J.

JOYCE - EVELINE - 1914

genre Short story
narrator 3rd person narrator - he allows the reader complete freedom in forming their own opinion about the
character in the development of the narration. The narrator adopts Eveline’s point of view and often
steps back and leaves room to her flow of thoughts (FIT=Free Indirect Thought)
setting Place: - At first “in the close dark room at the other side of the hall” in Eveline’s home.
-Then at North Wall station
Time: - evening
character(s) EVELINE HILL, over 19 years old, works at the Stores in Dublin and lives with her violent father
and two small brothers and sisters. She has to care after the house and the children after her mother’s
death and feels threatened by her father’s bouts of violence. She has a boyfriend, Frank, with whom
she’s about to elope to Buenos Aires. She’s anxious, worried, and irresolute at the prospect of leaving
her home forever: in fact, in the end, she’s passive and totally incapable of doing something to change
her situation. She is unable to take a decision, she’s paralyzed by terror and can only pray to God to
guide her.
Eveline is a static character, she idealizes the past and the future, but when she’s faced with action,
she fails. The promise made to her mother symbolizes her passive acceptance of a dull life, which she
will never be able to change or to alter in any way.
She is a simple girl and this is reflected in the very plain, simple language used in the story to
describe her ideas and frame of mind.
plot Eveline is at home, sitting by the window: while she is looking out of it she is thinking about the past,
the present and the future. She thinks about her past life when her mother was still alive and she used
to play with her brothers and the other kids in the field near her house, until her father hunted them
in. But then her mother and many other people died and she is on the point of leaving her home. She
looks at the objects round the room where she is, then considers the pros and cons of leaving and
getting married in a distant country. Although her life is hard and her father mistreats her, she doesn’t
find her present life totally undesirable now that she is about to leave. She’s going to get married to
Frank, a sailor who has made his fortune in Buenos Ayres. He is kind, manly and open-hearted, he
likes music and the theatre, and has seen many distant countries.
She remembers that her father has not always been harsh on her: on some occasions he was even
nice. Strangely, just as her time is running out, she hears an organ playing in the street, and this
reminds her of the night of her mother’s death, when her father ordered the organ player to go away.
Eveline is aware that her mother’s was a life of sacrifices and it ended in craziness: she must escape
and find refuge and happiness in Frank’s arms.
But when she is with him at North Wall station she is paralized with fear, she prays to God to direct
her because she is unable to decide, to speak, to react. Frank seizes her hand but she clutches the iron
railing and, without showing her emotions, stays behind.
language - simple, colloquial, referential vocabulary - use of many state verbs ( to underline Eveline’s static
character)
- poetic (description of the evening) - some words are used as refrains (houses, field, play, dead,
home, etc.)
- use of alliteration (ll.6-7 clacking … concrete … crunching, ll. 9-10 Belfast … bought … brown
… bright brick , etc.- negative connotation of the words referring to the boat, the sea, the unknown.
style simple and short sentences, use of exclamations to express Eveline’s emotions. A strong simile is
used in the end (“like a helpless animal”) to describe her total passivity.
Short descriptions, very scarce use of direct speech to report other people’s words.
Stream of consciousness technique: the protagonist’s thoughts are presented as they come to her mind
through free association of ideas and they move continually from past to present to future.
Eveline’s personality is not described directly by the narrator but the readers have to infer it from her
thoughts.
The story has no introduction, but it has a climax (when Eveline remembers her mother’s death =
epiphany) and the ending is closed (Eveline’s life will remain the same)
themes Dreams and fears
The function of memories
The need to escape
Paralysis
2

