46 pages 1 hour read

James Joyce

Dubliners

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1914

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Important Quotes

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“His questions showed me how complex and mysterious were certain institutions of the Church which I had always regarded as the simplest acts.”


(“The Sisters”, Pages 10-11)

Through a first-person narrator, Joyce describes a young boy’s early exposure to Catholicism, providing a subtle critique of the overcomplication of basic religious tenets—which he also positions as tenets of humanity—and the efforts of the church to create a sense of authority and mystique. Through this moment, Joyce presents a juxtaposition of value and constraint, which Joyce himself famously grappled with in his own relationship to religion.

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“A spirit of unruliness diffused itself among us and, under its influence, differences of culture and constitution were waived.”


(“An Encounter”, Page 17)

“Differences of culture and constitution” was a reality of everyday life in early-20th-century Ireland, and particularly in Dublin, with regard to religion, political leanings, and social class. Here Joyce suggests that these distinctions are less prominent in childhood, when friends and neighbors are bound together by shared humanity instead of social, economic, and political identities, which he positions as artificial constructs and oversimplifications of the human experience.

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“I had never spoken to her, except a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.”


(“Araby”, Page 28)

Through the first-person narrator of Araby, Joyce represents the intensity of childhood infatuation. The speaker acknowledges that he’s never built a true connection with his crush; instead, his love comes from a constructed ideal of what object of his affection represents. While the story ends on a note of tragedy and stagnation, it highlights a key

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By James Joyce

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An Encounter

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An Encounter

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Plot Summary

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A Painful Case

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A Painful Case

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

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Counterparts

James Joyce

Counterparts

James Joyce

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Finnegans Wake

James Joyce

Finnegans Wake

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Ivy Day in the Committee Room

James Joyce

Ivy Day in the Committee Room

James Joyce

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The Boarding House

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The Boarding House

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The Sisters

James Joyce

The Sisters

James Joyce

Study Guide

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Two Gallants

James Joyce

Two Gallants

James Joyce