Golbarg Khorsand* The “Dubliners” by James Joyce is a collection of fifteen short stories written between 1905 and 1907 and published in 1914. It summarizes the basic notions in Joyce’s works. Among the stories are “Araby” and “Eveline”; the two short stories to be discussed in this paper. James Joyce enduring effect on the literature after him is undeniable. “He was a prominent symbolist, modernist, realist and formalist whose work have marked the beginning of an era in prose writing” (Goldman, 1968: 5). His innovative experimental mode of writing and presentation was his main point of discrimination from writers prior to him. “The unprecedented explicitness with which Joyce introduced the trivial details of ordinary life into the realm of art opened up a rich new territory for writers” (Attridge, 2004: 1). As Christopher mentions in Cambridge Companion to Joyce, “Joyce and many like him at this time (particularly Eliot) seemed to have favored relativist opposition to the beliefs of the past. He extricated himself from the prevailing faiths of his contemporaries (2004: 68). By and large, there are three nets that shape the basic notions in Joyce’s works: religion, language and nationality. The dilemma of his plots revolves around at least one of these issues. Joyce believes that for a man to seek and reach the true nature of freedom in his life, it is necessary to leave behind these. As “Stephan” mentions in “portrait of the Epiphany Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies Volume 7, Number 2, 2014 p-ISSN 2303-6850 e-ISNN 1840-3719 PATHS TO PARALYSIS: SYMBOLISM AND NARRATOLOGY IN JAMES JOYCE’S “ARABY” AND “EVELINE” Abstract There are three nets that shape the basic notions in Joyce’s works: religion, language and nationality. The dilemma of his plots revolves around at least one of these issues. Joyce be- lieves that for a man to seek and reach the true nature of freedom in his life, it is necessary to leave these boundaries behind. Usually in most cases, one of the characters in Joyce’s writings is captive by those nets. They are put in a dramatic situation in which a revelation would lead him/her to an epiphany. Joyce’s use of symbolism and realism and also his dif- ferent layers of narration is what endow significance, life and glamour to the simple plots of his stories. The main point of concentration in this paper is to define the notion of paralysis in terms of symbolism and narratology, respectively in the two short stories “Araby” and “Eveline”; to show how different symbols and different voices draw upon the desired theme of the author; how religion, language and nationality are packed into variant symbols in order to enhance their significant function in issue of paralysis and how the various methods of narration can depict the nature of paralysis with which the characters struggle. Keywords: Joyce; Paralysis; Symbolism; Narratology; Araby and Eveline *Corresponding author: Golbard Khorsand, Shiraz Univeristy, Iran; e-mail: golbarg_cm@yahoo.com artist as a young man” “I shall try to fly by those nets”. Usually in most cases, one of the characters in Joyce’s writings is captive by those nets. They are put in a dramatic situation in which a revelation would lead him/her to an epiphany. But apart from what the characters do and how they react, what is more essential to the flow of the story is what they are unable to do. Similarly, sometimes absent characters or abstract ideas have more contribution to the plot than present real characters; for example a mother who is dead, a brother who has left the city, a girl who lives across the street and doesn’t have a name. as Leonard points out “what I have outlined so far offers a way to notice how the stories communicate significance through what the characters know or wish to know, but also what the are unable to see or are afraid to feel” (2003: 101). Joyce’s use of symbolism and realism and also his different layers of narration is what endow significance, life and glamour to the simple plots of his stories. He constructs the background of his stories in such a way that enables him to draw upon the utmost symbolic meaning of every single word. His symbolism goes beyond simple metaphor and demands both intellectual and emotional response from the reader. There are several layers of narratology each fitting and portraying a particular state of thought and characterization. In a letter to his publisher Joyce noted: “my intention was to write the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to be the center of paralysis” (Robert S Ryf, 1962: 59). So the main point of concentration in this paper is to define the notion of paralysis in terms of symbolism and narratology, respectively in the two short stories “Araby” and “Eveline”; to show how different symbols and different voices draw upon the desired theme of the author; how religion, language and nationality are packed into variant symbols in order to enhance their significant function in issue of paralysis and how the various methods of narration can depict the nature of paralysis with which the characters struggle. While reading “Araby”, the third