Week 4 Blog on Dubliners

Clay

I feel sad for Maria. She is hardworking and thoughtful, and everyone likes her, but men are not interested in her romantically. Maria is shy, very small physically, and she is not pretty (as the long chin/long nose reference indicates), so perhaps she is somewhat overlooked, despite her other good qualities. Though she claims to other women who tease her that she does not want a ring or a man, her disappointed eyes say otherwise. (Yet another mention of “eyes!”) During the game Maria plays with the children at Joe’s house, she is blindfolded and asked to pick an object. The first time she puts her hand into (presumably) a pile of clay that the children mischievously took from the garden as a prank, though the second time she (unknowingly) selects the prayer book. By choosing the prayer book, the others foretell that Maria will enter a convent in the next year, which certainly doesn’t seem out of the question, judging by her relationship status. She would have been better off sticking with the clay. Again, Maria is another character stuck in an unhappy mold, unable to do anything about it.

A Painful Case

This story may be my favorite so far. I found it to be extremely captivating and poignant. Mr. Duffy, a grim hermit who seems aged beyond his actual years, lived a life that was “an adventureless tale.” That is, until he met Mrs. Sinico, the woman of his dreams (though he’d never admit that she was!) Mrs. Sinico is a smart, attractive woman who is genuinely interested in Mr. Duffy’s intellectual life (the only sort of life he had). The only problem is that she is married and has a daughter, and Mr. Duffy is unwilling to have a secret romantic relationship with her. Thus, he breaks off their “friendship” (budding romance!), and reverts back to his usual lonely life. He doesn’t realize that his decision destroyed any chance for happiness either of them could have until it was too late. Four years after the “breakup,” Mr. Duffy reads of Mrs. Sinico’s apparent suicide, described as “a painful case.” The way the suspense built in the story, I knew that this was going to happen before actually reading it! What a riveting few pages. The guilt that Mr. Duffy feels over Mrs. Sinico’s death is almost contagious. I felt like I was in the room with him. The loneliness this woman must have felt due to the lack of attention by her frequently out of town, oblivious husband, as well as being rejected by a man who seemed like he really could have loved her, was certainly a painful case…more so than her actual death. Mr. Duffy’s self-prescribed loneliness as well as the guilt he felt over Mrs. Sinico’s death was just as painful. Indeed, he is stuck in an unhappy life just like every other main character in this book. What’s so sad is that he had a chance for happiness, but by abiding by conventions and supposed morals, he is doomed to be lonely forever.

Ivy Day in the Committee Room

This story took some careful reading for me to grasp what was going on. I truly felt as if I were stepping into a room, encountering the characters mid-conversation. The characters flitted from one subject to the next, and kept interrupting themselves by lighting cigarettes and opening bottles of alcohol. Mr. O’Connor, the man who was supposed to be canvassing votes for the upcoming election, didn’t do what he was supposed to do most of the time. Instead, he spent most of his days in the Committee Room, smoking, drinking, and chatting, using the poor weather as an excuse for not going out and soliciting the information he needed. In this sense, he is paralyzed: while O’Connor has the opportunity to help create needed change for his country, he wastes that opportunity. Another interesting part of this story concerns the possibility of the King of England coming to Ireland: while some Dubliners feel that the kings’ coming will help create wealth in Ireland, others do not want to be dependent on England. Either way, there seems to be no great solution. Ireland is stuck just like the characters in this story are stuck.