DUBLINERS: JAMES JOYCE CHOOSE ONE OF THE TWO PROMTS TO WRITE ABOUT! 1. Childhood and/or old age in one or two of the stories from Dubliners. What does childhood represent to James Joyce? (Avoid the cliché of saying simply that it represents innocence.) At what point does childhood come to an end? How is a child’s view of the world significantly different from an adult’s? Think about: the child’s interaction with the Priest in “The Sisters”; the two boys with the older man in “The Encounter”; the motivations of the child in “Araby”; the sense of impending old age in “The Dead.” Form your own thesis and use quotes/proofs from the book. 2. Formulate a thesis about representations of food in Dubliners. Where does food/drink take a significant role in the stories? What does it represent? Does its significance change over the course of the book as a whole? Go beyond simply identifying where you find food/drink—remember to make a claim about what it symbolizes. Saying that food represents nurturing is relatively obvious. Go beyond the obvious claims! – must include a thesis, use quotes/proof from the book Dubliners by James Joyce (digital copy of the book may be found here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2814/pg2814-images.html)