story in “Dubliners” which “represents an attempted but frustrated escape in the form of a defeated quest” (Ryf, 1962: 63), we will be faced with and abundance of images and symbols and shift in narration. Immediately in the first paragraph a bleak atmosphere is established. The boy narrator, very symbolically, lives in a blind street. This blind street (repeated twice in the same paragraph) could be a symbol of the boy’s character that is literally blind due to his young age and immaturity. The color brown which is used to describe the houses (and it’s only one of its several appearances as an adjective) symbolizes decayed and spoiled lives of their inhabitants; that is Irish people. This image is used in the second paragraph of “Eveline” to serve exactly the same purpose. 93 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” There is a delicate paradox in the sentence: “… when the Christian Brothers’ school set the boys free.”(Dubliners: 27) The acute reader is asked to ask himself does the Christian Brothers’ school actually set the boys free or it constrains and limits them so much the more with its didactic religious teachings?; A question that will be answered right in the next paragraph. The image of the priest who was a “former tenant” and who has died points to the death of religion as a motivating and ensuing element in people’s lives. The description of that “back drawing room” (Dubliners: 27) is telling enough in its own turn. Musty air from being enclosed for too long a time and the rooms behind the kitchen being littered with useless books and papers all contribute to this fact that religion, with its old trainings and didactic methods is no more of any use and benefit to the young Irish generation and it is actually being left behind. The description of the books found in the pries’ room is all symbolic: “the curled and damp pages” along with their “yellow leaves” are symbols of death and decay. The title of the books reveals the romantic content of them: “Abbot by Sir Walter Scott”, “Devout Communicant” and “the Memoirs of Vidocq”(Dubliners: 27). They are all yellowing and wasting away. It is a symbolic foreshadowing of what is going to happen to the boy’s romantic image of the world. There is a “wild garden” and “an apple tree”. An apple tree has always been a symbol of original sin which is supposedly the knowledge obtained by human being. And here this symbolic apple tree with its connotation of sin and knowledge could be a foreshadowing of boy’s epiphany at the end of the story. From the beginning of the next paragraph the dark and gloomy atmosphere is going to be shaped by phrases like “short days of winter”, “cold air”, “violet sky”, “dusk”,… .The word “dark” is repeated three times in one rather long sentence: “dark muddy lanes”, “dark dripping gardens” and “dark odorous stables”. Notice how the “wild gardens” of previous paragraph changed into the “dark dripping gardens” where “odors arose from its ash pits”. The word “ash pit” denoted a sense of uselessness and wasting away. However, there are certain references made to light, whether it’s a “feeble lantern” of a street lamp or lights pouring from the “kitchen windows”. This paragraph is altogether active in its tone with all the references to the games, shouts and glowing bodies. There are two separate introduction made in this paragraph; First that of the uncle and next that of Mangan’s sister; both characters of importance in the story. The boy’s uncle here is the mitigated version of Eveline’s father. Both characters have an authoritive role and suppressing function that makes them stands as a symbol for “England” along with its oppressive, superior role toward Ireland. Ian Almond suggests in his article “he represents another world in Joyce’s story, a world juxtaposed to that of the narrator, one which does not hope and therefore doesn’t suffer: a world of oblivious to life’s tragic dimension.” (2001: 375) 94 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” Second introduction is that of Mangan’s sister who symbolizes Ireland itself. As Adam Sexton notes in the book “on Joyce’s Dubliners” “the boy does not actually know Mangan’s sister- she is more or less a fantasy to him” (2003: 15). The realism and objectivity of the author can be best traced in his introducing of these two characters, especially MAngan’s sister. The narrator introduces her in the plain ordinary words and uses as few simple sentences as he does for the introduction of his uncle. There are no exaggerations toward either of the characters, nor his uncle nor Mangan’s sister. No extra explanations or descriptions explicit feeling toward either of them is used. Apart from what was just said, another noteworthy point in this paragraph is the shift in narration. The beginning of the story is narrated through the feelings and views points of a teenage boy who is energetic and active and this is evident in the way he narrates the sentences. But gradually, toward the end of the story, there is a change in the way he describes the scenes. The story starts with the child-like tone and with the change of his state of mind; the