Joycean Absences

In Dubliners, James Joyce repeatedly made a point to have absences in his stories, particularly the absence of parents. For example, in “Eveline” readers are informed that Eveline’s mother died when she was young and the only parent she had was an abusive father. In the story, Eveline seemed to have little parental influence in her life since her mother passed away. Eveline was a character who desperately wanted to get away from the grasp of her father yet she was unable to in the end. The significance of the absent mother comes into play when Eveline makes her decision to stay. It seems that Eveline’s mother was the one that made Eveline feel guilty and doubtful about leaving. While at the dock, Eveline kept thinking about the promise she made her mother to take care of the family how her mother told her “Derevaun Seraun,” meaning “the end of pleasure is pain.” Eveline’s mother was able to bind Eveline from leaving. The absent parent in “Eveline” plays a significant role in that they have a large influence in the character’s life; even though deceased, Eveline’s mother was still able to control her. Another example of Joycean Absences is the absence of a reliable narrator in "The Sisters." Joyce used a young nameless boy as the narrator for the short story who tells the reader what is happening as well as what he thinks of the situation. A reliable narrator would allow readers to judge a situation for themselves as oppose to being swayed by the narrator's opinion. Joyce's intention of using the young boy as a narrator appears to be because of the narrator's young mind. With a young and innocent narrator, it is more likely the narrator will state the facts of situations just as he sees it. A young mind is not likely to be influenced by outside opinion besides their own; they do not care how others think of their opinion. For example, the young boy did not take into consideration the fact that his uncle and Mr. Cotter disapproved of his and Father Flynn's relationship, it was not important to him what they or others thought. An innocent mind is only before it is influenced by others and institutions, having the young boy narrate the story is allowing readers to view the situation from an innocent point of view, it attempts to take strip readers of their own personal beliefs and influences as well.