Dubliners
it consist of 15 short stories
they all lack obvious actions
the opening stories deal with
childhood and youth in Dublin
the others advancing in time
and expanding in scope, concern the
middle years of characters and their
affairs
social
religious
the stories are arranged into 4 groups
adolescence
maturity
childhood
public life
the last story The Dead
can be considered Joyce's masterpiece
it's at once the summary and climax of Dubliners
The description in each story
is realistic and extremely concise
with an abundance of external details
the use of realism is mixed with symbolism.
Joyce employed a technique
to realise his purpose
the epiphany
is the sudden spiritual manifestation
caused by a banal gesture
or banal situation which used to lead
the character to a sudden self-realization
about himself/herself or about the reality
the epiphany in each story is often
the paralysis of Dublin is both
physical
moral
Joyce's Dubliners accept their
condition because they are not aware
of it or because they doesn't have the courage to
break the chains that bind them
All the Dubliners
The main theme is the failure
to find a way out of paralysis
the opposite of paralysis is escape
the omniscient narrator and the
single point of view are rejected
political
the key to the story itself
are spiritually weak and afraid people
and it's consequence failure