afterwards in the dream. I remembered that I had noticed long velvet curtains
and a swinging lamp of antique fashion. I felt that I had been very far away,
in some land where the customs were strange.??Araby? the title of one of the short stories, represents
Arabia, which is another exotic land and is a form of escape for the boy, where
he can connect with his ?love.? The Wild West is the land of escapism for the
boys at the school in An Encounter,
where they can live off heroes in another world. Dublin is also a place of
escapism in An Encounter, where they try
to escape the restrictions of school. The
priest, in The Sisters, tries to escape
in a different way, as he tries to escape the limitations of the church, by
living his life through the boy. However, all these characters try to escape
the paralysis through life and literature, but it always ends in frustration.Every
one of the stories in Dubliners has many
forms of paralysis, which have a crippling effect on life. In The Sisters, paralysis affects both the boy and the priest, who
is not only affected by literal mental and physical paralysis, but also by the
paralysis from the limitations of the church. The priest, who in a way also
thrust him forward with education, held the boy back, but he also suffers
paralysis through the older generation, from Old Cotter, his father and the
priest, who impose expectations on him.The
boys in An Encounter, suffer from many
forms of paralysis. The school imposes limitations on them, and it is this that
they are mainly trying to escape from. The older generation, linked to the
school through the master, but also through the paedophile are a major source
of paralysis, as in all the stories. The paedophile, is also a victim of
paralysis, through, as with the priest in The Sisters, both literal physical and mental paralysis. Time is
also a force holding the boys back, as shown when they realise that they must
get back home before four o?clock. Their escape from the tedium and paralysis
of school is a serious failure as they encounter many other forms of paralysis,
which are just as depressing, especially Dublin, which deteriorates the
atmosphere dramatically.The
citizens of Dublin depend solely in the eye for comprehension and understanding
of the real world. However, they do not see clearly but rather in a blurred
way, upon the connection of two senses, usually the sight and hearing, the
characters are able to fully comprehend the reality. As is shown clearly in Araby: ?My eyes were often full of tears (I could
not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into
my bosom.? The tears are a literal showing of
the fact that he cannot see clearly, until the boy hears the conversation
between the people at the bazaar: ?Gazing up into the darkness I saw
myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with
anguish and anger.? Hearing this conversation,
brings forth his moment of discovery and awareness and realises that the
aimlessness of his hopes. As the lights go out his sight is replaced by insight
and inner vision and he finally realises that his previous world was an
innocent vision and illusory.Paralysis
in Dubliners is a metaphor for the
doomed and self-defeating life in Dublin and it is a very affective force upon
the lives of the children in the first three stories. Some stories focus on
some forms of paralysis rather than others, but the recurring main source of
paralysis is from Dublin, the city itself. All three stories end with a greater
self-awareness within the boys involved, who learn to take on the guilt of the
world. James Joyce intended to write a chapter displaying Dublin, as a centre
of paralysis and he did this by using a number of sources of paralysis and
showing them in different contexts.