FREE Mr.Duffy in Dubliners Essay (original) (raw)

Discuss the effectiveness of the passage in presenting the experience of isolation.

• Look closely at the ways and effects of Joyce's use of language and descriptive detail.

• Comment how the presentation of Mr.Duffy's experience relates to your reading of the collection as a whole. .
Like many of the tales in James Joyce's Dubliners, isolation is a common theme in A Painful Case, and the short passage to be scrutinised during the course of this essay particularly so. But before I detail the ways in which Joyce puts across this isolation, a brief recap of the events of the tale preceding the passage in question. Mr. Duffy lives a routine and isolated hermit-like existence in his room in West Dublin. He surrounds himself with rather conservative literature and philosophy, such as Nietzsche, from whom he borrows his views on love and romance. His routine is disrupted when he meets Mrs. Sinico, with whom he shares evenings talking and generally being friendly. When she shows signs of desiring to become intimate with him he breaks off the relationship. Years later he reads of her humble and, in his eyes, shameful death, and feels disgusted that he ever had anything to do with her. It is here that we find Mr. Duffy, having just read of her death. .
One of the most potent methods by which Joyce broadcasts a sense of isolation and loneliness is through his use of language. Even in the first few sentences cold, harsh words such as "cheerless", "quiet" or "empty", and elsewhere in the selected passage examples include "cold", "lonely" and "falling". This use of harsh adjectives that are devoid of any sense of warmth gives across the sense of isolation that Mr. Duffy must be experiencing. Another interesting point is that what Joyce pays most attention to in this passage (besides Mr. Duffy) is the scenery. Placing such emphasis on something inhuman and inanimate accentuates the lack of human presence and warmth in Duffy's life, particularly considering Joyce's choice of adjectives.

1. Dubliners

James Joyce Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. ... Dubliners: London, Penguin Group, 1996. ... James Joyce Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. ... Dubliners: London, Penguin Group, 1996. www.gradesaver.com/jamesjoyce/dubliners/thedead/html. ...

2. Epiphany in dubliners

DISCUSS WITH REFERENCE TO TWO OR THREE STORIES IN DUBLINERS. ... The chief theme, which runs throughout all the stories in Dubliners, is the paralysis, both physical and moral, linked to religion, politics and culture. ... The opening sentence of the first story from Dubliners sets the scene for the rest of book "There was no hope for him this time. ... Overall Dubliners is a series of epiphanies in which I feel both the character and reader are aware of the epiphanic moment. ... BIBLIOGRAPHY: Joyce,James Dubliners. ...

3. Dubliners

Dubliners In James Joyce's novel, Dubliners, the author presents several short vignettes that all involve characters living in Dublin at the dawn of the 20th century. ... The next example of social paralysis in Dubliners appears in the vignette "A Little Cloud," a story in which family is the paralyzing element in the characters life. ... This act is representative of Dubliners as a society bound to God. ... Overall, Joyce's assertion that Dublin is the "center of paralysis" clearly resounds in the stories of Dubliners. ...

4. Celibacy In Dubliners

Celibacy in the Lives of Dubliners Today's society is very accepting of premarital and other forms of casual sex. ... This time sets the scene for the characters in a collection of short stories by James Joyce, entitled "Dubliners". Celibacy plays a subtle part in several of the stories included in "Dubliners". ... Other characters in "Dubliners" decide to remain celibate of their own accord, seemingly unaware of, or unconcerned with sex. ... Whether they choose to remain celibate or were denied the opportunity to involve themselves in an act of sexual closeness, social pressures h...

5. Joyce

In the collection of short stories titled Dubliners, Joyce tries to show through his short stories a wide range of characters that exhibit different views and ideas on life. Gabriel Conroy in The Dead as well as James Duffy in A Painful Case have the same egoistic views on love and marriage as well ...

6. Dubliners - The Significance of Perception

In "Dubliners," through a series of portraits, James Joyce describes the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual loss of the time. ... By putting these stories together in Dubliners, Joyce invites the reader to compare the difference in how these two characters choose to find meaning in their lives and how other people affect their views of themselves. ...

7. Literary Analysis - Araby by James Joyce

This last passage from the story "Araby" by James Joyce from Dubliners has a great amount of significance in showing and telling us the theme of the story. ... His perception on how life should be is unrealistic because there is no room for love in the daily life of the Dubliners. ... This was when he was really disappointed as he even realized that by the light going out, was a symbolic meaning that he is still paralyzed in the darkness of the Dubliner life. ... The boy is just going to have to face that his affections about this girl are not going to happen and he has to admit to living in...

8. Dancers Dancing

The Dubliners see the West as an ancient wild Ireland and the West sees the city-dwellers as having betrayed their Irish heritage. ... She addresses those (Troubles) through the characters of Jacqueline and Pauline and their interactions with the three Dubliners. ... The following excerpt reveals an exchange between the two sets of girls that offers a glimpse into the misconceptions that the Dubliners have about the Northerners. ...

9. Dubliners by James Joyce

In Dubliners by James Joyce, we venture into the lives of four subjugated individuals living in the city of Dublin, Ireland. ... There are some other influences that oppress Joyce's characters in Dubliners such as self-consciousness and duties to family. ...

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question