lacked true human contact with others. He was unconfident in his ability to truly convey his feelings to Lily. The same event happens right after, when Gabriel goes on a dance with Miss Ivors. Miss Ivors jokingly calls Gabriel as "West Briton," because he writes an editorial for The Daily Express and further interrogates Gabriel about his future trip. Gabriel apparently fails to explain his true feelings or acknowledge them and ends up going to the extreme, saying he is "sick of [Ireland]." As people act differently from what he expected, Gabriel begins to notice the difference between himself and others.

             The behaviors portrayed in The Dead indicate that Gabriel is stubborn and has his own ways of living. His main speech also gives a peek about what person Gabriel is. He does not want to "linger on the past" and be depressed by the sad memories that infest on it. In the same sense, Gabriel pursues new nations rather than his Irish heritage. What Gabriel did not recognize is that Gretta - his own wife - is the foil character of himself; later, Gabriel realizes that Gretta lingers on the past memory and love for Michael Furey. Here, as he looks through the snow, Gabriel meets his ephiphany, realizing that past and present are not that different. Through his epiphany, Gabriel gets one step closer to Gretta , overcoming his stubbornness.

 

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             When I first read The Dead, I had quite a hard time first diving into the story, since quite a lot of characters suddenly emerged all at once. There was quite a difficulty in keeping the track of who is whom and who did what. It was during the second time that I was able to fully understand what was taking place in the story.

             Actually, I just understood the story superficially when I read it. It was after the discussion that I realized the story dealt with epiphany. I did know that Gabriel went through a change in heart, but that it was called the epiphany I knew later. Epiphany, by definition, is an experience of sudden and striking realization. I first "saw" this specific word when I watched the movie adaption of the musical Sweeney Todd. "Epiphany" was the title for one song. To recount the summary a little bit, the barber goes through an epiphany when he fails to kill the judge for vengeance. I never looked up the concise definition of epiphany, but I just liked the word itself linked with the song. In my personal sense, I believe people experience epiphany when their long-held belief is overturned by a certain event or situation. In this sense, Gabriel did experience epiphany, because his long-held belief for the past and present was overturned by his wife, one of the person that Gabriel would have considered a similar counterpart of him.

             I am not sure if I had truly experience epiphany. The world is vast and there exists various people. After meeting all the diverse individuals, I had changed or moderated my beliefs, but I do not remember a time when I completely flipped my long-held thoughts due to someone other's influence. If I had one, it would be so shocking enough for me to immediately recount the incident. I do not know when or by what I would experience epiphany, but I hope it would lead me in a better course.

            

Araby 5 sentence paragraph: revised

           From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple, typical Bildungsroman in which the narrator spiritually matures. After all, when the nameless narrator arrives at Araby, he goes through significant emotional change; he loses a significant part of his previous excitement and feels vanity toward his love for Mangan's sister. Instead, he feels anger at his incompetence to buy anything and at the society that made him so. On a superficial level, "Araby" seems to focus on the maturation of the young and naive narrator, who suddenly tastes bitter reality. However, on the other hand, "Araby" contains more than enough details to be much more than only a story of a maturing child. James Joyce not only elaborated on the inner feelings and love of the narrator, but also devoted much of the story to the description of Dublin and Araby, the two places which symbolize the dull, insipid reality of Ireland at the time. The actual appearances of the places show sharp contrast with the shining images of Mangan's sister and the fantasized Araby that the narrator had romantically formed in his mind before arriving. Contrary to the North Richmond Street being "blind" with houses of "brown imperturbable faces," Mangan's sister was "defined by the light" in the narrator's eyes. The exotic image the narrator formed of the bazaar was shattered as he saw the stalls that were "closed" and "in darkness". The story focuses more on the settings than the characters, whose names were infrequently revealed. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is an extended metaphor dealing with the discrepancy between the reality and the ideal, which people frequently encounter in their lives. In this sense, the "anonymous" narrator is a representative of a young child entering the adult world where one's hope, love, and expectations for something new become vain in front of the grey reality.

Reading Journal 3 : The Araby

World Literature

Mr. Garrioch

March 6th, 2013

12v3 111064 Yoo Sun Sung

 

Mini Essay : The Araby

           From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple, typical bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, of the protagonist. After all, when the nameless narrator arrives at Araby, he goes through significant emotional change; he loses all of his excitement and love for Mangan's sister he had before and feels anger at his incompetence. On a superficial level, "Araby" seems to focus on the maturation of the young and naive narrator, who tastes the bitter reality. However, on the other hand, "Araby" contains more than enough details to only be a story of a maturing child. James Joyce not only elaborated on the inner feelings and love of the narrator but also devoted much of the story to the description of Dublin and Araby, the two places which symbolizes the dull, insipid reality. The two cities shows sharp contrast with the shining image the narrator forms in his mind. The North Richmond Street was "blind" with houses with "brown imperturbable faces," while Mangan's sister was covered with light in the narrator's eyes. The exotic image the narrator formed of the bazaar was shattered as he saw the empty, dark stalls. The story focused more on the settings than the characters, whose names were not even revealed. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is an extended metaphor dealing with the discrepancy between the reality and the ideal, which people frequently encounter in their lives. In this sense, the "anonymous" narrator is a representative of human being, who go through dismay as one's hope, love, and desire for newness are rendered vain in front of the humdrum world.