Irish Entrapment (Ryckman)
It is common to feel repressed by one’s hometown. People often feel the urge to uproot and leave behind their family and friends and duties in favor of a more enchanting lifestyle. It is this urge which drives many people across the world to foreign destinations to “find themselves.” Many of James Joyce’s Dubliners often feel trapped within their city, longing for something greater, as is seen in stories, “A Little Cloud,” and “Eveline."
Thomas “Little” Chandler’s friend, Ignatius Gallaher, visits Dublin after eight years abroad. Little Chandler becomes inspired to leave Ireland for London or Paris and live a life full of art and sorrow and the full spectrum of emotions and impressions that exist within a poet. But his dreams are only dreams and do not actualize in the story. Instead, at the end of the story, Chandler is shown at the mercy of his wife, Annie, and their child, with “tears of remorse” forming at his eyes. These tears are for himself, as he realizes the life that has been built for him. He knows he cannot leave. He has a family.
The younger and more eager Eveline Hill shares similar feelings with Little Chandler, only she is not bound down by the same responsibilities. In the story “Eveline,” she has moments of panic, where she feels she must escape her home and Dublin and explore the world in the arms of her beloved. But when she must board the departing ship, she freezes and grips the iron railing, affirming her position in Dublin. Her longing for exploration and life are overcome by her reluctance to leave the safety of home.
Both Eveline Hill and Little Chandler are unable to leave Dublin, though they both fantasize about. In Eveline’s case, she is too young. She does not yet have the resolve that is required to break from home. Chandler, however, has missed his opportunity. He is bound by his family and his timidity. It seems, then, that the window to leave Dublin is very small. It is open only for a short period of time. I imagine that leads many people to remain in Dublin for the rest of their lives, perpetuating and contributing to this overwhelming longing.
I really wonder what James Joyce himself would say on this topic. On the one hand, he must have had a true passion for Dublin as evidenced by just about everything he's ever written. However, he was one of the Dubliners that chose to live abroad in Paris for a great portion of his life. If we could only call him up and ask..
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation of the "tears of remorse." I didn't read it that way, but your intepretation of his remorse applying to his entire life works well.
ReplyDeleteJust last night I met an Irishman from a town outside of Dublin while doing work in a cyber cafe along the river. He had been nursing two cans of Jack Daniels for quite some time, so his accent was even more difficult to understand. Still, the statements that I did catch hit a note and resonate quite soundly with your examination of the geographical paralysis experienced by Joyce's Dubliners. Instantly after acknowledging my American accent and asking what state I was from, he confessed that as a boy he had always dreamed of going where I live but never had the opportunity. He instead travelled into one obstacle after another that kept him anchored to Ireland. After hearing of the two miscarriages he and his wife endured before finally giving birth to a healthy daughter, I was further humbled by his almost forced optimism when he said repeatedly that things get better and the stars eventually align. He was still hoping.
ReplyDeleteI feel differently about Eveline. I feel like she desires to leave her life in Dublin behind so desperately it's boarding on complete fantasy. The problem is that her fantasy is being actualized by her hot sailor boyfriend; he's promising to whisk her away to Buenos Aires, far away from her shit family and being everyone's go-to girl. She's so close to achieving her dream she can taste the sea air, she's on the railing ready to go. I, personally, think she becomes paralyzed by the reality of the situation. Her entire family depends on her, her mother's dying wish was for her to take over. By leaving she is abandoning her flesh and blood to suffer in squalor, essentially dooming them. Also, she's frozen by the magnanimity of her situation: leaving behind everything she's known when she's so young.
ReplyDeleteI know that I commented on this blog before. I pointed out that Eveline's situation is made more perilous by the history of Buenos Aires at the time Joyce was writing the story. Frank is a rather sinister character, despite his charm. B.A. was a center for the white slave trade in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Frank has a good deal of money, so it is quite possible that he is a procurer for the trade. If that is so, Eveline is lucky in her timidity.
ReplyDeleteNIce comparison. I am glad you saw the way joys makes correspondences between the lives of women and men in their oppression.