IN WHAT WAYS AND WITH WHAT EFFECTS DOES JOYCE PORTRAY DEATH IN DUBLINERS?
James Joyce’s collection of short stories ‘Dubliners’ is deliberately structured to present the transition from childhood towards adulthood, which perhaps allows him to place great emphasis on the collection’s central theme of death. In addition, Joyce employs the use of a cyclical narrative in the beginning story of The Sisters and that of the final story The Dead, to further highlight this overarching theme of death as well as explore its effects through the presentation of both protagonists experiencing the death of someone else whilst being near to the windows during the night.
Joyce’s depiction of death is one that possibly highlights its position as the ultimate form of paralysis, and this notion is supported through the occurrence of events throughout Grace. Mrs Kernan from Grace is depicted to have married a commercial traveller initially with vivid pleasure, yet Joyce contrasts this to: “after three weeks she had found a wife’s life irksome…beginning to find it unbearable, she had become a mother”. The deliberate use of phrases such as ‘irksome’ and ‘unbearable’ not only emphasises the gradual loss of Mrs Kernan’s identity but also the underlying theme of death in the form of her ambitions and freedom as she, “[gives] in to her irksome role of a conscientious housewife…”. In addition to emphasising the restrictive nature of Mrs Kernan’s marriage through the theme of death, Joyce also portrays the concept of paralysis as something that precedes death and along with his metaphorical portrayal of death, Joyce thus suggests that the paralysis of his characters throughout the stories is thus defined as a form of death due to the gradual decay of these characters. This is especially reflected in Eveline, which Florence Walzl argues to be the most direct in its emphasis of the theme of paralysis and the prime example for the claim that death is the most extreme form of paralysis, with this argument being further supported Joyce’s description that, “Dublin seemed to me the centre of paralysis”. This notion is further explored through Joyce’s portrayal of Eveline’s failure to make a decision in the final few sentences: “she set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal” as it epitomises her state of paralysis perfectly through the deliberate use of “white” along with “passive” to highlight the extent of her paralysis to the degree where she is unable to show emotions or make a decision. Joyce’s description of Eveline as a “helpless animal” is perhaps a further emphasis of her eternal confinement to Dublin as she is confined to a cage much like an animal, due to her declination of the sole opportunity for freedom. Moreover, the effects of presenting death as the ultimate paralysis is especially emphasised through The Sisters where upon depicting the literal death of Father Flynn, it is revealed that he is guilty of simony in order for Joyce to suggest that Father Flynn is representative of the Catholic Church whilst the narrator is Ireland. This death of the ‘church’ in relation to the ties that Ireland held to Protestant Britain perhaps brings to light the element of divine intervention in order to rectify the doings of the corrupt church, whilst also allowing Joyce to illustrate the death of forced religious beliefs and the influence of the church over the people through: “I felt as if I had been freed from something by his death…”. This deliberate choice of presenting the expression of relief from the perspective of the protagonist thus allows Joyce suggest that the theme of death is perhaps one that is associated with an element of positivity as the death of Father Flynn has granted the narrator freedom from the oppression of the church.
Throughout Dubliners, Joyce is seen to use colour as a metaphor to present a certain atmosphere, portray the special feature of a character or convey their emotions. According to Philip Ball, “before we can gain a clear understanding of where technological considerations enter the decision, we must appreciate the social and cultural factors at work on the artist’s attitudes. In the end, each artist makes his or her own contract with the colours of the time” which perhaps suggests that the presentation of death as an overarching theme throughout the collection of stories, is one which stems from the colours which Joyce associates with gloomy atmosphere of Dublin. Joyce presents the a stark contrast between light and dark, where the protagonists in the short stories at the beginning who seek to survive the darkness whilst being unable to move towards the light, are juxtaposed against the adult characters who are instead resigned to hiding themselves in the dark and avoiding the light, as they are resigned to the death of their freedom and ambitions. Joyce’s contrast between the light and dark is first depicted through Araby where he describes the former: “…the light was out. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark.” in an attempt to suggest the death of the protagonist’s freedom and ambitions due to their constant but vain struggle in escaping the darkness of a declining society. Moreover, Joyce’s use of dark colours that are illustrated in the details of his stories are perhaps a symbol of death: Father Flynn’s death is foreshadowed through the: “little dark room” in which he lives, whilst Joyce’s depiction of Eveline’s contemplation of escape through elopement, “in the close dark room” allows for him to build up the expectations of the audience whilst also foreshadowing the death of her freedom and ambitions through the use of “close” to highlight her confinement. This frequent metaphorical use of the lack of colour is perhaps a method in which Joyce comments on the gradual death of Irish society, as this is clearly defined through the repetitive use of the phrase ‘dark’ in Araby, “The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes behind the houses…to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ash-pits, to the dark odorous stables”. This not only provides an effective reflection of the depressing atmosphere in the decaying Irish society of Joyce’s time, but also allows Joyce to imply that Dublin is a city which is beyond saving as his portrayal of Dublin as a city with dark rooms, corridors, streets as well as a, “dark and foul-smelling prison…never ending storm of darkness, dark flames and dark smoke of burning brimstone” places further emphasis towards the lack of hope that his characters hold towards Ireland’s revival. Joyce’s description of Dublin using the repetitive phrase of “dark” thus calls attention towards the death of the characters’ hopes whilst his use of “flames” and “brimstone” invoke the comparison of Dublin and Hell in order to extend the theme of death, whilst also making a possible suggestion towards the death of his characters and their confinement to this city which is presented to be similar to Hell.
Finally, Joyce’s presentation of death is clearly emphasised though the stories of The Sisters and The Dead as the use of a circular structure allows him to present the cohesiveness of the theme throughout the different stages of life. Richard Brown claims that the main aspect of “The Sisters” is the young boy’s gradual awareness of death and the loss of his faith in the values presented by his mentor Father Flynn, and this perhaps allows Joyce to enhance the thematic effects of the latter’s death through the relief which the protagonist feels at the death of religion’s oppression. However the death of Father Flynn also suggests an overlap between the living and the dead as the young protagonist is described to: “imagine that [he sees] again the heavy grey face of paralytic” whilst also noting that he finds himself: “smiling feebly” like the corpse of the late priest, and this not only allows Joyce to allude towards the similar connection in The Dead, but also allows Joyce to reinforce the paralysing and intrusive nature of death as Father Flynn looms over both the narrow and reader in a sinister way through the boy’s vision of a “heavy grey face”. Joyce’s connection between The Sisters and The Dead is presented through the opening description of, “There was no hope” and the ending phrase of “dead” as this supports Staley’s idea that the, “first sentence’s tone of finality and certainty creates the circle of death for Dubliners, a circle clear enough from the last lines of the final story The Dead” and establishes the recurring themes of death and paralysis throughout the stories. Moreover, Joyce creates a connection between the two stories through his presentation of the ‘living dead’, as Michael Furey’s death is seen to chill Conroy and further paralyses him through his realisation, with Joyce once again emphasising the parallel between the living and dead as both characters are enveloped by a chilling snow, with Gabriel noting that the living are as essentially lifeless as the dead.
Consequently, Joyce’s portrayal of death is therefore one that is presented in the use of colours and contrasts, the metaphorical death of his characters along with the parallel between The Sisters and The Dead. The deliberate presentation of death through these elements serves to further emphasise the paralytic nature of this central theme and its recurring appearance throughout the transition from childhood to adulthood in Dubliners.