Analisi di Eveline Joyce, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Analisi di Eveline Joyce e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! “ Eveline ” This is one of the short stories contained in “Dubliners” , written by Joyce. The title is the name of the protagonist Eveline: • a nineteen-year-old girl who has the opportunity to change her routine life but is unable to leave her familiar community in Dublin. • Eveline contained the word “Eve” (= the day before an important event ) , so her name is symbolic. • Her family is composed by her dead mother, her father who abused her, and her two brother :Frank and Harry. This is not explain in the text , it's the reader that must understand how many people there are in her family and make an effort to gather informations that Eveline thinks in her mind. In fact the story is an interior monologue where : • simple past is the time of narration , used to refer something that happened before (her childhood) • there are continuously skips from past to present and from present to future • there are flashbacks and flash-forwards • events aren't told in a chronological order → thoughts were associated , not logically or cronologically connected. • The story is narrated in the third person • the point of view adopted is Eveline's one. • there are only some details that depend on what Eveline sees and focuses on. • There is an incipit in medias res • the main character is presented through her thoughts • free direct speech is employed TO SUM UP: • At the beginning of the story,she is looking out of the window. The verbs refers to Eveline suggest lack of actions (mancanza di azioni), she's still . At the beginning the narrator doesn't tell the reader if he's talking about Eveline. Years ago, the children on the avenue (viale) used to play on a field where now stand many houses. While she is looking outside, she listens to a pipe organ playing, which recalls to her mind a song she heard before her mother’s death. She remembers her childhood. Her house is old and there's lack of emotion in the house. Nothing has been changed for years because they are poor and unwilling to change → theme of paralysis highlighted by some images like : -dust -the yellow photograph of the priest → it's connected with the field of religious because Eveline was critical to church because she considered it responsible for the conditions of the Irishes -the broken harmonium which was not replaced, it is an instrument and music was very important in the Irish tradition -the promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque → related to the field of religion which was very important for Irishes because they were chatolics since Elisabeth I -Brown is the color that often appears in Joyces and it's symbolic: it's the color of paralysis. He introduced this symbols because he tried to follow the teaching of the French Naturalist so he must be detached (distaccato) , objective , he didn't want to interfere with the narration but little by little he understood that reality was too complex to be represented in a scientific and realistic way and so he uses symbols and images to describe it. She is terrifying by his father who abuses her and she feels frustrated because of her job as a shop assistant. She works very hard, at a store and also at home, where she cares for her old father. The theme of paralysis is also evident at work where she is called Miss Hill (= “ hill ” means “ collina ” so suggest something difficult to move and it reflects her personality). Now her brothers there aren’t, in fact Ernest is dead and Harry is often away on business, and so there is no one to protect her. She takes care of two young siblings and gives over her whole salary for the family, but her father is always accusing her of being a spendthrift (spendacciona). In this part she's described as an old woman : she goes to buy the Sunday's dinner ( an Ireland form) holding her leather purse (borsa di cuoio) in her hand. Yet, she has planned to leave Ireland forever with a sailor called Frank and to go to Buenos Aires because he has an home there. Frank treats her respectfully and with great tenderness, and he entertains her with stories about his travels around the world; but her father dislikes him. the guests, while the priest gives out the particles, which represent Christ.. Gabriel met several people and during the party there were some important incidents : when they started dancing Gabriel had to dance with Miss Ivors , he noticed her brown eyes and the fact she was wearing an Irish brooch on her dress. Miss Ivors asked him who G.C.was because she had red an article signed G. C. in the daily exports. She disapproves of the daily export because it is a pro- British newspaper, so one of those newspaper that support the idea of Ireland must be part of England while she is an active member of the movement for Irish independence, so she accused Gabriel to being a “West Briton” because he writes for a pro- British newspaper. Miss Ivors ,like Gabriel, is learned and loves the Celtic tradition of her country and visits the west of Ireland when she’s on holiday. The West is the part of the world where the sun sets and is associated with death. According to Joyce, it is the traditional part of the country, the one that stops change and progress. Gabriel writes book reviews and he loves the books he receives for his work more than the little money he earns. He thinks art is above everything, a sort of religion. This exchange made Gabriel uncertain of himself and the evening became a disaster for him. When the party ended Gabriel and Gretta were going to leave the house but when Gretta listened a song that someone was singing on the upper floor , she started crying . When they reached the hotel she told him why she started crying. The reason was Michael, a young man with who she had a relatioship which ended because she came in Dublin . The song she listened reminded her this guy. Michael confessed her that he would have prefered the Death without her, and then she discovered that he died few days later her departure. Then she fell asleep and he observed her for a few moments. Here there is Gabriel's "epiphany": he observed himself in the mirror and realized that he had never loved his wife as Michael Fury did, who even died for her. In fact Michael Furey is the Romantic hero who dies young, for love, while Gabriel