Because I did a presentation on this book, I opened Dubliners with a lot more background knowledge than I usually do with the books I read.  Having read numerous reviews of the piece, I took in the words and pages with a certain predisposition regarding the tone of the book.  The tone I felt, and expected to feel, was one of loss and entrapment, and I felt it from beginning to end.

 

Though all the stories held this common theme, the first story that really jumped out at me with a dark mood was “Eveline.”  Throughout the story, Eveline’s life was described as harsh and unsatisfying.  Of course, at first her life was better, when her mother was alive and her father wasn’t drunk, but things changed and for the majority of her adolescence she was unhappy.  When she finally was presented with an opportunity to leave her flaccid life, she tried her hardest to take it.  It wasn’t until she made it to the station, moments before she would board, that Eveline realized she was trapped.  Something was pulling her back and holding her to a life in Dublin – a life of dissatisfaction.

 

“The Dead” had the same effect on me.  When Gabriel was traveling home from the party, he had such high hopes of his time alone with his wife that night.  Watching her from a distance, he reminisced all the time they had spent together, and he felt a recharge of satisfaction being her husband.  When she told him the sad story of her childhood romance, his good feelings were lost.  As the snow fell outside and all across Dublin, it blanketed them all in their sadness and dissatisfaction – the ultimate sense of entrapment.

 

If, in fact, Joyce’s intentions were to give off these vibes, he succeeded.  His look on his homeland is hopeless and it shows through in Dubliners.  The piece was a downer, there no doubt there, but it was well written and effective nonetheless.  I enjoyed this book greatly.