Narrative Style And Character In James Joyce

& # 8217 ; s Clay Essay, Research Paper

Narrative Style and Character in James Joyce & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; Clay & # 8221 ;

For many readers, one of the most appealing factors within literature is frequently the dynamic representation of character. The foibles and visual aspect of characters are frequently depicted in great deepness and presented with a peculiar prejudice in head. The brief format of the short narrative does non let for great lengths of item to be included hence, alternate authorship manners are used. James Joyce adopts the free and indirect narrative technique to show the narrative of Maria the suppressive old maid in his short narrative & # 8220 ; Clay. & # 8221 ; This peculiar attack influences the reader to sympathise with Joyce & # 8217 ; s flawed character, while ironically indicating out the peculiar defects and directing them towards Irish society.

Dubliners is a aggregation of short narratives by James Joyce in which the writer utilizes the mundane experiences and rites of the Irish center and lower category to publicise his contempt with the Irish society and the political positions adopted by the Irish people at the clip. & # 8220 ; Clay & # 8221 ; is no exclusion to this format. The Character Maria is described as holding witch-like physical characteristics but with maternal and domestic virtuousnesss. The sarcasm represented here is that while Maria is so purely maternal, she remains a old maid. Joyce provides the reader with a little more insight into the ideas of Maria through her looks of sexual defeat. Ginger Mooney & # 8217 ; s crispen to Maria having a ring this Halloween reveals a pent-up desire for a adult male & # 8220 ; Maria had to laugh and state she didn & # 8217 ; t want any ring or any adult male either ; and when she laughed her greygreen eyes

sparkled with letdown & # 8221 ; ( pp181 ) The letdown in her eyes suggests that she is emerged in a life style in which she is non peculiarly happy-a sexual palsy. The reader is presented with a 2nd illustration of Maria & # 8217 ; s uncomfortable province of emotion, sing her matrimonial position, in the bar shop. Maria blooms and smilings after being asked if she wanted to buy marrying bar, as though the idea appealed to her. A concluding illustration of Maria & # 8217 ; s sexual repression arises when she discovers that she has left the plum bar on the ropeway. Her conversation with the drunk gentleman causes her to be distracted. She subsequently recalls & # 8221 ; how confused the gentleman with the gray mustache had made her, [ she ] colored with shame and annoyance and disappoi

ntment” ( pp182 ) The shame suggested here could merely bespeak her feelings towards her absentmindedness nevertheless, Karen Lawrence Suggests it could besides be construed as shame for holding an involvement in the adult male, which once more suggests sexual repression. ( Joyce And Feminism p.256 )

The character defects are non straight stated. Joyce uses a free indirect discourse ; the narrative assumes the linguistic communication and resonance of Maria- & # 8221 ; leting a 3rd individual narrative to work a first individual point of position & # 8221 ; ( Concise Dictionary of Literary Footings p87 ) . The narrative moves in and out of her consciousness. After the washer adult females settle in for their tea and Mooney proposes that Maria will have a ring, & # 8220 ; Ginger Mooney lifted up her mug of tea and proposed Maria & # 8217 ; s wellness? she knew that Mooney meant good though of class she had the impressions of a common adult female & # 8221 ; . ( pp181 ) The point of position is hidden within the narrative. This technique allows the sarcasm to be emphasized-what appears to be nonsubjective descriptions and

observations are truly looks of Maria & # 8217 ; s personal prejudice. She is presuming that Mooney is sincere in her foreboding of Maria acquiring married. It does non happen to her that she is being ridiculed. The description of the Halloween game is another illustration of Maria & # 8217 ; s version of life. As she blindly reaches for an object to mean her hereafter, she finds decease. Maria & # 8217 ; s version is more na? ve. Alternatively of recognizing the significance of her pick, she merely assumes the disturbance around her is meaning that she did something incorrect and must take once more.

Joyce nowadayss Maria & # 8217 ; s changeless naivety of her surrounding as a signifier of ignorance. Through the usage of sarcasm, Joyce illustrates the ignorance of Maria and applies her palsy to the whole of Irish society. The free indirect narrative manner acts as a device to show the narrative from Maria & # 8217 ; s point of position nevertheless, the sarcasm injected into discourse serves to knock Maria and her province of palsy. The free indirect discourse ties together the understanding and sarcasm of Maria & # 8217 ; s character and the society she represents

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Geddes, Gary. The Art Of Short Fiction. Clay pp178-185. Ontario:

Addison Wesley, 1999

Bal*censored* , Chris Concise Dictionary Of Literary Footings. New York:

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