Religion and sexuality
Q.1
James Joyce is renowned for hilarious fiction stories revolving around Dublin city and Dubliners’ contemporary lives. The Dublin city is described in words to be controversial with intercultural tension, including religion and sexuality. James Joyce uses his stories to bring out paralysis in the society where main characters are put challenging situations to decide a way out or through. Stories of focus are; The Sisters and An encounter, where two minor boys are used as main characters. This essay explains how events led to paralysis in the two incidents of Dublin City.
Similarities about the two stories are that they define the Dublin culture, which has a religious conflict, i.e., between Catholics and protestants. Religious rituals take a colossal control over social affairs, including Leo being scolded by father Butler for reading a magazine linked to Protestants. The stories indicate irony in the church where Father Flynn in the sister is alleged to be homosexual as per old Cotter, who doubts fathers’ relationship with the narrator. The two narrators seem to explore inner feelings and doubts, i.e., Murphy and his friend take an adventurous trip to understand the reality of adventure in an encounter. The sister’s narrator also reflects on his dream to get real intentions of Father Flynn as claimed by Eliza concerning the priest’s odd behaviors and Cotter’s doubting remarks.
In The sisters, narrator’s life is paralyzed, and he cannot get phantom about his priesthood mentorship and how he replaces Father Flynn. He feels uncomfortable to eat at the funeral because he’s experiencing paralysis of mind in fear of confirming his dream and people’s speculations. Father Flynn also undergoes mental paralyzes ever since he dropped the chalice making him exhibit symptoms of unsettled mind that wants to confess but instead laughs off his actions. The priest suffered a stroke, which is the reality of paralysis and gets into an absurd lifestyle. Gauging on their relationship, readers are paralyzed on the priest’s motive behind being so close to a boy who merely wants to join the priesthood, which later affects the boy. He gets into a mysterious dream on the eve of Father Flynn’s death. There is also a paralysis concerning the church’s future following allegations against a priest for being pedophilic and the narrator’s end if he will continue with the priesthood.
An Encounter, on the other hand, brings out paralysis using the adventure mission of school-going boys. At first, there is a paralysis about the coexistence between Catholics and protestants, basing on how Father Butler reprimands Leo over a magazine and how other children mock the adventurous on though they are protestants. The social distance between catholic natured boys and the man they encountered narrates to them concerning relationship leaves them in paralysis of taking what side of the social belief. The boys feeling uncomfortable around an older man because of his weird explanations gets them into a paralysis of continuing with adventure since they develop fear and uncertainty with his presence. The older man’s absurd manners get the narrator paralyzed, such that he has no option than to stay and listen. However, he is bothered by paedophilic narration and gets tensed over being punished for being with a girlfriend.
In conclusion, paralysis in the two stories has been used by James Joyce to emphasize Dublin’s controversial ways of life. Social distance was an aspect brought out by controversial catholic rituals and what reality of life is. Therefore, the author puts readers on a paralysis state through suspense on the future of main characters who are young growing boys.
Q.2
In Dublin society, women were confided to do home duties and other informal jobs than men. They were treated as inferior beings under the control of patriarchy. James Joyce describes how women were not allowed to engaging in certain activities concerning Catholicism. The author uses Dancing at Lughnasa to indicate how women defied social rules and explain paternalism. In Clay, women’s role is explained by how Maria duties and dedication to take care of people from being a nanny to a laundering. This essay explores the depiction of Irish women as deployed in Dancing at Lughnasa and Clay.
In Clay, religion controls Maria’s life who becomes a spinster babysitting Joe and Alphy, and later on joins in a protestant organization working in a laundry. As per Maria’s career, the author implies that Irish women that time were lowered to engage in home chores and other low-income jobs. Concerning character, Maria was used to showing how women were erroneous, i.e., she forgets her plum cake and repeats the song’s first line without noticing. James Joyce also brings out the disparity in unmarried women when Maria concentrates on a drunken man flirting with her until she forgets her surprise cake and is advised to join convent the following years. Women in Dublin were affiliated to poverty such that Maria could not imagine saving up for another cake. Women were also depicted as financially independent but had to engage in repeated chores, which turned out to be uneventful.
Women in Dancing at Lughnasa bring out how society despised women in terms of employment opportunities. They were given low paying jobs, including teaching, where Kate was a teacher with very little salary. Agnes and rose could only knit gloves while Maggie and Christina were unemployed. The five sisters were down looked for engaging in a Lughnasa song with or without a radio. All sisters were unmarried, which was not a precious thing among Irish society. Christina getting a child outside marriage was only accepted by Father Jack, who had become used to such circumstances while in Uganda. He calls Michael a love child. Female oppression was exhibited by having fewer opportunities where some sisters had to remain unemployed for many years. The aspect of paternalism is brought out when women failed to adhere to Irish morals, such as getting married and dancing publicly, which were associated with pagan rituals. According to how Gerry lies to Christina about marriage proposals and fails to take responsibility, Michael, the author, indicates that Dublin men had no value for love and affection because, in the end, none of the sisters eventually got married.
In conclusion, Irish women were obliged to perform home duties if not, engage in low paying works than males. In both stories, women were filled with emptiness because of not being married and remained fighting poverty. As a result, women had to discover how to make themselves happy i.e., through dancing and Maria attending Halloween party.