James Joyce Research Paper

James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish author who wrote stories and books like Ulysses, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Dubliners. In his writings he placed numerous pieces of symbolisms, meanings, and themes. These additions gave his writing emphasis and meaning along with an insight into the story’s time and circumstances. In a critical guide written by Lee Spinks, he calls Joyce “perhaps the greatest and most enigmatic literary figure of the twentieth century.” In 1916 the book Dubliners was published (Spinks, 5). In the book there are fifteen individual stories, each of which hold different themes and symbolisms. The stories of “Counterparts” and “Eveline” have many of such themes, the most prominent shared theme between the two is the

In the case of Farrington, throughout his work day he is obsessed with being able to escape his work and go to the pub. His obsession shows the addiction side of alcoholism. The same goes for Eveline’s father. Even though he is not drunk all of the time, he repeatedly enters the state of drunken behavior showing the addictive nature of alcohol. According to a study that the National Institute on Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism performed in 2012, 7.1% of people the age of eighteen years or older admit to heavy and over drinking within the past month alone (“Alcohol Facts and Statistics”). In addition to addictive properties alcohol also may cause violent outbursts in the case of the drunk. The example of violent behavior in “Counterparts” would be when the drunken Farrington returns home and chastises and soon after beats his son (63). In the time of Joyce’s writings it was still legal to “punish” their children, as Farrington did. Even then he was not truly beating him out of punishment but out of aggravations over that day. This includes being chastised at work, being beaten at arm wrestling at the pub, being insulted by the woman at the pub, and in the end coming home to find his wife missing. He took his anger out on his son, which would normally been lessened or completely prevented if he was sober. The example of abuse in “Eveline” is how her father mistreats her. His mistreatment began with him often becoming forceful, which caused her the feel that she was “in danger of her father’s violence” (21). He also mistreated her by repeatedly threatening her, apparently “for her dead mother’s sake” (21). With her mother and one brother dead, and her other brother away, she had