tone also changes, as if he is actually maturing. Once again, in the next paragraph, the word blind is used. The narrator of the story insists on not giving any physical explanation about the girl. As if he is symbolically blind by her and cannot see her real existence. “I kept her brown figure always in my mind.” There is a symbolic foreshadowing made in the next line which says “… the point at which our ways diverged…” (Dubliners: 28) Considering Mangan’s sister as a symbol for Ireland, this divergence in the way could be applied to the split between a citizen and his country. The last sentence of the paragraph saying “…her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.” (Dubliners: 28) In these two examples, there is a sense of an omniscient narrator who knows everything about this relation as if long time has passed and the boy is now grown up. But even this state of mind is not constant and there are shifts in the process of narration. The next paragraph starts with the romantic picture the boy has created of her. That is in a sense the romantic image that some poets have made out of Ireland. But it suddenly goes into the bare realism of street scenes with the “drunken men and bargaining women”, “curses”, “shrills” which is best conclude in the sentence “the troubles of our native land.” (Dubliners: 28) And these two pictures are best symbolic paradox between an idealized Ireland as an evergreen promising country and the real face of that along with its harsh deficiencies. But, however, the boy narrator is not an intellectual contemplator of the situation in which his fellow citizens live; rather he is being soaked in his imagination and his dreams. In a religious context, all these settings, as Attridge suggests, are a quest for “Holy Grail” in King Arthur to him. And he thinks of the ordinary people as a “throng of foes” and of himself as “Sir Lancelot”. The “chalice” also symbolizes his undying love for 95 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” Mangan’s sister. This shows the ultimate romantic passion that he has developed for her. The language in the following sentences becomes so poetic that it is evidently detached from the simple teenage language with which the story started. The image of a “chalice” being safely carried, tears filling his eyes and flood, his bosom, and finally the image of him being a “harp” and “her words and gestures…fingers running upon the wires.” All show a total development in the course of narration of the story. In the next paragraph, once again, there is the emphasis on death of religion in the unconscious part of the boy’s mind. “The back drawing room” symbolizes the hidden or unconscious parts of a man’s mind. The atmosphere is still thoroughly gloomy. The same symbolic elements used in the early paragraphs are repeated here along with the addition of “rain” that “impinge[s] upon the earth.” (Dubliners: 29) The symbolic importance of this rainfall is that it is no romantic raindrop which softly touches the soft soil. The rain here symbolizes the whole bleak atmosphere of the story. The sentence “I was thankful I could see so little” (Dubliners: 29) symbolically draws upon the true nature of the boys feeling. He is still as blind as he has been in the first paragraph. And he has this peculiar tendency to deny or at least hide his feeling. The word “Araby” is used for the first time in the story in the next paragraph. The name itself “casts an eastern enchantment over the boy”. “It is an escape from the church” (Ryf, 1962: 64). It is a mixture of both Catholic Church and England and in fact an escape from both of them. As Malaganer and Kain wrote in their book “Joyce” “the romance that the name breathes is synonymous for him with the romantic dreams he harbors of his future with the girl” (1956: 78). It might seem strange to John J. Brugaletta and Mary H. Hayden the way “Mangan’s sister acts as she does while talking with the narrator” and “the nervous turning of her bracelet as she speaks betrays a lack of confidence in the young narrator’s presence…” (1967: 13) to them, but what is of a higher degree of importance is the impressionistic attention that the narrator pays to each single details of her. Her physical image is more important to him than what she says. Out of the whole paragraph only about a sentence is given to what she speaks of; the rest are delicate explanation of her gesture and movements. There is also another shift in the course of the narration where he says “her brother and two other boys were fighting for their caps and I was alone at the railings.” He no more plays with his friends. It could be a sign of his maturity, or at least a development toward that. The word “railing” has its own symbolic importance in that according to the main notion of “quest” which is the main idea in the boy’s unconscious, and the connotation of railing that is associated with a train’s railing, it could be symbolize and support the idea of a certain object or idea; that is, the boy’s journey to “Araby” and his literal journey from childhood to maturity and knowledge. As for the word “Araby”, 96 