is an anti-hero. The man who is alive is spiritually dead, whereas the dead lived more than the physically alive man, because he is remembered. The novel ended with the falling snow also on the cemetery where Michael was buried. At the end of the story, Gabriel overcomes his arrogance and feels part of mankind, he realizes he is becoming a shadow like all the living. WHAT JOYCE AND GABRIEL HAD IN COMMON: Both Gabriel and Joyce attended university, were fond of languages and keen on traveling abroad. Neither of them felt at ease (Si sentivano a proprio agio) in Dublin, whose inhabitants were ignorant and narrow-minded (con mentalità ristretta). They both rejected The Irish Movement, Irish tradition, and the Celtic dialect spoken in the country, and found inspiration in Europe. Moreover, they believed art was above everything, above social, political and religious conflicts. Finally, their wives came from the West of Ireland, from Galway, the centre of tradition and paralysis. GABRIEL FAILS IN THREE OCCASION: He fails with Lily when he asks her whether she’s getting married soon and the girl’s bitter answer convinces him he has made a terrible mistake. This is his failure in the social field. Then he fails as an Irishman with Miss Ivors. Finally, he fails as a husband because he realises he has never known his wife and her love for Michael Furey. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN -> This is an autobiographical novel written by James Joyce -> The indefinite article ‘A’ means that this novel, like a painter’s work, in only one of the possible interpretation of a subject. The subject is the mind of the protagonist and the development of his personality in his early life. -> This is a novel of formation => Alter-ego of Joyce because the protagonist, like joyce, was brought up in a family where there was a religion conflict because the mother was catholic and the father had alcohol problems. He is a martyr to art. Like the mythological Daedalus, Stephen must escape from the social, political labyrinth of Dublin’s life in order to reach the neutrality of art. The writer’s hero do several crucial transformation in the story: • From a shy little boy to a bright student who understands social interactions and so he can give a sense to the world around him. • The second happens when Stephen sleeps with a Dublin prostitute, is from innocence to corruption. • When he hears Father Arnall’s speech on death and hell, is from an unrepentant sinner to a devout catholic • From fanatical religiousness to a new devotion to art and beauty!!!!! When he is offered a place in a Jesuit order but he refuses it in order to to attend university. -> EPIPHANY ON THE BEACH mark his transition from belief in God to belief in aesthetic beauty. -> the protagonist is a young man, Dedalus, a young of Irish writer, in search of experience and success. Dedalus is a symbolic name. It is the name of the first christian …………….. Dedalus is a name of an architect who built a labyrinth ……. -> 5 chapters -> Set in Dublin -> It proceeds chronologically and follows Stephen’s life from childhood through adolescence until the age of 20. Like Joyce himself, Stephen is the son of a poor father and a catholic mother. He begins to rebel against his family, his religion and his nation. In the end he seeks (cerca) voluntary exile in Paris. STYLE - The story begins with a third-person narrator and ends with a first- person one. The third narrator disappears when Stephen narrates his own experiences and thoughts through an extensive use of direct speech. - Most of characters and the events presented are based on real characters and events - The language change according the age of the protagonist little by little became elevated. He is a mythological character. He was a prophet who lived in Tibes. In his life he lived as a man and for 7 years as a woman. He was condemned to live as a woman for 7 years because killed to snakes that were trying to reproduce. Then since he lived for 7 years as a woman he was involved in an argument between Jupiter and Juno: Jupiter asked him if was men or women who took more pleasure during sex and he answered women and Juno punished him with blindness (cecità) . Jupiter gave him the gift of prophecy. Another legend says that he was blind because he saw the goddess of knowledge bathing naked. (la dea della conoscenza fare il bagno nuda) So he lived in the past , in the “Waste Land” he lived in the present in London and he has the gift of prophecy so he can see the future. Therefore this character combines past, present and future and both sexes. → he represents mankind. The passage began with the introduction of the “UNREAL CITY” (= the London of the 20th century which is describes as a foggy and sad city ). Then he introduced the “SMYRNA MERCHANT” a character that remains of the past because merchant used to spread knowledge. He's a debase (= degradata) version of the merchant of the past in fact the merchant of today is “UNSHAVEN” instead of having a lot of goods, he just has a pocket full of currents. “C.I.F London” is a commercial term that underlines the importance of materialism, bureaucracy in the present world. The merchant asked him in demotic French ( → this merchant doesn't speak foreigner languages very well like the merchants of the past. ) to luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel followed by a weekend at the Metropole. ( → it isn't clear if it is an invitation to a man or a woman). This first part is rich of commercial terms but then the register changes: he uses a poetic register which contrast whit everyday life. There are two different levels: there is a comparison between the sailor of the past , that came back home at sunset, and the debased version of the sailor → the typist : who goes back home from work, clears what she left around after breakfast because she had to go to her office and then when she's at home she lays out food in tins. This comparison is due to the mythical method used by Eliot. Typist belongs to the contemporary world , she's the product of the 20th century,she's a machine, in fact at line 10 Eliot writes “ WHEN THE HUMAN ENGINE WAITS LIKE A TAXI THROBBING WAITING” → this is what happen to humankind in the 20th century: people had become machines and what they do is very mechanically. Line 18-21: there's the contrast between the poetic register and everyday life as the