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I'm actually reading this. Back in highschool last may we analized "Eveline" and I was pretty interested in the whole idea of paralisis and ephiphany, definetly blew my mind. However, now that I'm reading it on my own I find it pretty hard to understand, like link the different stories and hidden meanings of the single novels. I'm actually starting "The boarding house", I hope things get clearer, still amazing writing techniques though. Anyone can share his idea on this?
Weirdly this was the last book I read. The stories aren't meant to have any discerning linkage. Sure, the book is a resounding delineation of dublin's characters, but really, there's not meant to be any parallels drawn between the short stories...at least I think anyway.
As for the bold text - what?
Haha yeah, maybe I'm just too curious and I forced myself to see links even though there weren't, my bad. I was looking for further explanation in the following stories, just my fault.
Bold text: paralisis and ephiphany are two of Joyce's main features to express the personalities of people from Ireland and Dublin in general. For what I can remember from what I studied those people hate their state of life and want to escape their reality, but can't because of their weak personality.
E.g. in "Eveline" she wants to live her life abroad with her boyfriend but can't sail with him because she's paralised, like a weak animal, and tortured in her mind with the promise she made to her mother to keep the family together.
One the other hand epiphany is the trivial gesture (somehow similar to the "madeleine" of Proust) that marks the impossibility of the change; it's given by a sound, a memory and whatnot, something absolutely trivial but really important for the character. In Eveline this is given by the sound of an organ or something, that reminds her the night her mother died.
This is just my two cents, really. I hope this helped to understand the bold text.
Wait wait, not being a smartass but Eveline isn't paralysed - her muscles function...are you sure you haven't mixed up your terms? - if you mean "paralysis", it probably must be accompanied by another word or else it doesn't really transpose to literature.
As for "epiphany", in the grand scheme of things, yes, yes this is endemic in many of the stories in the collection.
Edit - just to give you a semi-local insight to the Eveline story... Ireland had inadmissable poverty and hardship and by virtue, emigration was rife. Thing is, with Ireland historically being quite a closed, conservative place; when somebody left, they left for good...and they NEVER returned. Essentially the undertone to many works is the struggle to decide between family, friends, custom, religion and adventure, freedom, liberty, work...
A really prolific example of this is in Brian Friel's -
Philadelphia Here I Come...very well recommended.