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” Malaganer and Kain point out “the exotic oriental motif is deliberately employed so that it may be contrasted with the banal reality of salesgirl’s flirtation interlude and bareness of the darkened suburban bazaar” (1956: 61) Notice how the boy’s aunt is frightened by the very possibility of “some Freemason [protestant] affair.” It is an open criticism on the part of Joyce toward religious prejudice and absentmindedness of those people who subject themselves to such extremist acts. The whole paragraph shows a “willingness to overcome material obstacles for the joy of attaining [his] destination” (Malaganer and Kain, 1952: 79). The “raw and pitiless air” described in the next paragraph suitably stands for the harsh reality he is going to acknowledge. The indifferent manner in which the boy’s uncle treats him is a symbolic example of how England reacts to the deep true demands and rights of Irish people. After that, the uncle’s absence and then his ignoring presence is the cause of the boy’s stress and lingering. The phrase “the high, cold, empty gloomy rooms” (Dubliners: 30) is at time a strong symbol and criticism of the lives that the Irish people are leading. In the next sentence, the narrator completely detaches himself from his peers and says “I saw my companions playing below in the street.” (Dubliners: 30) And assign to them a kind of inferiority and himself, superiority. What he sees is only a “dark house” and an imaginative “brown figure” of Mangan’s sister. These two images symbolize the despairing conditions of the country (Ireland) and Her decaying and deteriorating conditions. In the scene that follows, once again, we have the dominant and financially superior uncle, symbolizing England; it is the scene that precedes the realistic image of the city delivered by the use of phrases like “third class carriage”, “ruinous houses”, “crowds of people pressed to the carriage door”. It is as if Joyce deliberately meant to juxtapose the two opposing images to show the adversity that Irish people deals with. Finally he reaches his destination; Araby bazaar. But it is too late and “nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness.” The narrator compares the darkness and silence of the bazaar to that of a “church after service”. And since this bazaar was probably ordinate by the church “for some pious purposes”, this darkness would symbolically stand for the “darkness of his religion” (Malaganer and Kain, 1952: 79). As Malaganer and Kain mention: In some ways, the Araby bazaar suggests the church and is its symbol. The narrator’s quivering eagerness to reach it, his willingness to overcome material obstacles for the joy of attaining his destination, has religious fervor. But the worldly, the trivial, the gross awaits him at journey’s end. The glowing colors with which idealists surround spiritual objects fail to appear. Again, Joyce seems to be saying, the quest for the father, for the Church, has been thwarted by reality. The bazaar turns out to be just as cold, as dark, and as man-made as the gloomy house of the dead priest on his 97 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” own street. It is almost empty, too, and only activity going on is the counting of the day’s receipts. (1952:79) The importance of the mini-drama in which the English salesgirl and her male companion are busy having a flirtatious chat lies in the revelation that it brings to the boy narrator. He finds himself faced up to a reality that is teasing; the fact that he has never had or can never have any such relation with Mangan’s sister is insulting to him. As Malaganer and Kain underlie “[it] show[s] him the falsity of the entire situation in which he is involved” (1952: 79). Symbolically speaking, the salesgirl with her English accent and her not encouraging tone resembles England’s indifference toward Irish citizen (the way his uncle did). From now on the boy is absolutely aware of his useless attempt to continue what he thought of being a milestone in his life. At the end of his search for love and identity, he is lead toward darkness. At this moment “the lights are being out.” This darkness symbolically represents the whole essence of his quest and his longing for a higher truth. As the boy narrator says “…the hall was now completely dark.” (Dubliners: 33) The epiphany comes at the close of the story where he says “gazing up into the darkness, I saw myself a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” His eyes were once filled with romantic sentimental tears, but at the end of his quest, when he is faced up to reality of his existence; there are tears of anguish and fear that burn his eyes. Leonard notes “what makes such a moment a literary and stylistic masterstroke is Joyce’s careful preparation for this moment… “ (2003: 91) this epiphanic image symbolizes the actual vanity and meaninglessness of an Irish generation. As Sexton notes “the quest is ultimately in vain” (2003: 15). Since “the boy’s quest is made on behalf of his native country” (Sexton, 2003: 15) so the vanity of this search goes to the people who are its citizens. Thus, if