Discussion Questions for Dubliners


Discussion Questions 3/15


1. Take the first sentence of "Araby" -- North Richmond street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free. -- what do we learn about the story from that one sentence? (NB: "blind" means the same thing in Ireland as "dead-end" means here -- but of course it also means other things).

2. What is the significance of the books -- The Abbot, by Walter Scott, The Devout Communicant and The Memoirs of Vidocq -- in the dead priest's apartment?

3. Why does the main character still go to the bazaar even though he know it is late, probably soon to close, and has (in all likelihood) too little pocket-money to purchase anything appropriate?

4. Joyce always insisted that his stories and novels corresponded in all particulars to actuality -- there was a bazaar called Araby, a street named North Richmond street across from the Christian Brothers' school, and so forth -- to the extent that, though he no longer lived in Ireland, he kept a city directory -- Thom's Dublin Directory -- at his side when writing. Why do you think he did this, and what has been the effect?