James Joyce's Dubliners is a fearless and frank portrait of his home city, offering his readers a glimpse of a "dear dirty Dublin" and his countrymen "a careful look at themselves". Joyce's collection of stories, which virtually chronicles the maturation stages of human life, depicts Dubliners as powerless individuals who often contemplate escape, but are chained to a paralyzed Dublin. Through "Araby", "Eveline" and "The Boarding House" and the psychological, spiritual and moral individual cripples their characters, we discover that it is society and its social mores that imprison and mold Dubliners into what they should be. . As the "chronological periods of human life" structure of Joyce's collection and the pattern of recurrent paralysis suggests, this social paralysis transcends and encompasses all, deeming escape unlikely. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Joyce's "Araby" is one of his initial short stories within the Dubliners progression and logically begins with a younger protagonist. The nameless young narrator is full of romantic aspirations for a girl he meets, destined to woo her with some splendid gift from the upcoming Araby bazaar. However, through the boy, we quickly experience the definite restrictions placed on him. First we find that the bazaar is a rather gaudy representation of his dream. He overhears conversation between some of the sellers, who are ordinary English women, and the banal nature of their talk reminds the boy that, regardless of the bazaar, he is still in Dublin. "Observing me, the young lady approached me and asked me if I wanted to buy something. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; it seemed that she was speaking to me out of a sense of duty" (23). Furthermore, although the boy arrives too late to buy anything, he calls his stay "useless", and only "to make his interest in his goods seem more real" (23): he cannot afford anything offered. From his modest living conditions and the small amount of money his uncle gives him, we know that their financial situation is difficult. Like his fellow poor Dubliners, his aspirations come at the expense of his modest means. There are no resources, no opportunities for the people of Dublin to materialize their dreams, none go beyond a pleasant mental fantasy. His desire to escape is even symbolized by the title "Arabia", which represents an exotic and adventurous Arabia. However, the young narrator, a prisoner of society-imposed poverty, remains chained to his paralyzed Dublin. Similarly chained in Dublin is the unfortunate "Eveline" character of the same name. At just nineteen, she took on the burden of providing for her family, in the absence of her deceased mother, in an unappreciated and demoralizing environment. On the other hand, she is engaged to a good man with a hopeful future who will take her to Buenos Ayres "where she had a home waiting for her" (26). As a result, she has every reason to leave for both a reason and an optimistic alternative, and she mulls it over and over: "Run! She must run! Frank would have saved her. He would have given her life, maybe even love. But she wanted to live. Why should she be unhappy? She had a right to happiness" (26). At the moment of leaving with her lover, she feels "nausea in her body" (28) and stops. "All the seas of the world collapsed around her heart. It dragged her in: it would have drowned her. She clung to the iron railing with both hands" (28). She is gripped by the psychological paralysis that presides over her conscience and her desires. She is physically paralyzed, unable to move forward, to enter another existence..