Mangan’s sister, the boy narrator and Araby bazaar stand for Ireland, a typical Irish citizen, and church organization (or England), then this idealized (somewhat) romantic attempt of an Irishman to serve his country is hampered and stopped by the darkness of religion and superior power of England. Strikingly similar in both theme and style to Araby, Eveline is the fourth story of “Dubliners”. The point with “Eveline” is that in that story actually nothing happens. The character is inactive. She practically does nothing in the process of the story and her only action is a refusal to take an action: leaving the country. As it was mentioned in the very beginning, the story is very similar in its structure to “Araby”. The pattern of symbolism, especially, is quite the same. In this story, too, there is a yellowing picture of a priest that signifies the decaying function of religion and the fact that the priest has left the country for Melbourne is an approval of the same notion. The color brown in “little brown houses” symbolizes the spoiled and wasted lives of the Irish people in that country 98 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” as it did in “Araby”. And the “soldiers with brown baggage”, too, brings the same image of decadence to the reader’s mind. Once again in this story, as in “Araby”, we are faced with the two symbolic notions of mother and father (the character of uncle in the case of “Araby”), the former standing for Ireland and the latter, England. The character of mother, with its very short appearance in the story, only as a revived memory, creates a nostalgic feeling of the past and also an unknown fear of the future. Since Eveline is escaping a fate like that of her mother, so psychologically speaking, she identifies herself with her mother. An escape from home to whatever unknown destination would be an escape from Ireland, from her mother or in a sense from herself. That is why at the end of the story she is unable to step on her way. Practically, it is impossible to ignore one’s own self and escape from it. Character of the “father” whose presence is almost dominant from the very early paragraph of the story as well as very early stages of Eveline’s life, and all the detailed financial squabbles that are associated with him, evokes an image of England in the mind of the reader. He is brutal, indifferent, authorative and oppressive. Their relationship is that of a slave-master instead of being daughter-father one. There is still the character of Frank who is a symbol for freedom and liberty, but an idealized and unknown image of that; an image that cannot guarantee its outcome. But apart from its future possibilities, what Frank means to “Eveline” is a sense of freedom and a chance to live a happy life. As the narrator says “why should she be unhappy? She had a right to happiness” (Dubliners: 38). Frank is an idealized symbol of a person who has broken the capturing nets of –at least- nationality, and probably religion and language as well. But the problem arises exactly from the same notion of idealizing. Reading carefully the description of Frank given by narrator would reveal to us that the mental image that Eveline has built into her mind is basically a romantic far-fetched one. And it is far from being real. As Attridge notes: What do we make of “his hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze”? (Dubliners: 36) This is no longer the way Eveline might speak, though its clichés are not characteristics of the narrator either. Perhaps we can read it as a faint echo of a story Eveline has read, and this too might set alarm bells ringing- is she interpreting her experience according to the norms of romantic fiction? (2004: 6) Going a little further, we will see how she unconsciously compares herself to the “Bohemian Girl’ and how “elated” and “unaccustomed” it sounds to her even to imagine such a different life with such romantic prospect. Frank himself is not the center of attention for her. The narrator deliberately avoids using the verb ‘love’ in mirroring Eveline’s passion for him; rather prefers to use the verb ‘like’. It shows the distance between what Eveline wants from her relationship with Frank and what Frank probably demands from her. She 99 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” is in a state of uncertainty and hesitation toward Frank. Her view of life with him is rather an exploration, an adventurous course of events rather than a comfort and solace for her future. All these explanations and analysis possess another layer of symbolic meaning which points to the present condition of Ireland (at that time era) represented by Eveline and the would be future of the country, the questions, hesitations and limitations that it might face in case it is exposed to Freedom. However, the pattern of narranology of “Eveline” will be the main point of concentration in this second part of the essay. The narration of the story embodies the stream of consciousness method in which the reader has direct access to the mind of the main character and in a sense can read and hear her thoughts and feelings first