James Joyce’s Metaphorical Worldbuilding in Dubliners

Joyce’s characters in ‘Dubliners’ are isolated from the outside world in the microenvironment of Dublin. A place where everyone accepts the obligations expected of them, those who do not are soon forgotten. His portrayal of the social stagnancy of Dublin gestures to his view of these norms as a parasite that creeps into the characters’ psyche as they mature until, as adults, they realize it is too late for them to escape their unsatisfying lives.

The cycle of conformity begins in adolescence, where childlike dreams of a limitless world are squashed by a crashing realization of reality. We follow the Boy in ‘Araby’ as he passes from a childlike infatuation with independence to a sour acceptance of the impossibility of individuality. Joyce sets the scene by describing the subsurface presence of the dead priest in the boy’s house, referring to the “back drawingroom” as “in which the priest had died” (pg. 22). Although the boy only associates one room with the priest and a backroom at that, he refers to the room only in relation to the priest. This peculiar detail draws the reader back to the subtle, yet constant presence of the priest and the ideals he represents long after his death. Joyce goes on to describe the darkness and emptiness of the streets the boy played on (pg. 21), expressing the obsolescence of childhood play as he tries to move into adulthood. These details create a crackling tension that seems to build up to a transition.

Upon learning of the fair, the boy is enchanted by the possibility of experiencing a piece of the exotic world beyond Dublin, an opportunity to step into his maturity and do something for himself. As the day approaches, he says “I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school” (pg. 23). In the face of this opportunity, a wish turned reality, the rest of his life pales. Joyce uses violent verbs to evoke the physical pain of childlike anticipation. The boy organizes every variable in his power to ensure he can go, but he is let down by his uncle, who arrives home late. As the boy watches the hours tick by, his excitement turns to frustration, then to anger at what he cannot control: his uncle regarding him as a child.

When the boy arrives at the market, he “recognize[s] a silence like that which pervades a church after a service” (pg. 25). This is a clear callback to the initial claustrophobic air of his house, the house of the dead priest, and the house controlled by his uncle. It is at this moment that the boy recognizes the futility of his escapism, his attempts to leave the monotony of his routine. There is no escape from the confinement of his home, there is no hope for him to achieve individuality. This is a realization that brings him into the bleak reality of his newfound adulthood.

Thus are Joyce’s views on Dublin. Isolated in its immobile social norms, one cannot hope to achieve a life lived for their own enjoyment but is instead confined to the expectations of their habitat. The boy in Araby is a case study of the disposal of childhood creativity to assimilate into a society that illustrates only one path in life. Joyce believed his escape from Dublin gifted him perspective, a realization past that of the boy in Araby, who thinks he has discovered the ultimate truth.

January 17, 2023