Irma18 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 I am doing a practice oral commentary tomorrow on the short story "A Painful Case" by James Joyce and am utterly confused on what to talk about or what its about or how it relates to the big picture. If anyone has read it/studied it, please please help! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proletariat Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Just read it a few days ago actually; "Dubliners" is one of the works we are studying in English.Since the story is only one from the entire anthology, you might not be aware of the socio-cultural commentary Joyce was attempting to make with "Dubliners." Dublin during the time that Joyce was writing (late 19th? Early 20th?) was perceived by him to be a place of paralysis, of stagnation, full of people that were unable to break out of their lives. You're fortunate in that your short story happens to be one of the best in the entire collection in terms of illustrating this theme. For your IOC then you'll want to make sure to comment on how your story extrapolates in the broader socio-cultural context. Specifically look at Duffy's reading choices and what that indicates about his personality. It's actually quite an easy story to talk about; you'll just have to make sure to do the research. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irma18 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 yes we also read "Sisters" and "Counterparts" before this one and talked about the point Joyce was trying to make on Dublin at the turn of the century, especially in the other two about Catholicism versus Protestants (Also Ireland, versus Britain). I guess my biggest thing was i didn't really understand what could be the central meaning in the story and how it relates (Little picture/ big picture) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proletariat Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Counterparts is one of my favourite stories from Dubliners Yeah, with A Painful Case it's not so much about Christianity. Religion is only one of the aspects of Dublin at the period. At the heart of Joyce's commentary on that city is the idea of paralysis that I mentioned above. To re-phrase what I typed above: look at the personality of Mr. Duffy (using his reading materials as specific references) and how that led to his misery at the end of the story, then explain how that can be a synecdoche for the general population of Dublin, and even the city as a whole. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irma18 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 that helps a lot, thank so much! yes i really like this collection of stories too, i just wish i could understand them a tad bit better Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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