handedly. The plot of the story is simple, straight lined. As it was mentioned earlier nothing practically happens .except for the two closing paragraphs, the rest of the story is the expression of the thoughts, dilemmas and speculations going on in Eveline’s mind. The story begins with the past and remains in the past for too long a time. But there are many flashbacks and flash-forward in that part. Her mind repeatedly moves back and fro to the memories of her friends, her brothers and her mother and suddenly jumps to the future in which Frank is the only decisive element; Her past so crowded and her future so empty. But there seem to be different narrators at one time. The short initiating paragraph of the story is so poetic that one would doubt Eveline as its narrator. “She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head wad leaned against the window curtain and in her nostrils was the odor of dusty cretonne. She was tired.” Read in isolation, this paragraph could be a stanza in a piece of poetry. But in fact, there are parts in which the narration changes from that mature and poetic voice to a tone of ordinary every day speech; a tone that matches the content of the text. As in the fourth paragraph where she is reviewing the consequences of her decision, notice these two sentences “what would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow [emphasis added]. Say she was a fool, perhaps…” (Dubliners: 35) the narrator of these sentences with their every day used language obviously is different from the narrator of the early paragraphs. It happens no sooner than the fifth paragraph that we are told of the heroin’s name. One can say with almost certitude that the narrator of this long paragraph is Eveline her self. The language, the subject matter and the overall sense created in the lines belong to her. All throughout the paragraph, she adopts a cynical outlook toward her status quo. She delivers a sad impression of her life with her father, of her attempts in meeting the ends of the family, of her financial distresses and of her heavy responsibilities as a young woman. But she suddenly finishes with a basically different image; that in spite of all the hardships in her life, she still finds it satisfactory or desirable to go on as it is. She insists on using the verb ‘would’ whenever she talks about her future. This 100 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” could only be a sign of her hesitation. She is suspicious from the very beginning. This hesitation appears even in more subtle ways; in the next paragraph, the narrator starts talking about Frank. The first sentence reads as follows: “Frank was very kind, manly, open-hearted.” (Dubliners: 36) Attridge correctly notes on this sentence that “[it] is not a discovery but a moment of self reassurance, belonging to the blend of pride, excitement and anxiety that comprises Eveline’s complicated mental state” (2003: 6). Except for the first two lines, all over this paragraph, Frank is referred to as “he”; that is what he actually means to Eveline. It is not important to her who Frank really is, but the adventures and the new encounters in his life-things that she wishes most to experience in her own life- are what counts to her. The language of this paragraph is obviously “pleasantly confused”. The manner in which she narrates all her new experiences is actually that of a young girl who is not certain about the feasibility her own feelings. The hesitation becomes more evident if we compare the present narration of the text with its alternative; “a clearly-identified narrator” as Attridge puts it: If a clearly-identified narrator commenting on Frank were to stare that Buenos Ayres is where he had a home waiting for her,… we would take this as a fact, a given of the story; if a character thinks [emphasis added] it, however it has only as much validity as we feel we can ascribe to that thought. (2004: 5) He continues to say: …We have to pick our way through continually shifting perspectives, relying as best we can on our sensitivity to individual words and turns of phrase. ‘He was awfully fond of music’: that ‘awfully’ could only be Eveline. The phrase ‘see her home’ followed immediately by ‘He took her to see…’ would be clumsy writing in novelistic prose but a natural repetition in thought or speech. (2004: 6) As for the lines “when he sang about the lass that loves a sailor” (Dubliners: 36), Attridge believes that it is not the skillful way for an English speaker to use such sentence structure, but that is not what matters to Eveline; it doesn’t matter to her whether it is a title of a song or a grammatically-based sentence; rather what is engaging her mind is the message that Frank means to convey through these lines in terms of her relation with him. The paradox suggested by the name “Frank” is significant in its own turn to the theme of the story. Ernest, her favorite brother, whose name is synonymous to that of Frank, is dead. Could this be a deliberate choice of word on the part of the author to foreshadow what is the ultimate end of this relation? Or is he after all frank in his intentions? “Has Eveline found a rescuer or just another Dublin betrayer?”