A Study Of Joyce’s Irish Complex Reflected In Dubliners

As one of the most eminent writers in Ireland, though Joyce spends most of his time in other Western countries, he shows great solicitude for Ireland. At the same time, most of Joyce’s works are closely related to his motherland and vividly represent the social reality in Ireland and people’s life in Dublin. At the same time, Joyce’s early life in Dublin makes a significant contribution to his later creation. Dubliners, his early collection of short stories, which profoundly describe the situation of Dublin and the mental state of the Dubliners. This thesis aims to make an analysis of Joyce’s Irish complex reflected in Dubliners so as to have a more comprehensive understanding of Joyce and his other novels.Since the publication of Dubliners, the critics at home and abroad have applied plenty of approaches to interpret this collection of short stories. Criticism about this collection of short stories focuses on feminism, theme, setting, character, language style and so on. Through the text analysis and cultural study, this thesis primarily talks about Joyce’s Irish complex from four angles, that is, the relationship between Joyce and Ireland, the causes of Joyce’s Irish complex, the connotation of Joyce’s Irish complex and his Irish complex reflected in Dubliners to reveal Joyce’s contradictional feeling to his motherland and his people.The thesis comes to a conclusion that the interpretation of Joyce’s Irish complex reflected in Dubliners offers a new approach to a better understanding of Dubliners. Through analyzing the different ages, various characters and the mental state of characters in Dubliners, Joyce truly realizes that Ireland can truly achieve its freedom and independence unless it realizes reunification of the whole country. In order to realize this kind of reunification, Joyce chooses his unique writing technique to capture the real normal life of the masses repressed by the religion and colonial domination. At the same time, the thesis also concludes that Joyce not only assails Ireland and his people but also reveals his hope for the development of Ireland. Joyce’s contradictional and intricated feeling and his Irish complex have a profound impact on Irish culture.