Epiphanies In James Joyce's Dubliners Literary Analysis

James Joyce’s Dubliners is a collection of short stories that takes place in early 20th century Ireland. As the collection progresses, the main characters get increasingly older, the first story being about younger sisters and the last being about a middle-aged man. Despite differences in their age, many characters experience epiphanies in these stories, but not all. Only characters who are clever and observant – and therefore capable of epiphany- experience these profound realizations. The stories “Araby,” “Clay,” and “The Dead” have structures laced with foreshadowing in which a select few characters have the potential for epiphany, and experience an epiphany near the end of the story. The boy in “Araby” is quite intelligent and rather enjoys books; he even finds joy in their appearance and smell. After finding several books in the drawing room of his new home, he remarks that he likes The Memoirs of Vidocq “the best because its leaves were yellow” (“Araby”, 15). The boy genuinely …show more content…
Much like these epiphanies, Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird also experiences an epiphany that changes her perspective. After an adventurous summer filled with many novel experiences, she stands on Boo Radley’s porch and watches the lights of homes in the neighborhood flicker off one by one. In a culmination of her recent experiences, she sees the town of Maycomb and the world from a completely different angle. Much like Scout’s epiphany, the epiphanies of the characters in Dubliners change their perspectives; In “Araby” the boy’s perspective of both the Bazaar and Mangan’s sister is altered, in “Clay” Joe realizes that Julia will never marry, and in “The Dead” Gabriel’s view of his own life changes entirely. These epiphanies do not cause spontaneous action, but instead are a culmination of the characters experiences that change their