(Attridge, 2004, 5) And on a deeper level, is the freedom associated with the name of Frank supposed to be vanished, too? Considering Eveline as a symbol of Ireland, maybe Frank could, in being truly honest and frank to her, save the country with the air of freedom and fresh outlook that this liberty entails; a right and a chance at the same time, a possibility for a better future. There is no way to find the answer to this question. The evidences provided by the story are not sufficient. All what we have is Eveline’s imaginations and hesitation. 101 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” In the next paragraph, we are back again to the present time for a short moment and as if automatically, the mind of the character again goes back to the old past days. Memories of her mother and all the sufferings and sacrifices that she endured come back to her. She remembers the promise she had made to her mother “to keep the home together as long as she could”. Her mother is a symbol of her hometown, her country; Ireland. Eveline is a new version of her mother and that is what threatens her and puts a “sudden impulse of terror” on her; A fear from a future fate similar to that of her mother. Therefore in this paragraph, the tone of the narrator becomes more serious. There aren’t any chances for the fancies of a young girl to develop in this part. The mode of the language becomes bleak and gloomy. As we approach the climax of the story, the flow of Eveline’s mind also penetrates its deepest layer as to remember the exact words of her mother that says “Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!” (Dubliners: 37). As W. Wawrzycka and G. Corcoran mention “the narrative tone changes when Eveline recalls her promise to her mother to keep the family together. It rises in pitch when the account of her mother’s ‘sacrifices closing in final craziness’ culminates in her deathbed refrain, Derevaun Seraun” (1997: 96). In the next paragraph, although she seems so resolute and decisive, but the tenses in which she thinks, are still the same vulnerable ‘would’ tense; a fact that shows the degree of her uncertainty toward her ‘escape’ idea. The last sentence about Frank in the paragraph, with its emphatic repetitions is no more than a vain self reassurance. The remaining part of the story adopts a different set of imagery. Up to this point, there has been a static and stagnant situation. Prior to this paragraph, nothing has happened. The narrator has been sitting next to the window recalling and going through her feeling in an unconscious dialogue. But the last part of the story, there are dynamic images used in order to show the perplexities and unrest inside of her. The colors also draw upon her mental status. At this point, the relation of the text to the reader becomes heavily mutual. There are moment of sympathy and empathy on the side of the reader with the heroine; her fervent prayers, her distress-created nausea and her cry of anguish. As in the first paragraph, this paragraph is also too poetic to be a creation of Eveline’s unconscious mind. In previous sections, there was a certain honesty that compelled the reader that this is really her; but in this paragraph, there is this peculiar degree of exactitude replacing that honesty. Every single feelings of hers is reported in a poetic language and this goes beyond the viewpoint of Eveline who pays much of her attention on what she best likes to notice in things and people; rather on what is really noteworthy. The impressionistic style of narration is used to show the utmost lack of concentration in Eveline’s mind. “She knew he was speaking to her, saying something about the passage over and over.”, “she caught a glimpse of the black mass of the boats… with illuminated potholes.”, “she felt her cheek pale and cold… .” (Dubliners: 38). in a sense we are seeing and hearing and feeling with Eveline’s eyes and ears and heart. There 102 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” is a sense of identification created through the use of impressionistic narratology method. The narration and the narrator have become one. They merged into each other due to the density of her feelings. Just as in Tennyson’s Eagle, in spite of the entire dynamic and turbulent atmosphere, there is still a touch of static and stagnant mood in these lines. The narrator has left some traces of motionlessness every where: “brown baggages”, “black boats”, “iron railings” and “mournful whistle into the mist” (Dubliners: 38). They are all ideas that point to the stagnant situation in which she is trapped. The conclusive section of the story is where the epiphany finally arrives. Although it is an exact report of her feelings, but it also seems that a meticulous observer is watching over her. In fact, it seems that her facial expression is so telling about her passiveness and helplessness that it automatically leads to such empty and absurd state of being. Accordingly, the whiteness in her face would compare her to a dead person with dead desires. The narrator suffices only to read from