James Joyce’s Dubliners

“The book is not a collection of tourist impressions but an attempt to represent certain aspects of the life of one of the European capitals".Letters, II,109

Consider your reading of Dubliners, which is the most dominating

feature in Joyce’s portrait of the city?

1 2 3 4

7%

0%

36%

57%1. Politics2. Culture3. Religion4. Geography

Realism and Detail in Dubliners• Characters are sent

through the streets and avenues with such accuracy that the reader can imagine where they are and the route they are taking.

• Monuments, historical buildings, and famous are mentioned as characters pass by them.

The Mapping Dubliners Project! This is COOL!

Images Joyce Neglected to Depict

Is Dubliners truly Objective as Joyce intends?

1 2

86%

14%

1. Yes2. No

VS

Dublin is considered

1 2 3 4

0%

13%

0%

87%1. The largest city in the British Empire

2. The second largest city in the British Empire

3. The oldest city in the British Empire

4. Independent from the British Empire

Tensions Rise as Potatoes Die

How many people died as a direct result from the potato famine of

1845?

1 2 3 4

7%

14%

29%

50%1. 250,0002. 500,0003. 1,000,0004. 2,000,000

Should a political figure lose office because he/she was involved with

an affair?

1 2

43%

57%

1. Yes2. No

The Rise of Irish Nationalism

Parnell is the subject of which of the following chapters?

1 2 3 4

14%

0%

86%

0%

1. “An Encounter”2. “Two Gallants”3. “Ivy Day in the

Committee Room”4. “Grace”

Joyce was a devout Catholic

1 2

79%

21%

1. True2. False

What percent of inhabitants of Ireland were Catholic?

1 2 3 4

25% 25%25%25%1. 25%2. 50%3. 60%4. 75%

What percent of children were considered uneducated leading up

to Joyce’s Dublin

1 2 3 4

23%

31%

38%

8%

1. 25%2. 50%3. 60%4. 75%

Does a public education need to be secular?

1 2

75%

25%

1. Yes2. No

• Education privately funded so poor (3/4 of population) were uneducated or ill-educated

• Only 25—30% over age of 5 were educated, and they were predominately Protestant; mostly, the illiterate were Catholic and Gaelic speaking

Capturing the Essence of the City

* Joyce depicts Dublin’s culture through the world of literature, Irish customs and traditions, language and expressions, and the economical, social and political situation in Ireland.

Poverty and Prosperity in Ireland