Dubliners

Dublin, Joyce's city of birth is represented as the symbol of the entire world, like a dead background. The theme of death is common in his novels: the last is "The dead" and the last word is "dead".
His novels were written between 1903 and 1914, and were published in 1915. They are divided into four parts, like the human life:
- 3 stories about children
- 4 stories about young boys
- 4 stories about adults
- 3 stories about public life
The last story is a sort of summing up of the themes of each story.

Dubliners are chronicles of spiritual, political and social paralysis of a city. The fifteen novels of Dubliners reflect an Ireland disappointed, annoyed and displeased. Captives of boredom, soul and feelings become dry, the characters of these stories apparently banal, try to escape from the immobility of their country.
The common elements of the stories are:

THE THEMES:
- Paralysis;
- Concreteness of reality opposed to the need of spirituality.
- Money like the symbol of a repressed wish.
- The negative Irishman, drunk and violent.
- The hope of escape and the feeling of suffocation; isn’t present in the later novels, because the adults have lost any hope.
- The East, connected with the escaping theme. The East is far from reality and from everyday life.

THE MOVEMENT:
The travel, often useless, of the character to find something. All the characters escape or try to escape from Dublin in search of an "Eden", which they can't find.

THE EPIFANY:
Is the discovery of reality (from the Magi), the moment of revelation. Joyce is often negative when the main characters discover something new. Many small things contribute to this factor.

THE MUSIC:
A vital form of art in many parts of the world (for example in Italy), but not in Ireland. It's a way to escape and helps the memory and the stream of consciousness.

THE IRISHNESS:
Being Irish, oppressed by traditions, morality and customs.