her face and her eyes how helpless and devastated she has become. Then it no more goes into her mind or reads her inner thoughts. Rather it stops at a very objective level. Being two different stories at first glance, “Araby” and “Eveline” both share the same theme. “They are stories which, in essence, revolve around an imminent disappointment.” (Almond, 2001: 368) The notion of paralysis, prevalent in Joyce’s writing, is the domineering issue that brings all the elements to a conclusive, coherent union in the two short stories. The pattern of symbols in “Araby” is coherent, deep and literally and religiously built into the text, but they all together end in darkness. There are two phases of darkness in “Araby”. As Almond point out: “The darkness with which the story begins- the winter darkness of streets where the children play, the “dark rainy evenings” when the boy avows his undying love to the image of the girl- is by no means the same darkness in which the story ends; The gloom of the empty bazaar… . On the contrary the first darkness in one of childish adventure, excitement and mystery… . (2001: 371) The multiple narratology of “Eveline” with its flexible dialogic nature provides space for all kinds of voices to show up and demonstrates her various states of thought. The significance of the method of narratology in “Eveline” lies in the author’s concentration to its form in comparison to its content. The language that the author uses is as Attridge mentions “normally excluded from literature, but function[s] here just as efficiently as the most elaborated of styles to suggest with immense precision a mind, a social milieu, a series of emotions. The pleasure is in precision; rather than what it is precise about.” (2004: 6) But at the same time, it reveals and ends in certain hollowness. As Leonard notes: “Eveline, in the end, cannot leave Ireland…but to what, and to whom, is she returning? Nothing more or less than: an increasingly violent alcoholic father…, and a thankless exhausting job… .” (2004: 94). Eveline’s paralysis and passiveness is fully demonstrated 103 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” in the story’s narratalogy “because Eveline’s mind is active chiefly when it paraphrases or responds to other people’s thoughts” (W. Wawrzycka and G. Corcoran, 1997: 95). The two writers continue to say: Eveline’s mind passes quickly through the three stages, woman not understanding man, child not obeying adult and passive animal not comprehending anything. Frank’s male conversation about the voyage is unintelligible; as a woman, she is conflicted by terror; like a child, she is unable to decide for herself, and, finally, like a trapped animal, she gives no sign of human recognition or understanding. Her descent is swift, unexpected and overwhelming. (W. Wawrzycka and G. Corcoran, 1997: 96) However different in personal backgrounds and reasons, the earlier mentioned ‘hollowness’ of “Eveline” corresponds in essence to the ‘darkness’ and ‘emptiness’ of “Araby” and that is what brings us back to the notion of paralysis. What is meant mainly by the author to his readers is that “people stay where they are in Dublin not because they discover the wisdom of doing so, but because they are trapped” (Leonard, 2004: 94). As it is exactly the case with “Eveline’s” final scene in which “Eveline’s response to Frank’s departure is much more than a decision to sacrifice herself and honor her vow; It is the aversion reaction of one who is habituated to abuse” (W. Wawrzycka and G. Corcoran, 1997: 96-7). Both the male and the female protagonists of “Araby” and “Eveline” are typical examples of a captive Dubliner and their predicament as Attridge suggests “is understood as a version of a more general problem afflicting Dubliners of a certain class and this may reduce any tendency to pass judgment on her [/him] as an individual” (2004: 8). References Almond, Ian. 2001. Chekhovian overtones in Early Joyce: Some Brief Remarks On “Araby” and “The Kiss”. Orbis litterarum 51, 368-375. Attridge, Derek, Leonard, Garry. 2004. “Reading Joyce.”, “Dubliners.” The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce. Ed. Derek Attridge. New York, Cambridge University Press. Brugaletta, John. J., Hayden, Mary. H. 1978. The Motivation for Anguish in Joyce’s “Araby”. Studies in Short Fiction 15. Ehrich, Heyward. 1997. “Socialism, Gender, and Imagery in Dubliners.” Gender in Joyce. Ed. Jolanta W. Wawrzycka and Marlena G. Corcoran. Gainesville, University Press of Florida. 89-96. Goldman, Arnold. 1968. “Dubliners.” James Joyce. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul LTD. Magalaner, Marvin. and Kain, Richard M. 1956. “Dubliners.” Joyce. New York, new York University Press. Ryf, Robert S. 1966. “The Portriat and Dubliners.” A New Approach To Joyce. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. Sexton, Adam. 2003. Dubliners. New York, Wiley Publishing. G. Khorsand Path to Paralysis: Symbolism and Narratology in James’s “Araby” and “Eveline” 104 Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 7. No. 2, (2014) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences