What is the role of women in James Joyce’s Dubliners and Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio? (original) (raw)

In Search of Cultural and Personal Experience behind woman in James Joyce’s Dubliners

Artes Humanae

Artes Humanae ■ 1/2016 ■ artykuły an individual's choice and use of words reflects his/her subjective experience and idiosyncratic assessment of reality. Our lexical material comprises the lexical item woman in James Joyce's Dubliners, the attempt being to show how the senses of woman in the collection are related to the writer's private life-story and his own vision of the Irish culture and society as regards gender issues at the turn of 19 th and 20 th centuries 2. On the methodological plane, our position is that the senses of a word are not just extensions of one another, but, rather, they all constitute clusters based on "family resemblance" 3. As there is no generally established, or agreed, rule on the basis of which we can predict conventionalized meanings of a lexical item, it seems that the senses are culturally defined and have to be learned, rather than can be predicted. Even within one culture, the meaning of a word is by no means the same in all minds. Still, it is possible to find experiential and dictionary-based way of tracing semantic histories of words. On methodological and practical inadequacies of the latter, see additionally Łozowski (2015). 2 We attempt this specifically in our contextual analysis below. Yet, a few words of generalization might prove useful here. Gleed (2011: 51-52) points out that having spent in Ireland his first 22 years of life, James Joyce left not only his own country but also abandoned his Roman Catholic religion, choosing "self-imposed exile" in Continental Europe. In the words of Bulson (2006: 21), "Joyce was born and raised in the nineteenth-century Ireland, but he matured in twentieth-century Europe." Although in many European countries this was the period of great changes as regards gender roles, Ireland's development concerning this issue was considerably postponed to the result that old Victorian values were preserved there much longer. Irish women at the turn of the 20th century were severely abused with no rights to defend themselves. To conform to societal norms, they had to be obedient, devoted to family life and religion, passionless, and submissive towards men (

Reading Between the Lines: Notes on Female Characterization in Dubliners

2016

In this article, I propose to analyze female characterization in Dubliners (1914), by James Joyce, by “reading between the lines” of this literary work and considering not only character description and the direct discourse, but especially some characters’ silences and more interior way of expressing themselves, perceived through the narration. One of the traits of James Joyce’s style is the description of these characters using only a few lines. While this trait can limit the formation of a clear picture of them, on the other hand – and maybe for this reason – it may make a more open interpretation possible. This might happen either because of the consequent ambivalence of the literary language or because of the tension that is formed when comparing our present reading of the text and the pre-conceived meanings we attribute to some of the expressions used, such as what characterizes a “lady” or a “spinster”. It is not by chance, then, that what is not said, or the blank spaces left...

The 'feminine fictions' of James Joyce

1994

Typescript in Bold has been used throughout, in place o f It a lic in the texts quoted. I t has also been incorporated into the t i t l e s of books and a rtic le s which include the t it le s of others' works. This is to avoid confusion, as the works of dames doyce, c r itic a l works, and the t it le s of journals are underlined. 8 NOTES 1. Helene Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa" translated by Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen in Signs:Women and Gender, edited by Elizabeth and Emily Abel, 1977; p .279. 2. Richard Ellmann, James Joyce Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1959 and 1982; p .149. 3. Ellmann, c f.o p .c it.; p .629. 4. Ellmann, c f.o p .c it; p.629. 5. Lynne Pearce, Woman/Image/Text London harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991; p .2. 6. "...a s he pointedly told Mary Col urn la te r, 'I hate in te lle c tu a l women1", quoted in Ellmann, c f.o p .c it.; p .529. 7. Ellmann, c f.o p .c it.; p .634. Also quoted in Ellmann is a conversation Joyce had with Frank Budgen, where he apparently argued: "Women w rite books and paint pictures and compose and perform music. And there are some who have attained eminence in the fie ld of s c ie n tific research.. .But you have never heard of a woman who was the author of a complete philosophic system, and I don't think you ever w ill" c f.o p .c it.; p .634. 8. Both Richard Ellmann and Brenda Maddox chart the financial and lite ra ry support given to Joyce by these women. In her role as his patron, Harriet Shaw Weaver was to give Joyce not only regular amounts o f money to pay fo r se ria liza tio n of his work (Ellmann, p.404; Maddox, p .223), but also helped to supplement his small income and help support his young fam ily. Her g ifts by 1923 had reached the to ta l of £2100 (Ellmann, p .556). She became a supportive friend to Nora too (Maddox, pp.198-199), and la te r she was to continue to support Joyce over Finnegans Wake, when many doubted the project (Ellmann, p .669). On his death, she paid fo r his funeral (Ellmann, p.481). Sylvia Beach, a friend of H arriet Shaw Weaver's, published the f i r s t edition of Ulysses through her Paris bookshop, "Shakespeare and Company", and although she and Joyce became estranged in la te r years, her support fo r his work remained appreciated by him (Ellmann, pp.504-505). 9. Suzette Henke and Elaine Unkeles, editors, Women in Joyce Urbana:University of I llin o is Press, 1982. 10. Modern Fiction Studies, edited by Ellen Carol Jones, v o l.35, no.3 Autumn 1989. 11. Brenda Maddox, c f.o p .c it.