J. JOYCE - THE DEAD - 1914

genre Short story
narrator 3rd person
non-omniscient - unobtrusive

setting Time: Christmas-time, a snowy night and then early morning

Place: Dublin; first at the Misses Morkan’s, then in the streets back to the hotel, at last in the hotel
room
character(s) Gabriel Conroy, the protagonist. He is a man of culture, a language teacher, and a journalist on The
Daily Express, a British newspaper. He is sensitive and introverted. He is an autobiographical
character, he is what Joyce would have been if he had not left Dublin. He can be considered the
epitome of all the failed Dubliners (portrayed in this collection of short stories). He has been married
to Gretta for many years and believes he loves her very much, but then realizes his love has been
quite superficial and materialistic, compared with Michael Furey’s, and understands his wife and
feels affectionate pity towards her. He is a complex, dynamic character.
Gretta Conroy, Gabriel’s wife: she is a simple country woman from Galway, Connacht, in the West
of Ireland, who came to Dublin when she was a young girl to study in a convent. She has been hiding
a secret for all her married life, and on that very night, after listening to an old folk song at the party,
she reveals her secret love for unlucky Michael to her husband. She is no longer beautiful, but has
beautiful bronze hair, is quite sensual, and there is “grace and mistery in her attitude as if she were a
symbol of something”. She resembles Nora, Joyce’s wife.
Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia Morkan, Gabriel’s old aunts, who take a pleasure in organizing their annual
dancing party with warmth and good food; Freddy Malins, his cousin; Lily, the caretaker; Miss Ivors,
Mr Browne, Miss Furlong, Miss Daly, Mary Jane, Mr Kerrigan, Mr Bergin and all the other guests at
the party.
plot The story opens with Gabriel and Gretta going to the annual Christmas party given by Julia and Kate
Morkan. There is a lot of gaiety, eating and drinking at the party. Gabriel meets many people, and has
an irritating conversation with Miss Ivors, an Irish nationalist who accuses him of being a “West
Briton”. The irritation he feels undermines his self-consciousness. During the sumptuous dinner he
gives a speech and is acclaimed with enthusiasm, but he thinks it is a superficial triumph.
Just before leaving, Gretta hears a song, The Lass of Aughrim, which reminds her of a young man
who used to sing it and who died for her love when he was 17 years old. After the party, Gabriel and
Gretta go back to the hotel room they’ve rented for the occasion and he is physically attracted to her
but she is sad and rejects him. She reveals her secret and then, overwhelmed by emotions and tears,
she falls asleep. Gabriel is ashamed of himself and realizes that he has never loved her with the same
passion as Michael Furey’s. He thinks about the party, about the poor dead boy, and about the future,
when, sooner or later, his older aunt,Julia, will die and he will be mourning her. He feels sincere
sympathy for his wife and knows such a feeling must be love. He thinks about death and watches the
snow falling over the universe, covering everything and everybody, the living and the dead.
language Highly poetical and musical, especially in the last passage. Frequent alliterations, repetitions and
chiasms. Symbolic words and nouns. Joyce chose words also for their beautiful sound and the rhythm
of the sentence they created.
style combination of realism (detailed description, narration, dialogue) and symbolism (the snow, the
names…); detailed descriptions become dense with symbolic meaning. Use of antithesis (life/death,
spiritual love/physical love, Michael/Gabriel, going west/going east, the Irish/the Britons,
gaiety/sadness).
The narrator adopts Gabriel’s point of view and follows his thoughts wandering between past and
present and among people and situations. Although he remains detached, he gives also voice to
Gabriel’s complex feelings. He sometimes steps back and the narration mingles with Gabriel’s
indirect thoughts, so that the reader is allowed direct access to his mind.
Use of the epiphany, a sudden unexpected revelation of the meaning of something apparently
common, an intense understanding of the meaning of things.
themes life and death
journey towards the west
remembrance
love
Irish nationalism versus intellectual freedom
3

LAST PASSAGE OF “THE DEAD”

PAST SIMPLE = THE PRESENT OF THE NARRATION
PAST PERFECT = THE PAST OF THE NARRATION
CONDITIONAL = THE FUTURE OF OF THE NARRATION

Little by little the scene loses a precise temporal reference

It acquires the tone of eternal truth

From the contrast between past and present, taking and giving, life and death, emerges the triumph of love
Epiphany:
Gabriel realizes that he and the guests at the party are deader than Michael → his self is destroyed → his identity is
gone → he becomes one with all the living and the dead
Gabriel accepts his faults and only then he can feel true pity and be in the company of everyone

Style: combination of
(a) realism: everything is described in detail: → Gretta sleeping → her clothes → the room
(b) symbolism:
 The names: GABRIEL → the Archangel of fire and death
MICHAEL → the Prince of the angels who led them against the rebel angels
 Widespread metaphorical antithesis between life and death
 The falling snow→ symbolic reconciliation of life and death
 The snow symbol of death + solitude + alienation of the artist in Dublin + purification (life) + time
 Journey westwards → symbol of dying, yet Gretta and Michael loved each other in the west (= the reality of life
& death must be faced
4

J.JOYCE – A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN -

1916
genre Autobiographical novel, Bildungsroman (in German “bildung”, meaning “education”, and
“roman”, meaning “novel”, in English “novel of formation”

narrator 3rd person non-omniscient narrator – Stephen’s point of view is priviledged

In the last part of chapter 5 (diary entries): 1 st person

setting Time: from Stephen’s childhood to his coming of age
Place: Dublin and the surrounding area
character(s) Stephen Dedalus is the PROTAGONIST. He will also appear in Joyce’s later masterpiece, Ulysses,
as one of the three main characters. Growing up, Stephen goes through long phases of hedonism and
deep religiosity. He eventually adopts a philosophy of aestheticism, greatly valuing beauty and art.
Stephen is essentially Joyce’s alter ego, and many of the events of Stephen’s life mirror events from
Joyce’s own youth.
His surname is taken from the ancient Greek mythical figure Daedalus, a skilled craftsman and artist
who built for himself and his young son Icarus a pair of wings in order to escape from imprisonment
on the island of Crete. Stephen’s first name refers to St Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
He is a sensitive, thoughtful boy, though Stephen’s large family runs into deepening financial
difficulties, his parents manage to send him to prestigious schools and eventually to a university. As
he grows up, Stephen grapples (=struggles) with his nationality, religion, family, and morality, and
finally decides to reject all socially imposed bonds and instead live freely as an artist.

