The opening story, “The Sisters,” introduces readers to the theme of paralysis, setting the stage for interconnected tales that delve into the complexities of human relationships and the stagnation prevalent in the characters’ lives. This is an unusually nice copy of the author's masterful short story debut, his first major work and second book overall. It actually brought to eyes something unusual from the rest of the stories :) [ See, the incorrigible me! P. McKenna), and continuing with " The Sisters", " An Encounter", " Araby", " Eveline", and " Clay" (all read by Barry McGovern). Ivy Day in the Committee Room, a story about a collection of people canvassing in preparation for the mayoral elections, had lots of elements about Irish nationalism and independence.

His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead. And may be there is also an additional light in this kaleidoscope that makes these sorry elements shine through those inner reflecting mirrors. Of one woman: “She respected her husband in the same way as she respected the General Post Office, as something large, secure and fixed: and though she knew the small number of his talents she appreciated his abstract value as a male. So, when I picked up Dubliners, while still continuing with The Rebel, I was at first annoyed because nothing seemed unusual or interesting there. Where this collection was at its strongest, however, was when it was conveying the pathos of everyday life – this is a phenomenon that is similar across nations, time, and class structure.He loved and hated it, became a bard of Dublin and its inhabitants, a great admirer but its stern critic at the same time. It’s considered one of Joyce’s more accessible works, certainly when compared with “Ulysses” which has a reputation for everyone claiming to have read it, but no one actually does. The first truancy, the first timid amorous sighs and all shades of greyness, whole stretches of the usual humdrum reality.

Indeed, the motif of death frames the entire collection, from the remains of Father Flynn at the very beginning, to the distant loss of Michael Furey at the end, and the eternal snow falling over an ever-darkening universe. He thought that in her eyes he would ascent to an angelical stature; and, as he attached the fervent nature of his companion more and more closely to him, he heard the strange impersonal voice which he recognised as his own, insisting on the soul's incurable loneliness. It’s not so much that he describes the physical city, but his descriptions of its establishments, its social and political atmosphere, and especially its people, is so detailed and complete that the physical picture just "pops up", like in one of those children's pop up books. It’s abou Life which is lived, both consciously and unconsciously, which may be different in living but which in the end culminates into the same.

I realized that author might have wanted to portray life, as actually experienced and lived by the characters, who might in fact had been real people around him. The Sisters – After the priest Father Flynn dies, a young boy who was close to him and his family deals with his death superficially.