Importance of the Journey in James Joyce’s Dubliners Essay

Importance of the Journey in James Joyce’s Dubliners In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs. Sir John Pentland Mahaffy describes Ireland in a way comparable to James Joyce’s depiction of Ireland in his book Dubliners. Joyce wrote his book of short stories to show how he viewed Dublin and its inhabitants. Joyce did not have positive memories of Dublin and his book casts a negative image upon almost all of Dublin. In Dubliners, James Joyce uses characters and their journeys through society to give his perception of Dublin. In Joyce’s stories with journeys there are many unknown elements to the characters and often their original goals are not accomplished. One story where a character goes on a†¦show more content†¦The boys are so scared that they flee from the old man at their first opportunity and run back home. The old man’s actions also show Joyce’s perception of Dublin. The man shows that there are a lot of unknown and peculiar people in Dublin. The chance of meeting an old man in a wide-open field The old man’s erratic personality and peculiar placement shows Joyce’s perception of some people in Dublin. Another story that has unknown aspects is the story â€Å"Clay.† In â€Å"Clay,† a woman experiences society on a journey to a party with some old friends. One unknown that she experiences is the people that she meets along the way. The first person that she comes in contact with is an old man on the train. The man seems friendly and nice but as they continue talking she begins to think that the man is drunk. Again Joyce uses unknown people in society to show another aspect of Dublin. Two older people meet on a train and have a nice conversation, but as it turns out the old man is drunk and almost tried to hit on her at the end of their ride together. Throughout all of Joyce’s use of unknown stories there are some common characteristics. The most common unknown are the people in society that our protagonists come in contact with. In both â€Å"Clay† and â€Å"An Encounter† characters meet someone simply described as â€Å"an old man.† The name old man has many negative connotations. â€Å"Old man† makes the reader think of a social outcast or someoneShow MoreRelated Compare and Contrast: ‘A desirable society’ Essay2015 Words   |  9 PagesBoth Andre Brink’s ‘A Dry White Season’ and James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’ display two very different societies undergoing artistic, cultural and political transitions. In 1914, Ireland saw the Nationalist party at its peak, where Irish society was desperately searching for a sense of cultural identity and political stability. 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