Dubliners, The Sisters
HOW IS 'THE SISTERS' AN IDEAL STORY WITH WHICH TO OPEN 'DUBLINERS'? HOW IS IT LESS THAN IDEAL?
James Joyce sets all his work in the Dublin city. Dublin itself is almost like a character in these stories; due to the great use of slang, "there was something uncanny about him" and "while my aunt was ladling". 'The Sisters' along with the next two stories are taken from Joyce's personal memories. In the first three stories Joyce emphasises on certain themes, in which the stories deal with childhood, the central character is 'I', who is also the narrator of the stories (he tells the story). However the 'I' is an important factor in Dubliners as the forth story changes to 'she'. The 'I' talks about significant experiences in his childhood.
The first story is an ideal opening in 'Dubliners'. 'The Sisters' deals with death, clearly Joyce's intention of creating such 'darkness' and 'sadness' in the opening of this novel is to transmit the experience of the reader to somebody else; the revealing truth of life and death. However the emphasis is not so much on the plot but on moments in time, that have impact and significance, and the thoughts and feelings of the central character and little observations of human behaviour. One of the reoccurring themes in this story is the way the dead affect the living. For example, in 'The Sisters' what the dead person may have said or thought or done continues to effect the central character long after the person has gone.
'The Sisters' is about a young boy who has an experience in death of a close friend; the priest. The plot revolves around his struggle to deal with the death of an important figure whom he looks up to and cherishes. The narrator admits he was uncomfortable around father Flynn but Joyce never tells us the whole story, he only gives us enough information to know that father Flynn is a malicious figure. When analysing 'The Sisters' Joyce picks upon various languages and themes; for example, the role of music, the themes of darkness and death , and ...
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'The Sisters' is about a young boy who has an experience in death of a close friend; the priest. The plot revolves around his struggle to deal with the death of an important figure whom he looks up to and cherishes. The narrator admits he was uncomfortable around father Flynn but Joyce never tells us the whole story, he only gives us enough information to know that father Flynn is a malicious figure. When analysing 'The Sisters' Joyce picks upon various languages and themes; for example, the role of music, the themes of darkness and death , and the use of contrast; 'Persia' meaning romance, something beautiful contrasted to 'the catacombs', galleries with tombs. Paralysis is a major theme in this first story. Many of the characters are emotionally paralysed. The priest in 'The Sisters' has a stroke and is physically paralysed. Joyce makes this as a symbol of emotionalised paralysis of other characters. This paralysis is caused by a combination of factors such as drink, poverty, the church etc. When the priest goes mad in 'The Sisters', it is because he lost faith, which suggests faithlessness and corruptness of the church.
Isolation again is an important theme in this first story. Many of the central characters e.g. the boy, clearly feels isolated. There is no one who is truly a friend to them. They feel set apart, outsiders and do not really confide their true feelings to anyone. Again there is a sense of loneliness (another theme). Many of the characters wish to escape, which is another theme in this story. The boy wants to escape to his 'exotic fair', with a girl he loves, but she can't go so he has to go alone. This story is an ideal opening for the 12 stories as it is hear we reinforce this sense of quietness, in which the narrators of the later stories adopt. From this story Joyce teaches us that it is possible for a person to observe his or her own experience from the outside. This is shown in the opening paragraph with the image of the window.
'The Sisters' is about death and life, Joyce uses the linguistic feature of humour in this first story; "I noticed how clumsily her skirt was hooked" and "the fancy came to me that the old priest was smiling". These couple of lines are quite humorous, as the speaker 'I' is in the church. He can't keep his mind of this lady's skirt, which is distracting him.
The theme of death and insanity is brought straight out in 'The Sisters'. This attracts the attention of its reader, as it is usually found in the end of a book that the theme of death is aroused. As soon as the reader acknowledges this theme they sympathize and therefore carry on wanting to know what the other stories bring out. This is a very clever way of opening 'Dubliners'. Its layout is different.
The title 'The Sisters' can have two meanings, firstly the two sisters, Nannie and Eliza. They have taken care of the priest, and secondly, on a figurative level. The title may reflect on the close relationship between Nannie and Eliza (sisters); the relationship of insanity and death.
Opening Joyce's intentions in 'The Sisters' which is the opening of the novel 'Dubliners', he often works through the use of contrasts; either in one story itself or between one story and another. One of these groups of contrasts is between a character that is sensitive and artistic and one who is vulgar, insensitive and selfish, usually the more sensitive one is the one who feels that their lives are burdened, that they are paralysed and trapped in unhappy situations and relationships, from which they feel they can not escape. This is why I feel that 'The Sisters' is an ideal opening in 'Dubliners'.
James Joyce often structures his stories in three sections and often combines descriptions of action and place with his use of the interior monologue, which are the thoughts running on in a characters head, so that we move into the story from inner to outer and back again. My view of the titles significance is that of symbolism. The title contrasts the relationship of death, that of a close relationship between sisters. However, the overall picture of Dublin, which this story portrays, is of women either trapped or finding some slightly immoral way of succeeding, and of men who in general are also trapped in dreary often unhappy situations. Within this overall scheme Joyce give a subtle psychological insight into a whole range of different characters of varying ages. 'The Sisters' contributes like a piece in a mosaic to the overall picture that he portrays of Dublin life, which makes the short story ideal to the opening of 'Dubliners'.
* Word Count, 1039
