Dubliners

The collection’s first a female protagonist, Eveline, does very little throughout the story as most of the narrative is introspective. Joyce depicts her as older than the first narrator and of marriageable age but lacking in emotional maturity. At the start of her story, Eveline weighs the pros and cons of her decision to join her fiancé in Buenos Aires, a major life change. In laying out the loneliness of her life, Joyce demonstrates why she became seduced by the idea of a new life in an exotic place, away from her job and family. He positions her affair with Frank as rooted in aspiration rather than genuine love. However, on the eve of her departure, Eveline begins to self-sabotage by romanticizing her home, her responsibilities, and her difficult relationship with her father. Eveline takes on a lot of responsibility in her life as the sole woman in her household. The story states that there are two children in her care, whom she takes to school and looks after. She also manages the household shopping, even though her father maintains tight control of her finances. Eveline is a living embodiment of the sense of restriction that pervades Joyce’s entire collection of stories. In Eveline’s case, these social restrictions coupled with her own debilitating fear, ultimately make her unable to escape the confines of her life, remaining instead in a life defined by The Inertia and Paralysis of the Mundane.

Jimmy Doyle, the protagonist of “After the Race,” is the only Irishman in Joyce’s multicultural cast, but unlike many of the other working class, downtrodden characters in Dubliners, Jimmy comes from a relatively privileged background. His father rose to financial acclaim through his chain of successful butcher shops, allowing Jimmy to exist in a bubble of luxury and irresponsibility through his school years. However, Jimmy lacks the ease and grace of his more affluent friends and feeds off of notoriety and social validation. Jimmy’s vanity becomes his undoing as he strives to fit into the opulent lifestyle of those around him—a goal he finds isn’t indefinitely sustainable. Joyce positions Jimmy as representative of a generation of proud, “new money” men driven by self-image who lack the maturity to make responsible choices.

Mrs. Mooney, an independent businesswoman (unusual for her time), is one of two strong matriarchal figures Joyce presents in Dubliners. Joyce gives a small glimpse into Mrs. Mooney’s past with the reference to her abusive marriage. Together she and her husband opened a business (notably, the same type of business as Jimmy Doyle’s family), which ultimately collapsed. From this experience Mrs. Mooney learned several lessons, including how to run a business more successfully without the stress of her husband’s abuse and how to look out for herself without relying on others. Unlike Mrs. Kearney in “A Mother,” Mrs. Mooney never loses her temper or acts impulsively; instead, her actions are calculated and precise. She quickly discerns her daughter’s affair, but “[keeps] her own counsel,” allowing it to continue without interfering—part of a larger plan to secure her daughter an advantageous marriage (61), pointing to the collection’s thematic engagement with Imbalances of Power. Joyce suggests that Mrs. Mooney’s shrewdness allows her to stay calm and controlled in the face of adversity, manipulating the gendered power disparity in the relationship between Mr. Doran and her daughter to her advantage.

Little Chandler, the protagonist of “A Little Cloud,” is an office worker who feels his desired life has been denied to him. He has much in common with Mr. Farrington (the protagonist of “Counterparts”), who also feels cheated out of control over his own life. Faced with the prospect of reconnecting with an old friend, one who has taken on a distant, mythic quality in his mind, Little Chandler begins to question his own choices which have led him to where he is in his life. Little Chandler sees himself as a failed poet debilitated by fear and self-doubt, which prevents him from even reading the work of another aloud to his wife. Although he’s initially envious of his friend Gallaher, he soon discovers that the two of them have wildly opposing personalities, leading him to believe that Gallaher doesn’t deserve his success, turning his envy to resentment and fueling his animosity toward himself, others, and the world.

Joyce provides a counterpart to Little Chandler in Mr. Farrington, another working-class character who wallows in personal stagnation. Farrington’s dependency on alcohol—not uncommon among men of his social class and generation hints at his violent tendencies and unstable temper. Throughout “Counterparts,” Farrington’s pursuit of personal autonomy emphasizes the collection’s thematic interest in imbalances of power. Joyce provides him with an unexpected taste of power when he inadvertently stands up to his oppressive boss—an emotional high that he shares with his drinking friends afterwards. However, this small example of personal power quickly dissipates, reinforcing to the larger structural oppression he feels, both real and imagined. At the bar, he becomes disproportionately enraged by the lack of affection from a woman who denies his attempts to exercise power over her in subtle and subversive ways. His sense of disempowerment further escalates when he is twice defeated by a friend in an arm-wrestling match, driving him to violently beat his son, in an abusive and unhealthy attempt to reclaiming the sense of power, pride, and dignity he felt when standing up to his boss.

Like the majority of characters in Dubliners, Maria feels trapped by the inertia and paralysis of the mundane, but unlike many of Joyce’s other protagonists, she doesn’t feel any animosity toward those around her for the circumstances of her life. She is a woman who has fallen in life but is generally content with her circumstances. Joyce depicts Maria as very self-aware, displaying some elements of neurodivergence in her interactions with those around her, like Joe, who are able to recognize the gap between where she once was and where she ended up. The story states that she works in a laundry—a word heavily loaded in the context in Irish culture and likely signifies a type of group home for unmarried or disadvantaged women. It’s also noteworthy that Maria’s name is the Latin variant of Mary, a pivotal figure in Christian mythology and one referenced in the preceding story. Like the biblical Mary, Maria is a peacemaker and a force of temperance and tranquility in the lives of those around her.

Mr. Duffy, a bachelor who eschews human connection, exhibits several signs of neurodivergence (like Maria from “Clay”), notably his aversion to disorder and to physical touch. He prefers his own company and disdains his home city, preferring to surround himself with open space. Mr. Duffy’s trips to the symphony are his only social indulgence. Prior to the events of the story, he took these excursions alone, but these concerts allow him to cross paths and ultimately form a friendship with Mrs. Sinico. Their relationship develops very slowly, and it’s not for several months that Mr. Duffy begins revealing small aspects of himself to her. Their friendship appears to be healthy and mutually beneficial, but Mr. Duffy (like so many of the other characters in the book) self-sabotages due to his own emotional capacity. When faced with physical contact, Mr. Duffy recoils and discards his carefully cultivated friendship. It’s not until he’s faced with the reality of Mrs. Sinico’s death many years later that he’s able to take a step back and look at his behavior in a new light.

Joyce depicts Mrs. Kearney as a bullish woman unable to break her own antagonistic, controlling habits. She’s accustomed to being in control of her own circumstances at all times, beginning in her younger years when she married someone for social advancement rather than for love and infatuation. Her marriage of convenience allows her to remain uncompromised in her relationship, rather than being led by more subjective feelings. She first illustrates her need for control when she takes over a local concert series, organizing every element to ensure it plays out to her liking. Although she is very capable, she finds it challenging to delegate responsibility to others. Initially, Joyce represents these aspects of her character in a positive light. Quickly, however, they become the breaking point for her family’s reputation and her daughter Kathleen’s career. Although Mrs. Kerney’s arguments are logical (she cites gender disparity as one reason for Kathleen’s treatment by the men), her inability to compromise or relinquish any element of control leaves her with less money than intended and no future prospects.