Blog#3

"She was sure she would win. To begin with she had all all the weight of social opinion on her side: she was an outraged mother. She had allowed him to live beneath her roof, assuming that he was a man of honour, and he had simply abused her hospitality. He was thirty-four or thirty-five years of age, so that youth could not be pleaded as his excuse, nor could ignorance be his excuse since he was a man who had seen something of the world. He had simply taken advantage of Polly's youth and inexperience: that was evident. The question was: What reparation would he make?" (The Boarding House)





During this time, marriage was more about social relations and classes. Marriage acts a circumstantial paradox because at one hand it creates opportunity and open relations with new people, which will enhance experiences. However, it also ends life's freedom and limits you to only a few possibilities. For Mr. Doran, the latter is true and while making his decision, he thinks about what everyone will say about it. The Boarding House serves like a microcosm of the city itself as it consists of a diverse gathering of artists, tourists, and business men. Everyone seems to know what everyone else is doing. Mr. Doran discusses as his actions will be known by everyone and they will all formulate an opinion of him. Although these people are paying to live there, it doesn't seem like they can do whatever they want.
In the story, Polly sings a song to the guest:
I'm a...naughty girl.
You needn't sham:
You know who I am.
It seems Polly is essentially selling her dignity and pride. I view her actions as a paradox. She cares what people think of her and wants to get marriage to get into a higher class, so that people will know and respect her, yet she doesn't care what people think of her as an individual as she is willing to "make herself known" with these prostituted actions.
Mrs. Mooney serves as a symbol of mothers during the 19th to early 20th century as it is the mother's duty to get their daughter in a marriage that will raise their status. This reminds me of Pride of Prejudice where Mrs. Bennett works to do whatever she can to get her daughters married in a higher class. In that time, a woman of low class had no money to her name. In this short story, marriage acts like a fixture of life that can't be avoid. A hardship that must be gone through in the cycle of life.

Blog#2

"She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise? She tried to weigh each of the question. In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had to work hard, both in the house and at the business. What would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow? But in her new home, in a distant unknown country; it would not be like that. Then she would be married-she, Eveline. People would treat her with respect then."

Eveline desires to leave her home for a new lifestyle with her future husband, Frank. She makes the decision seem obvious by stating how your present life consists of caring for her abusive father and fufilling the duties of a mother, while her new life will consist of new experiences and respect. However, she constantly ponders what she should do. At first she's happy to leave her home, but then she is sadden by the idea of not achieving the promises of her mother.
The story illustrates the idea of change. Eveline desires change, but is unable to go through with the process. She holds the letter she had written to her family and recalls memories she has had, which are examples showing she can't let go of the past.
Eveline is the first woman protrayed in The Dubliners and her actions show why not as many women of the time created a new life for themselves when given the opportunity. Eveline is unable to accept change with Frank and stays at the docks "like a helpless animal". She losses all emotions and the motivation to move on. The diction at the end of the story suggest her transformation into a life without will and emotion, for her opportunity to advance has disappeared.

Blog #1

"This rebuke during the sober hours of school paled much of the glory of the Wild West for me and the confused puffy face of Leo Dillon awakened one of my consciences. But when the restraining influence of the school was at a distance I began to hunger again for wild sensations, for the escape which those chronicles of disorder alone seemed to offer me. 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 out." An Encounter

The passage and the short story reflect the idea of routines and repetition. The boy wanted to do something new, rather to engage in his usual day of school. However, the story teaches that although you can want change and adventure, routine is inevitable, and new experiences can be scary. The boy and his friends "encounter" an old man whose's really strange. This creepy figure serves as a symbol of routine and shows that repetition exists even within strange, new experiences. The man walks in circles and he mimics this action in his speech by repeating points already discussed.