Joyce’s Dubliners

Joyce’s Dubliners

Dubliners is a collection of short stories by Joyce James, which were first published in 1914. The stories by Joyce form a depiction of middles class life of people in Dublin in early years of the 20th century. The stories by Joyce James were written when the Irish people were searching for a national identity, and therefore, Irish nationalism was at its peak The Irish Literary Theatre was against the European dramatists, which were vital for the advancement of the Irish art. “The Day of Rabblement” was written by James Joyce while he was still a university student and the main argument on the story was the need for artistic freedom in the Irish community. Artistic freedom is very necessary for each state because arts serve as a mirror of society. Artist work should criticize moral degradation in the society and should not be compromised by either political or religious groups.

Many scholars believe that James Joyce revolutionized the novel in the twentieth century by abandoning the convection way of narrative, which was compromised by politics and religion (Downes, 40). Dubliners were the earliest stories of Joyce James, and some scholars have a thought that the early stories by James Joyce did not show how effectively he could write. Writers who followed the James narrative mode of writing in his earlier work did not had much influence on their readers according to this group of scholars. Jame’s works have been admitted in the world of literature in spite of all the criticism they have received. The story “The Day of Rabblement” was criticized by his fellow students and countrymen because of Joyce attack to censorship (Downes, 67). Also, the university’s magazine refused to print this essay because Joyce ideas on artistic freedom were against the political and religious vision of the country.

Artist work should not be controlled by the religious or political groups of a country but Artist work should have freedom in presenting ideas. In “The Day of Rabblement” story by James Joyce, James was angered by his fellow university students for deciding to sign a letter of protest on political and religious grounds against the Irish Literacy Theatre first performance by WB Yeats (Weng, 28). In the story, James criticizes the Irish Literacy Theatre for bowing down to the public pressure instead of boldly presenting their opinions. According to James the work presented by the three European writers named the WB Yeats was innovative and deserved some attention. Instead of the university students paying attention to the presentation, they were still surrounded by their religion and political affiliations something that stirred James Joyce (Cornwell,76). James in his story points out that an artist should never be directed on the favor of multitude but should stay on his or her vision. The essay condemns censorship and the role of politicians and religious groups on the artist works, which upholds the principle of artistic freedom.

National pride makes a nation unable to understand the importance of benchmarking and paying attention to the opinions of the other nations. Dismissing the ideas of other nations without even paying attention to them slows the development of the country’s institutions. James Joyce in the story “The Day of Rabblement” shows her concern to the European dramatists (weng, 50). James was not just concerned on his country’s drama only, but he was drawn into continental drama since when he was still an adolescent. Several European dramatists had inspired Joyce especially Henrik Ibsen who had faced a public backlash in his home country Norway as Joyce alludes in his essay. James Joyce knew that benchmarking on the European artists would result in the development of Irish theatre. Therefore, it was crucial for Joyce to open up the Irish theatre scene to European writers because they offered the promise of artistic development, which would see the Irish Literacy theatre become free from political and religious interventions. “A nation, which never advanced so far as a miracle –play affords no literary model to the artist, and must look abroad.”  (Weng, 42) James Joyce concludes his story by admitting that the act of Irish Literary Theatre of surrendering to political and religious trolls has cut itself adrift from the line of artistic development.

In conclusion, Irish people were searching for national identity and nationalism was at its peak at the time James Joyce was writing the story “The Day of Rabblement.”  James Joyce was against his fellow university students who signed for protest against the European WB Yeats presenters on the grounds of politics and religion. James believed that freedom of artistic work was necessary for ensuring that artists boldly present their opinions. James Joyce was angered by his fellow citizens failure to pay attention to the European presentation, which was innovative and worthy of listening. Joyce had a lot of interest to the European artists because they had promised to bring advancement of Irish Literacy Theatre by emphasizing the need for artistic freedom. Artistic freedom from politics and religion allows artists to be concerned about their vision but not the favor of multitude.