Joyce's feminine outlook: between heaven and earth

Estudos Germânicos, 1986

This article endeavours to show how Joyce's outlook on women hovers between heaven and earth; that is, he either portrays woman as a refleetion of the Virgin Mary and, as such, near to heaven; or as Eve/seductress, sensual and down to earth. The last part of this study, still dwelling on the feminine outlook, shows how Leopold Bloom, as Ulysses, gets reinstated into his rightfui place-in his home and by his wife's side. RESUMO Este artigo tenta mostrar que a visão feminina em Joyce oscila entre o céu e a terra, isto é: ele ora retrata a mulher como reflexo da Virgem Maria, e como tal esta fica perto do céu, ora como Eva/sedutora, sensual e terra-a-terra. A última parte deste estudo, ainda focalizando a visão feminina no autor, mostra como Leopold Bloom, como Ulisses, se reintegra em seu lugar de direito-em sua casa, ao lado de sua mulher.

Feminism in the Short Story “Eveline” by James Joyce

Journal on Education

The message is conveyed by the author (writer) which is conveyed either explicitly or implicitly “Eveline” is a short story written by James Joyce. This short story was published in 1904 with a story setting around the same year and decade. The short story “Eveline” is then considered to have feminist values. Feminism is an awareness of gender injustice that befalls women, both in the family and society. The research uses a descriptive form of research. The data source in this research is the short story “Eveline” by James Joyce. Published in 1904 in Dublin, Ireland. The data used in this study are all short story quotations in the form of words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs in the short story “Eveline” by James Joyce that illustrate feminism. Eveline is portrayed as a girl who generally does housework (stereotypical of women’s duties as house caretakers). Eveline’s consideration of her choice to stay with the grueling routine with her family and abusive father, or to run away ...

The Oppression and Paralysis of Women in Joyce’s “Eveline” and “The Boarding House”

James Joyce's collection of short stories; Dubliners is one of the most famous modernist works in the history of literature. Stories in the collection have common qualities such as the similarity of themes and techniques and have an order according to these qualities. This paper will examine two of these stories: "Eveline" and "The Boarding House" and the themes of paralysis, oppression and emancipation. The difference between these stories which is the existence of the paralysis of both genders is going to be the other aspect. The stories of "The Boarding House" and "Eveline" in Dubliners states the oppressed and paralyzed state of women and Ireland by the employment of modernist techniques such as epiphany and open-ending.

WOMEN AND ALIENATON IN SHERWOOD ANDERSON'S WINESBURG OHIO; A FEMINIST READING

This paper aims at a feminist reading of Sherwood Anderson's novel Winesburg, Ohio, which addresses the themes of alienation and estrangement and pursues their profound effects on women. This study investigates the image of the woman in many short stories; such as, "Mother", "Death", "Tandy". In addition, it points out to the traditional portrayal of female characters, the role of patriarchy and the different forms of discrimination which social practices against women: a mother, a wife, and a girl; in these stories. The research; moreover, sheds light on alienation; a major concept in modernism; the era in which the setting of the stories takes place. Thus, estrangement deepens women's and plights in a non-feminist world. INTRODUCION Modern Western literature witnesses iconoclastic changes in the content which, in turns, have their profound impacts on the literary canon. Many mainstream writers start to break with the norms of their times and they depict the plights of women as well as their miseries. These issues characterize the content of their literary products. Estrangement is a modern feature which emerges as a result of the innovations in technology and the lack of faith in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. While it leaves its deep effects upon the female and male characters, women suffer more because of their gender. The theme of alienation marks the works of many modern novels; such as Sherwood Anderson's novel Winesburg, Ohio. Sherwood Anderson investigates the issues and plights of women in his Winesburg Ohio. It could be argued that this novel reflects the ability of mainstream male novelists to highlight the issues of women in masculine societies. Catherine Beasley confirms that some feminists employ the idea of sameness or the possibility of deconstructing the mainstream stories by men and women. (Beasley,1999) THEORY The aim of this paper is to examine the theme of alienation and its profound influence upon the female characters; therefore, there is a feminist reading of selected stories in the novel. The analysis of the novel throws light on some major feminist principles and issues which many feminist critics highlight. Lois Tyson indicates that the feminist activity, including feminist theory, has a crucial goal to change the world by promoting gender equality. Thus, feminism examines the ways in which literature explains the different kinds of oppression that are practiced against women. (Tyson,1999)