underwear which she hang out to drive in the morning and probably she has to collect now. “Perilously” is a literally term: the perilous (pericolosa) chapel is the most important place of the Holy Grail and this term used in combination with the underwear make this contrast between past and present in which is evident the fact that the present is debased. The legend of the Holy Gail is compared with an everyday situation: a lady who comes back from work and tidy up her room and collects the underwear she hangouts to dry in the morning. The typist represent the modern inhabitant of London : the emancipated woman who lives on her own but what she can afford is just a studio ( = a flat with only one room). So the divano ( an exotic term used to define a sofa) at night becomes her bed. He was the witness (testimone) of the incest between Oedipus and Jocasta : Oedipus married his mother without knowing that she was his mother and killed his father without knowing he was his father and as a result of this incestuous relationship Thebes suffer from a terrible famine (carestia). Tiresias who was there know what was happening so he was the witness of this love tragedy and now he sees what has happened to London in the modern world. Love doesn't exist anymore because the inhabitants of London in the 20th century have no feeling and no emotions → they are spiritually dead. Love is reduced to sex : this sexual intercourse becomes the objective correlative of the sterility of the human world in the 20th century. In this way he achieve the impersonality of art: by describing this mechanically act he combines the idea that people are incapable of feeling emotions. After the sexual intercourse there is no tenderness , “he goes away and gropes his way finding the stairs unlit” → it shows how debased the present is in comparison with the past. The unlit stairs (le scale non illuminate) therefore suggest poverty and is a reference of what was happening after the first world war. She is indifferent when he goes away, she's almost relieve that it past quickly and then she starts listening a record on the gramophone, which is another symbol of the mother world. The lady represents the emancipated women of the 20th century: she can earn her own living , she is independent but she's not happy at all, she has lost her feelings and emotions. Eliot used a lot of quotations because he believed that artist was the product of what was written before him and so in this way past , present and future are connected in every work of art. There is a quotation taken from Satyricon: It is a novel written by Petronius , whose protagionists are omosexual . This work was written in the I century during the crisis of the Roman empire. One of the protagonist of this novel is Trimalchio. He's parvenue and he boost he has made a lot of money and he also has the courage to miscount authors of the past. In this case Eliot takes a quotation of Trimalchio's dinner party : Trimalchio says that he saw Sybilla , the prophetess in an ampulla . She was old and wrinkled (rugosa) and when young children that were teasing (prendevano in giro) her asked her what she wished for she said she only wish to die. → Eliot introduced this quotation: 1. he established a connection between the crisis of the Roman Empire and the crisis of Waster War Word in the early 20th century 2. he chose Trimalchio, an ex slave , a parveneu, as a reference point because in his word material things were more important that culture and art. He was an ex slave but now he's rich and since he's rich he can do what he wants. 3. In this way he could introduce the theme of homosexuality which is present in the “Waste Land” too, and it is a symbol of the sterility of the modern word. Sybilla , who can sees the future, wants to die → because there's no hope in the future. This quotation was written in Latin (because Satyricon was written in Latin) , Greek ( because Sybillas words are in Greek) and Italian ( because Eliot dedicated “The Wast Land” to Ezra Pound: “ il miglior fabbro”) → by combining different words and tradition he introduced the mythical method. Different languages, different traditions and instead of saying the 19th century is leaving a period of crisis he chooses and objective correlatives in a way: he associated a work of art, which was produced in a period of crisis, with the present. In this way the reader can understand that if he is not able to understand the meaning of “the Waste Land” the reader is like Trimalchio, he has lost interest in art, culture, education because he's due attached to material things. The reader himself has become a mechanical creature as the typist who meets her lover in the third section of “The Waste Land”. So Eliot put together fragments of different cultures and traditions, giving unit to this fragments through the mythical method and through the reference to the legend of the Holy Grail and the right of fertility which according to anthropologist were the bases of each religions and civilization. “the Waste Land” finish in a pessimistic way: as a matter (in effetti) of fact the end of the “Waste Land “ is puzzling (= sconcertante) because it ends with the word “shanty” repeated three times , “shanty”: piece that goes (supera) over all intelligence and it is a word taken from the India Sacred text. In this way Eliot seem to destroy all that he created through his intellect. He has built this huge work of art, he has put together what ordinary people could never imagine and than he end his work with the three words “shanty”. Eliot wanted to show that the modern reader find it impossible to understand what traditions and culture could teach. When he wrote “the Waste Land” he was in a period of crisis : general and personal: • personal due to the mental instability of his wife,which caused him to had a nervous break down • he was also living a period of general crisis because Europe was involved in the WWI. Therefore he was so pessimistic then something change in his life when in 1926 he he became a British citizen and he converted to the Anglican religion. He believed there were some truth that needed to be accepted by faith, probably he need some certainties because he was too intellectual , however after this conversion he publish works which have a religions meaning like “ash Wednesday” and “ Murder in the cathedral” dedicated to the murder of Thomas Becket.