Stephen undergoes several crucial transformations over the course of the novel. The first, which
occurs during his first years at Clongowes Wood College, is from a little boy to a bright student who
understands social interactions and can begin to make sense of the world around him. The second,
which occurs when Stephen sleeps with the Dublin prostitute, is from innocence to debauchery
(=sinful indulgence). The third, which occurs when Stephen hears Father Arnall’s speech on death
and hell, is from an unrepentant sinner to a devout Catholic. Finally, Stephen’s greatest
transformation is from near fanatical religiousness to a new devotion to art and beauty. This transition
takes place in Chapter 4, when he is offered entry to the Jesuit order but refuses it in order to attend
university. Stephen’s refusal and his subsequent epiphany on the beach mark his transition from belief
in God to belief in aesthetic beauty. This transformation continues through his university years. By
the end of university, Stephen has become a fully formed artist, and his diary entries reflect the
independent individual he has become.
Some other characters:
Simon Dedalus – Stephen’s father, an impoverished former medical student with a strong sense of
Irish nationalism.
Mary Dedalus – Stephen’s mother who is very religious
Emma Clery – Stephen’s beloved, the young girl to whom he is fiercely attracted over the course of
many years. Stephen constructs Emma as an ideal of femininity, even though (or because) he does not
know her well
Dante (Mrs. Riordan) – The governess of the Dedalus children.
Father Arnall - Stephen’s stern Latin teacher at Clongowes. Later, when Stephen is at Belvedere
College, Father Arnall delivers a series of lectures on death and hell that have a profound influence on
Stephen.
Cranly – Stephen’s best friend at university, , in whom he confides his thoughts and feelings. In this
sense, Cranly represents a secular confessor for Stephen.
plot “Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road
and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo ...
His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face.
He was baby tuckoo.”
— James Joyce, Opening to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The novel maps out the growth of young Stephen from childhood to youth, presenting him initially
with his family, where he first assimilates influences (religion, Irish politics, history), which he will
later have to overcome. When he reaches school age he is sent to a Jesuit boarding school,
Clongowes Wood College, where he experiences the authority of the Church.
5

Stephen’s father gets into debt and the family leaves its pleasant suburban home to live in Dublin.
However, thanks to a scholarship, he is able to attend Belvedere College, where he excels
academically and becomes a class leader. Stephen squanders a large cash prize from school, and
begins to see prostitutes. He finds himself in increasing conflict with the Church, torn between the
need to respond to his sexuality and the feeling that this is a sin. Also, distance grows between him
and his drunken father. He is terrified at the prospect of damnation, particularly during a religious
retreat, where Father Arnall preaches to the boys on the nature of hell. The sermon is so persuasive
that Stephen becomes devout again. He is a conscentious and gifted student, so the director of the
college asks him to consider entering priesthood. Stephen takes time to consider, but has a crisis of
faith because of the conflict between his spiritual beliefs and his aesthetic ambitions. Along
Dollymount Strand he spots a girl wading, and has an epiphany in which he is overcome with the
desire to find a way to express her beauty in his writing. At that moment, Stephen realizes that he
cannot become a priest. He goes to university, where he grows wary of the institutions around him:
Church, school, politics and family, and starts to prepare for a life of art. The novel ends when
Stephen is about to leave Ireland, its religion, politics and history.

“April 26. Mother is putting my new secondhand clothes in order. She prays now, she says, that
I may learn in my own life and away from home and friends what the heart is and what it feels.
Amen. So be it. Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience
and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.
April 27. Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.”
Dublin, 1904.
Trieste, 1914.

language The language changes in the five chapters, from the simple language suitable for a child (short simple
sentences, concrete words) to the complex language comprehensible by a student (longer sentences,
more abstract words), and finally to the personal, intimate language of the last part of ch. 5 (more
fragmented to reveal the protagonist’s direct thoughts – stream of consciousness).
style A Portrait is a novel of development in which we follow a young boy’s initiation into the adult world.
The novel moves from a highly impersonal opening section to the intimate, personal entries in
Stephen’s diary at the end. Psychologically, there is a movement from a state of indecision on
Stephen’s part to some degree of certitude in the concluding section. It is divided into FIVE chapters,
each corresponding to one stage in Stephen’s development. The structure of the book (five chapters)
can be compared to the structure of classical drama. The turning point or climax occurs at the end of
the fourth chapter, followed by the epilogue or working out of the resolution in the fifth chapter.
combination of realism (description, narration, dialogue) and symbolism (the names, some
episodes, the dove/bird symbol…).
The narrator adopts Stephen’s point of view and follows his development, which takes place through
a series of epiphanies.
Sometimes, there is a tone of irony towards the protagonist, his vanity, pomposity, or excessive
romantic attitudes. It is a measure of Joyce’s genius that he can look sympathetically at his young
self, capturing the sincerity of his struggle against tradition and authority, but also reveal all the
young man’s arrogance and vanity. In doing so, Joyce not only creates a vivid picture of himself as a
young man, but also of a universal type. This is revealed by the title: A portrait… means one of the
possible portraits/interpretations of the Artist (the specific protagonist of the novel = Stephen
Dedalus).

themes the formation of character

the restrictions of religious fanatism
family
love and beauty
the need to escape from the social, political, and religious labyrinth of Dublin
the role of the artist/the importance of art

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/portraitartist/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4217
6