During
the course of an otherwise lackluster school day, two young boys, pining for
the Wild West, set out to find adventure in the city of Dublin. What they
instead happen upon proves to educate the youthful idealists about the way of
the world. James Joyce confronts the sometimes beautiful, though sometimes
harsh realities of life in twentieth century Dublin in his short story, “An
Encounter.”
(A young James Joyce)
In
this, the second story of the collection, James Joyce explores his hometown
through an idealistic, youthful lens. This approach proves itself appropriate for
the vignette as it is categorized as a story of childhood in the chronological
sequence Joyce utilizes. As the two boys make their way through what they
expect to be an adventurous afternoon fit for children, they find themselves
encountering an array of rather adult themes.
The
boys first notice the poor living conditions of the children they see walking
the streets. The narrator repeatedly comments on the “ragged” quality of the
children’s clothing as well as their unrefined attitudes. This may be the first
encounter these boys have had with the poverty apparent in Dublin. While they take their charmed lives as private schoolboys for granted, these two fortunate youths stumble upon the harsh reality of life outside the shelter of their privileged existence.
Soon
after their encounter with the impoverished children, the two boys are
mistakenly recognized as Protestants. The same group of rabble-rousing kids
starts flinging stones at boys because the narrator’s friend, as Joyce writes,
“was dark complexioned” and “wore the silver badge of a cricket club in his
cap.” In this moment, the boys first come into contact with discrimination.
Though the encounter remains immature, simple boy-on-boy shenanigans, the
underlying meaning has a profoundly adult quality.
The
most climactic encounter the boys have comes later during the day when an
elderly man approaches them. Harmless small talk evolves into the man’s
disturbing rant about his fetish for young girls, as the boys come into contact
with the most adult theme of the story, deranged sexuality. Joyce’s writing is
coated in nuanced subtlety, but it is implied that the elderly man leaves
momentarily to masturbate. Though the boys are perhaps too young to fully
understand the situation as it plays out, the narrator admits that this man
makes him feel odd. The story resolves shortly thereafter on a fairly
disjointed note.
In this final encounter, Joyce’s characters experience uncomfortable, confusing feelings that parallel those notorious trademark feelings of adolescence. Joyce portrays Dublin as a city evolving with these characters, searching for an identity and managing the growing pains one encounters while on the road to maturity.
A
Quote to Remember: “The mimic warfare of
the evening became at last as wearisome to me as the routine of school in the
morning because I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real
adventures, I reflected do not happen to people who remain at home: they must
be sought abroad.”
I think this is a really great quote to use, in relation to the story and our individual experiences on this trip. The boys try to get as far away from their home as possible to have some sort of escapade. Things don't go as they hoped, but the knowledge they gained most definitely shape them as they mature. The quote also sparks the idea that the narrator will leave Ireland in order to feel fulfilled with his life. It's ironic that we can conclude he feels this way, and we've travelled so far for an adventure in the land he seeks to leave. Points for the use of shenanigans!
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