James Joyce, in his genius, cleverly placed food and drink throughout his short stories in his collection Dubliners. Despite how subtle and meaningless they may seem, they have a very specific meaning and were deliberate, that is, they were a way of giving the story much more meaning through one of the three themes of the entire collection: paralysis, gnomon, and simony, express his character’s situations into materialistic substances such as food, and communion, which aren’t exclusively in their own categories, but intertwine together. Food allows Joyce to express his character’s situations into materialistic substances, such as the three themes of the book. For example, in Counterparts, this is exemplified to a great extent, showing how
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For example, Mr. Duffy, shocked when he sees her death in the paper, is eating cabbage at a small eatery and after many times of re-reading the article, “the cabbage began to deposit a cold white grease on his plate” (94). Once he reads of her demise, the cabbage does an excellent way of foreshadowing his feelings after the article finally hits him. The cabbage was depositing white grease, which is often perceived as unpleasant and not very appetizing, which can be compared to how he felt that, “she had degraded him… miserable and malodorous” (97). He feels like he sold himself out to her when she was still alive and he sees his mistake, leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth, especially realizing her paralysis is what caused him to feel angry and used. He, “realised that she was dead… he began to feel ill at ease… he was outcast from life’s feast” (98). After his epiphany in realizing that he missed out on one true adventure in his life, he realizes that he is missing out of the feast of life, that is, he sold himself out out of interest of his own comfort zone then taking the opportunity to finally step out of his mundane cycle that are his days. The story goes in a full circle, ending with loneliness, and starting with loneliness and paralysis, which Joyce uses an overripe apple to …show more content…
“in a huge yellow dish lay in waiting… behind it were three squads of bottles of stout.... minerals drawn up according to the colors of their uniforms… and smallest squad white, with transverse green sashes” (171). The reader first notices that the food described here appears to be eerily similar to formations of two opposing armies of each other. When looked at it deeper, it appears that it’s Gabriels view of the situation, even if it is a communion, he sees it almost like a war zone between him and the party guests, who he thinks are against him; he even indirectly verbally attacks Mrs. Ivory in his speech (177), even though she had left before the table was even set. At an even deeper level, the colors of the bottles are representative of the Irish colors (green) and the British colors (red), showing the rivalry between Britain and Ireland during that time. Which also parallels back to how Mrs. Ivors called Gabriel a west Briton, which is a derogatory term for someone who is more loyal to Britain, rather than Ireland, which shows an obvious conflict, even if they are civilly eating a meal together, one can still feel the tension between the two parties. The union of the two parties show that, even though they are rivals of each other, peace can be achieved when
For example, Mr. Duffy, shocked when he sees her death in the paper, is eating cabbage at a small eatery and after many times of re-reading the article, “the cabbage began to deposit a cold white grease on his plate” (94). Once he reads of her demise, the cabbage does an excellent way of foreshadowing his feelings after the article finally hits him. The cabbage was depositing white grease, which is often perceived as unpleasant and not very appetizing, which can be compared to how he felt that, “she had degraded him… miserable and malodorous” (97). He feels like he sold himself out to her when she was still alive and he sees his mistake, leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth, especially realizing her paralysis is what caused him to feel angry and used. He, “realised that she was dead… he began to feel ill at ease… he was outcast from life’s feast” (98). After his epiphany in realizing that he missed out on one true adventure in his life, he realizes that he is missing out of the feast of life, that is, he sold himself out out of interest of his own comfort zone then taking the opportunity to finally step out of his mundane cycle that are his days. The story goes in a full circle, ending with loneliness, and starting with loneliness and paralysis, which Joyce uses an overripe apple to …show more content…
“in a huge yellow dish lay in waiting… behind it were three squads of bottles of stout.... minerals drawn up according to the colors of their uniforms… and smallest squad white, with transverse green sashes” (171). The reader first notices that the food described here appears to be eerily similar to formations of two opposing armies of each other. When looked at it deeper, it appears that it’s Gabriels view of the situation, even if it is a communion, he sees it almost like a war zone between him and the party guests, who he thinks are against him; he even indirectly verbally attacks Mrs. Ivory in his speech (177), even though she had left before the table was even set. At an even deeper level, the colors of the bottles are representative of the Irish colors (green) and the British colors (red), showing the rivalry between Britain and Ireland during that time. Which also parallels back to how Mrs. Ivors called Gabriel a west Briton, which is a derogatory term for someone who is more loyal to Britain, rather than Ireland, which shows an obvious conflict, even if they are civilly eating a meal together, one can still feel the tension between the two parties. The union of the two parties show that, even though they are rivals of each other, peace can be achieved when