PARALYSIS IN 'DUBLINERS'

Paralysis in James Joyce’s short story collection is not a subliminal feature. Joyce presents his main characters in each story as real and ambitious, but who appear to be paralytic protagonists. It is apparent  that Joyce’s presentation of the idea of ‘paralysis’ relates to his home country, Ireland. As the Cambridge Literature edition of ‘Dubliners’ states, “To Joyce, Dublin was also trapped by its place in history...it suffered from a kind of paralysis..”.  In Joyce’s novella ‘The Dead’, this idea is presented through a protagonist named Gabriel. Gabriel expresses his contempt for Ireland throughout the text. Joyce particularly presents this during Gabriel’s speech on Irish hospitality, where he suggests the attendee’s of the party are living in a paralytic routine. For example, Gabriel states, ‘...a new generation is growing up in our midst, a generation actuated by new ideas and new principles.’. It seems as though, during this lengthy speech, Gabriel is trying to get across that Ireland is stuck in its time, with only the act of hospitality still alive within the people. Furthermore suggesting that both himself and the attendants to the party should follow this ‘new generation’. 

Why did Joyce feel the need to present Ireland so paralytically? In the Dover Thrift Edition of the Dubliners, it is perceived that “Joyce used the term (‘paralysis’) to denote a condition of spiritual torpor caused by what he perceived to be the oppressive religiosity of Catholic culture in Ireland”. Contextually, Joyce’s period in Dublin was clouded by Catholicism. It is known that the issue on Joyce’s relationship with religion is somewhat controversial - so is it possible Joyce was craving a revolution? In this way, Joyce uses Dublin as an almost paralytic backdrop for his protagonists in each of his novella’s in ‘Dubliners’; his characters may almost be mentally revolutionised, by the paralysis of their country means they cannot move forward with their lives.