Dec 20, 2009

Dubliners | Suggested Essay Topics

The Sisters
1. Discuss the concept of paralysis as it relates to as many characters in the story as applicable.

2. The boy says that the word “paralysis”…”filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work.” If the boy fears the concept of paralysis, how do you interpret his fascination with it?

An Encounter
1. The narrator says that Leo Dillon’s pudgy face “awakened one of my consciences.” How do you interpret the fact that he has more than one conscience?

2. In what ways are the...