Epiphany In James Joyce’s Dubliners

James Joyce’s Dubliners employs epiphany to reflect the sudden revelation of characters. The concept of epiphany stems from religion. It refers to the feast celebrating the revelation of Christ to the Magi. In literature, it is firstly adopted by romantic poets such as Byron, William Wordsworth and other poets. However, it is James Joyce who mellows and develops epiphany into a major trait of modern novels. Through illustrating epiphany to reveal the sudden enlightenment of people, Joyce proposes that modern literature should penetrate the psychological world of human beings.The novel displays three typical elements triggering epiphany. Initially, adventure can stimulate characters to gain new insights on social reality and other things. Besides, particular natural scene such as the overwhelming snow at the end of "The Dead" helps Gabriel regain his national consciousness. Furthermore, an important person’s dramatic experience such as death can accelerate one’s progress to the epiphanic moment.The narrative methods to present epiphany are analyzed. Firstly, symbolism is adopted to present characters’epiphany in a symbolic way. For example, light which accompanies characters when they nurture new insights symbolizes hope. Secondly, psychological narration is highlighted to make every slight mental change of characters accessible to readers, thus epiphany can be understood in a coherent psychological unity. Thirdly, epiphany is presented by weakening the plot. Some stories end with an epiphany, which distinguishes itself from the traditional novels which require complete plots.Epiphany can be further elaborated in terms of its content. It can be generally classified into three levels. Taking "The Dead" as the example, on the level of self-identity, Gabriel realizes his true identity as an Irish and overcomes his self-conceit. On the level of Other, epiphany helps Gabriel eradicate his prejudice on Gretta and Furey, leading to his ultimate sympathy with them. On the level of motherland, epiphany contributes to Gabriel’s regained national consciousness, and pushes him to step on the homeward journey.The paper further adopts the perspective of anti-epiphany to highlight epiphany. Through the analyses of reasons for anti-epiphany, the importance of epiphany is underscored under the paralytic city Dublin. Anti-epiphany indicates Joycean style of scrupulous meanness, but never undermine his profound sympathy with his Irish compatriots. Through epiphany, Joyce portrays to us the moral history of Dublin, and leads us to meditate on our own lives.