Date of Award
8-12-2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Marilynn Richtarik
Second Advisor
Paul Schmidt
Third Advisor
Tanya Caldwell
Abstract
My thesis examines Dubliners through the lens of Rene Descartes’s mind-body dualism to explain the relationship between contrasting themes in the text and demonstrate how they are connected. In an explication of the three words introduced by Joyce in the introductory paragraph of the first story in his collection, namely paralysis, gnomon, and simony, linking them with their more subtle but equally significant antonymic themes, which I propose are progression, epiphany, and grace, I show that Joyce was as compassionate as he was contemptuous of his countrymen. I propose that recognizing this balance helps us better understand what Joyce may have meant by making no apology for the brute-like spectacle he projects in his nicely polished looking-glass. Moreover, I argue that Dubliners serves as a fictional canvas upon which Joyce projects his dream of an Ireland that can transcend the tedium-inducing confines of its past.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/8867056
Recommended Citation
Fowkes, Julie E., "By the Grace of Joyce, the Brute is Freed: Brutish Bodies, Munificent Minds, and Liberating Language Within Dubliners." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2016.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/8867056