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Vidya I am back with the rest of my 'analysis' (for whatever it is worth it (:-)) In these lines again , the boy seems to be having an attitude of 'now' and 'then' "The reading of the card persuaded me that he was dead and I was disturbed to find myself at check. Had he not been dead(then -V ) I would have gone into the little dark room behind the shop to find him sitting in his arm-chair by the fire, nearly smothered in his great-coat.(maybe the great-coat smothering him was the religion ....... according to the boy- V) Perhaps my aunt would have given me a packet of High Toast for him, and this present would have roused him from his stupefied doze. It was always I who emptied the packet into his black snuff-box,(an attitude of I who gave him something - V) for his hands trembled too much to allow him to do this without spilling half the snuff about the floor. Even as he raised his large trembling hand to his nose little clouds of snuff dribbled through his fingers over the front of his coat. It may have been these constant showers of snuff which gave his ancient priestly garments their green faded look(reference again to his priestly garments .... and the faded look it has got due to the 'snuff' .... what he has given to him ? -V) , for the red handkerchief, blackened, as it always was, with the snuff-stains of a week, with which he tried to brush away the fallen grains, was quite inefficacious (his weapon ahainst the snuff grains had no effect -V). " i have this feeling , i might be taking things too far ...... but isn't that precisely what you call as reader's freedom ....(:)))) at one point , his sister (btw , i am still not satisfied with any of the reasons mentioned for the title of the story ......any other idea , please ?!!) says this "and all he kept on saying that before the summer was over he'd go out for a drive one fine day just to see the old house again where we were all born down in Irishtown, and take me and Nannie with him." why ? why has joyce mentioned this eagerness on the priest's part to go to the old house (can it stand for his old state of total belief in the thigns he preached about) ...... to try and see what he had initially seen in it ....... to try to recapture the same belief ...... the way joyce has ended it was apt "`Wide-awake and laughing-like to himself... So then, of course, when they saw that, that made them think that there was something gone wrong with him... ' " The priest's 'realisation' (his acceptance of the truth the boy (Joyce?) had 'seen') is his sister's ( society , church ?) first proof of the fact that something was wrong with him (:-)))
Vidya Maureen , chandra and others It took me some time to get back to the story .... and your questions ...I read the story again and here are the sentences which distinctly made me feel the boy knows something that i , as a reader, had failed to grasp right in the beginning when his uncle starts saying something about the 'queer' condition of the priest , the boy gets impatient with his ramblings : "He began to puff at his pipe, no doubt arranging his opinion in his mind. Tiresome old fool! When we knew him first he used to be rather interesting, talking of faints and worms; but I soon grew tired of him and his endless stories ... " as if he doesn't care for his uncle's opinions about the priest , a feeling which comes naturally if you feel you know more than the person who is trying to speak And then the need he feels to not display his feelings on hearing the death of his teacher "I know I was under observation ....." as if there was something to hide in his feelings The bit about him dreaming about the dead man confessing to him again implied that atleast in the boy's opinion (and in mine , too (:))he knew something intimate , something real about the priest chandra , the bit about 'Umbrellas re-covered' was excellent . but it set me thinking . you had written "when he mentions the name of the drapery: "Umbrellas Re-covered. " Umbrellas stand for the church as an institution, as an institution which covers(shelters) everything. These umbrellas are re-covered. With the death of the priest, whatever would have been uncovered by the priest, has now been re-covered. The priest is dead. The life can go on as it had done all the years. That is why the boy feels freedom when he realizes that the priest had died. Though the boy broke the chalice, he did not realize its significance. This also shows that it is much easier to follow rules than to be free of them." but in the story the actual sentences are "The drapery consisted mainly of children's bootees and umbrellas; and on ordinary days a notice used to hang in the window, saying: Umbrellas Re-covered. No notice was visible now, for the shutters were up" could he have meant on ordinary days (days before the death of the father) it was re-covered ...... i mean the boy knowing very well the implication of breaking the chalice broke it . he decided to question the spirit of church and the priest had been trying to cover it up again and again ..... but after his death there no longer was that notice 'for the shutters were up' (or the curtains down for the priest .....) This , in a way , explains his loathing and liking for 'paralysis' which accorfing to him is delivering him from the burden of being cowed down by his mentor . it gives the boy a freedom to believe in his thoughts . hence the feeling of freedom . It might also explain why the boy dreamt of the priest confessing to him (in his mind , his dying was a sign of defeat ..... the priest confessing that he has lost ...... or am i stretching things too far (:))) |
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