A Painful Case Essay
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Submitted by lovinyall on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: Biographies
- Words: 455
- Pages: 2
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A Painful Case Essay
James Joyce wrote " A Painful Case" for a book of short stories, The Dubliners. The story circles around many different themes, including the impacts of morality. James Joyce uses several forms of symbolism and foreshadowing through objects he describes throughout the story, including the books in Duffy's apartment.
We as readers are first introduced to the concept of Duffy's morality during the first paragraph. Joyce describes the books on the shelf as being arranged meticulously from the smallest at the top, to the largest at the bottom. This is a direct reference to Sigmund Freud's classification of mental activity that discusses the Id, The Ego and the Superego. The book at the top of the shelf is a tiny text called The Maynooth Catechism, which is a biblical book that represents our conscience, the Superego. The book at the bottom is a complete Woodsworth, a large volume of poetry, which represents the violent and sex driven state of mind, the Id. The author is telling us that morality drives James Duffy in every aspect of his life, even in the way he arranges his books, although he may not always be aware of it.
James Joyce hints to the fact that Duffy is a slave to his morals by discussing the new books Duffy has put on his shelf since he cut off his relationship to Emily. During the four years after his companionship to Ms. Sinico ended, Duffy had two new volumes on his bookshelf, "Thus Spake Zarathustra" and "The Gay Science", both written by Neitzsche. The first, Thus Spake Zarathustra, is about Zarathustra, a prophet who wants to share his revelations with the world. He has discovered the notion of the "overman", a person who obeys no laws except the ones that he gives himself. He thinks that an "overman" has not yet existed, but believes that if one is to be bred, he will be free from prejudice and have a strong instinct for freedom. Joyce is telling us through the mentioning of this book that Duffy is the anti-"overman". He is...
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