Social Isolation Essay

James Joyce’s short stories “Clay”, “Counterparts”, and “A Little Cloud” all display social isolation, desire to escape, unhappy domesticity, and food. The short stories included in Joyce’s book Dubliners all have a depressing or lonely theme. Isolation is the process or fact of being isolated, or it can be feeling as though you don 't belong. Social Isolation is the feeling of being set apart or different from others around you. In the short story “Clay”, Maria living alone is depicted as isolation, because she has no one around her to share her life with. She also feels very distant from her family, especially one of her brothers. On the way to her family’s house a sales lady offers Maria a wedding cake, Maria tells her no she doesn 't have anyone witch displays isolation.The main character in “Counterparts”,Mr. Farrington, does not communicate well with the people in his work place. He lacks communication skills which suggests he is not around or does not speak to people that often. The main character of “A Little Cloud”, Chandler says his shyness has always held him back, which is a main cause of his social

In “Counterparts” and “A Little Cloud”, both of the main characters hate their job have a strong desire to be free from the boredom of their jobs. When Maria first started her job at the Protestant charity house she was not very fond of her job, although she later grew to like it. At the ending of “Counterparts”, Farrington,who seems unhappy, returns to his middle class home and searches for his wife. Farrington begins to yell at Tom, one of his five sons. Farrington begins to mimic or “make fun” of what his son is telling him. Chandler views his wife as a cold and unfeeling person. He begins to question his marriage and he quickly becomes unhappy with his small home and sobbing children. He wants to have more in life than a small house and a crying child. When his wife returns home she is angry at him because of the way he dealt with the crying