James Joyce “Dubliners”, story „A Painful Case“

I have chosen to analyze the short story titled “A Painful Case” from James Joyce’s collection “Dubliners”. “A Painful Case” is a short story from this collection dealing with the theme of isolation. The main character whose name is Mr. Duffy (in Gaelic it means ‘dark or black’) “is the outcast from life’s feast” and isolates himself from society and even from true love. Many critics, reviewers make allusions to mythology and find this story to be similar to Celtic llegend of Tristan and Iseult. It is thought that the allusion to mythology makes the story “A Painful Case” more biting. This is the legend of love that brought Tristan and Iseult great happiness and immense grief. Also it is a tale of chivalry, doomed and transcendent love. The love story between the main character Mr. Duffy and his companion Mrs. Sinico is similar to the Celtic legend of Tristan and Iseult. The love story revealed in “A Painful Case” ccan be named as noble and chivalrous.

The title of the short story “A Painful Case” foreshadows the cause of the main character’s inner conflict. The main character Mr. Duffy chooses isolation, loneliness by himself. Probably he makes it unconsciously aas only after the “painful case” or Mrs. Sinico’s death he realizes the extent of his loneliness. But he realizes it too late. “A Painful Case” is a situational short story as Mr. Duffy’s inner conflict prevails. It is a psychological story focusing on the main character’s inner state. Mr. Duffy’s inner conflict is caused by the doubts related to his beloved Mrs. Sinico’s death. There is a clash of two strong impulses within the main character: his wish to be with his beloved woman and his inability to take a decisive action in order to segue into a closer relationship. Mrs. Sinico’s death raises doubts whether the main character was right choosing to leave his beloved woman or not. HHer death plays a really significant role in the short story as it makes Mr. Duffy understand how lonely he is in this world.

The place of the short story is Dublin. The author James Joyce chooses Dublin as a scene for an action because he realizes Dublin to be “the center of paralysis”. In this short story the main character Mr. Duffy is paralyzed mentally and is unable to take a decisive action, he cannot offer his love to Mrs. SSinico because of his mental paralysis.

I have divided the whole short story into four episodes which help me structuralize the development of the main character’s inner conflict. In the first episode Mr. Duffy’s character is disclosed through the appearance of his living place, his character’s direct description and his relationships with other people.

To start with, the author begins the description of Mr. Duffy’s living place by the description of the suburb where the main character lives. (“Mr. James Duffy lived in Chapelizod because he wished to live as far as possible from the city of which he was citizen and because he found all the other suburbs of Dublin mean, modern and pretentious”). By the reasoning of Mr. Duffy’s choice of the suburb to live in the author reveals the minor theme of the short story- longing to escape from the paralyzed city and characterizes the main character to be a real recluse (atsiskyrelis). The author portrays the main character’s living place in detail with the help of the third person narration. (“The lofty walls of his uncarpeted room were free from pictures. He had himself bought every article of furniture in the room: a black iron bedstead, aan iron washstand, four cane chairs, a clothes-rack, a coal-scuttle, a fender and irons and a square table on which lay a double desk”). The author creates a cold and unpleasant view of the main character’s living place with the help of an epithet “black iron bedstead” and prevailing material- iron. The author creates the image of an individualist with the help of diction, for example, “himself”. The enumeration strengthens the extent of the main character’s individuality. All the things at home have their own place as we can see it from the direct description and it helps to reveal one more feature of protagonist’s character (pedantry). (“A little hand-mirror hung above the washstand and during the day a white-shaded lamp stood as the sole ornament of the mantelpiece. The books on the white wooden shelves were arranged from below upwards according to bulk”). Besides, the image of the sole white-shaded lamp foreshadows the main character’s fate. The main character could be described to be a real recluse, individualist, pedant, and loner with the help of Mr. Duffy’s living place description.

The author continues describing the protagonist. In the second paragraph Mr. Duffy is described directly. Mr. Duffy’s pedantry is emphasized. ((“Mr. Duffy abhorred anything which betokened physical and mental disorder”). Also the main character is described to be “saturnine” (it means looking sad and serious, especially in a threatening way). Besides, the physical appearance is revealed. (“His face, which carried the entire tale of his years, was of the brown tint of Dublin streets. On his long and rather large head grew dry black hair and tawny moustache did not quite cover an unamiable mouth. His cheekbones also gave his face a harsh character; but there was no harshness in the eyes which, looking at world from under their tawny eyebrows gave the impression of a man alert to greet a redeeming instinct in others but often disappointed”). With the help of the direct physical Mr. Duffy’s description the author discloses another trait of protagonist’s character (“harshness”). The dominating colours in Mr. Duffy’s physical description are yellow and brown (“brown tint”, “tawny (or brownish-yellow) moustache”, and “tawny eyebrows”). In the James Joyce’s writing these two colours symbolize paralysis. In the concrete short story it symbolizes mental paralysis of the main character and makes Mr. Duffy unable to make a decisive action.

Although Mr. Duffy lives a monotonous and lonely life

he had some “dissipations of his life”. They were opera and concerts. Exactly one of the dissipations brought a chaos and disorder to the main character’s life. In the second episode the author reveals the sequence of relationships between the main character and Mrs. Sinico whom he accidentally met in one of the concerts.

I would like to analyze a love story beginning with Mrs. Sinico’s description. She is described directly and poorer than Mr. Duffy is described. (“young girl”. ““Her face, which must have been handsome, had remained intelligent. It was an oval face with strongly marked features”). Mrs. Sinico is described from Mr. Duffy’s view point. It is easy to identify that Mrs. Sinico’s physical description is not important to Mr. Duffy. He is looking for the beauty of her inner world. A pretty face is mentioned only as a parenthesis. As I have already mentioned it is a noble and chivalrous love story.

The development of the llove story takes the biggest part of the short story. It develops from the first meeting till Mr. Duffy and Mrs. Sinico’s separation. All these meetings were as a routine. Meetings were defined directly. (“they met always in the evening aand chose the most quiet quarters for their walks together”). The atmosphere of meetings was calm, relaxed. Really calm and quiet atmosphere is created with the help of an epithet “the most quiet”. Mr. Duffy feels dissatisfaction and his inner conflict develops together with the development of the love story. (Mr. Duffy, however, had distaste for underhand ways and, finding that they were compelled to meet stealthily, he forced her to ask him to her house”). Their relationships are purely sexless and are caused by both characters’ ...