Week 2 Blog

Part 1:

After you’ve read the page on Character, think about Eveline. How does Joyce make her memorable, given the fact that she doesn’t fit many of the criteria we identified as being necessary for a “good” character – being dynamic, having a “voice” etc? How does Joyce reveal information about her? 

Reminencing the details of the past and how they impact her life today and the decision she needs to make. Also, the swing in emotions she displays towards her father, Frank, her community, and siblings shows how torn she is about making a change in her life.

The phrase “Derevaun Seraun” has been variously translated. The notes in the text tell you that it means “the end of pleasure is pain,” but most Joyce scholars agree these days that in fact it is nonsense. Why does it actually fit, thematically, for Eveline to cling to these words, even if they are meaningless?

Even if you follow your dream, it will enevitably lead to pain in the end, so why risk it. I beleive this ran though Eveline’s mind and bones as she clung onto the station railing instead of boarding the ship.

This story is part of a collection called Dubliners, all about people living in Dublin at the turn of the 20 th century. Joyce is quoted as saying that they are all somehow in a state of paralysis. It is clear that Eveline is, but what is the cause?

The fear of change and distaste for outsiders creates an atmosphere of heavy social pressure to stay in ones community. For those who leave, they are seen in a negative light and looked down upon. In a sense, you have failed your duty as a Dubliner if you leave, especially during wartime. Although, I can see this anger or disdain is presented more from jealousy than anything else.

How does this story fit with the theme introduced in "This Be the Verse"?

With “This Be the Verse”, The inadvertant teachings of our parents always come back to haunt us with the decisions we make in life. This is apparent with Eveline’s inability to follow through with her dream of leaving with Frank, and instead stay trapped under the abuse of her father as her mother did until she died. As miserable as she was, Eveline’s mother’s life was her home and family, which is why she had Eveline “promise to keep the home together as long as she could.” This loyalty that Eveline bestows upon her deceased mother continues the missery of an unfullfilled life from mother to daughter.


Part 2:

Look at the contexts for the phrase "only a girl." How do these change in the story?

“Only a girl” is presented in a negative conotation, but it isn’t until the end of the story does it come from her father, which cirtails into her believing it as well. Until the Flora incident, her father defended her with such statements as “I would like to have you meet my new hired man.” The push away from the “girl” role with work keeps her from taking “only a girl” statements to heart, but eventually realizes the inevitability of her role in society with her acceptance in the end.

Do you think the author believes that gender roles are determined by nature or by nurture/environment? Why?

While it’s a bit of both, the author leans heavily on the nurture/ environment aspect. The main charactor is constantly resisting to fall into her mothers role in the kitchen. While she can do her fathers work, society doesn’t respect it from a girl. Her mother’s work is seen as less important in the kitchen than her fathers work outside the house. Everything she does to fill the respectful role of a boy cannot be overcome when she sees the diplay put on with her father and Henry killing of Mack. The author brings nature into the mix when the shift away from her father occurs after Mack’s slaughter commences. The brutality and lack of empathy makes her realize that she is different than a boy and better for it. Unfortunately, she feels trapped just like Flora.

Do you think the ending is pessimistic or optimistic? Is it possible to reconcile a "feminist" point of view with this ending?

It’s a pessemstic ending, because she feels trapped in the role of a girl. Like Flora, she resisted her inevitable fate with all of her might, but in the end there was no escape. It was only a matter of time before Laird took over her work with her father and pushed her into the kitech. This was done without any effort, which mirrored Mack’s manorisms. In the story, resistance is equated to freedom, but when she gives up resisting, so goes her freedom as well.

Blog Question #2

Part A

 The binaries within “Boys and Girls” are between male and female roles, youth and adults, nature and domestication, and mother and father. At many times, these binaries are weaved together in statements throughout the story. The kitchen where the narrator’s mother works is a place of constant work and unhappiness. To be inside all day is a dreary existance with the only reminders of nature on calenders hanging on the wall. Plus, kitchen work, or woman’s work, is looked upon as less important than the work done outside and in the barn by the father. Men and women are to play these two roles that society have deemed inevitable.

With this situation, it would seem obvious that the mother would be on the girls side of resisting societies “girl” role, but she is actually the one who is plotting to put the narrator in the kitchen with her. The comments of Laird becoming stronger soon to take over the narrrators work is the mothers reminder that it’s inevitable. In the mean time, the father looks upon his daughter highly from her ability to do “man’s” work with him until the shift occurs as Flora is let free. The inevitability of the children’s future roles are with the narrator’s brothers name of Laird, which means “lord” in Latin.

While working outside in nature is highly looked upon, the connection to nature is felt more with the women than the men in the story. The father and Henry look at the animals (foxes & horses) in a utilitaian way without any thought outside of the money they will reap from the foxes pelts and horses meat. The mother doesn’t care for the whole fur operation in general and dispises any blood brought into the house. The narrator also begins to have similar feelings as she gets attached to Mack and Flora. When Mack is killed, she can’t get the image out of her mind, which leads to her letting Flora go through the gate soon thereafter.

Finally, the children sleep up in the attic with old dusty unused things while the parents sleep in a normal bedroom. The unusable items in the attic resemble the view that chilren are not important until they can contribute like adults.

Part B

Moby Dick is an elusive great white whale that wreaks havoc with whaling fishermen and their vessels. One of Moby’s victims is Captain Ahab of the Pequod who lost his leg on a previous voyage. Ahab is hell bent on getting revenge, but in the process loses his crew, ship, and life for such a pursuit. When Moby is spotted, Ahab sets the harpoon boats for attack, but Moby sinks them all, and finally Ahab is dragged overboard and drowned. The only survivor is Ishmael, who ironically floats away on a wooden coffin.

Eustacia Vye is an mysteriously attractive women who wants to leave Egdon Heath and live the good life in Paris. She marries Clement Yeobright, a former Paris diamod cutter, in hopes of fullfilling her dream. Instead, Clym, decides to live a meager life as a farmer in Heath. Through a string of events, Eustracia sets out one evening to meet a former lover, Damon Wildeve, to leave for Paris. Before encountering Damon though, she falls into the Shadwater Weir and drowns.

Ham Peggotty in “David Copperfield” is a sailor and nephew of Mr. Peggotty. He is also a former fiance' of Steerforth. Ham and the Peggotty’s live in the coastal town of Great Yarmouth within Norfolk, England. Ham is yet another charactor who finds his fate at the bottom of the sea by drowning in an attempt to rescue Steerforth from a shipwreck.