J Alfred Prufrock Essay, Research Paper

Several of Joyce’s stories in Dubliners can read as lamentations. They

are showing the frustrated inability of man to represent meaning by

external means, including written word. When characters in ^Araby^,

and ^A Painful Case^ attempt to represent or signify themselves, other

characters or abstract spiritual entities with or through words, they

not only fail, but end up emotionally ruined. In T.S. Eliots^ poem, ^

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,^ the feeling relates to one

overall issue of emotional investment in representation. The poem

laments, and with this theme and the symbols used, it is signified

enough to be related to Joyce^s short stories in Dubliners.

The name of the story itself and the bazaar-within-the-story,

^Araby^ is the most crucial object of misdirected concentration

and sought signification. The boy explains, ^The symbols of

the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which

my soul luxuriated and cast on eastern enchantment over me.^

Joyce emphasizes the formal properties- ^syllables of the

word^- thus granting ^Araby^ a kind of physical, phonetic

importance beyond its external meaning. The narrator goes on

to describe ^Araby^ as ^the magical name.^ Throughout the

piece, the title-word ^Araby^ displays itself as a guiding

metaphor. The name of the poem by T.S. Eliot, ^The Love Song

of J. Alfred Prufrock^ is a misdirected concentration that is

significant. The title is very ironic. The irony is present

with the reader expecting the theme of love, but clashing that

idea with the boring and dry name of J. Alfred Prufrock. The

poem goes on to describe the journey as one, not of romantic,

heartfelt,! or brotherly love, but of one story of

frustration.

^A Painful Case,^ demonstrates a more complicated signifying

condition. Early in the story, Joyce describes a piece of

literature by emphasizing its formal properties, not its

^content.^ ^In the desk lay a manuscript translation of

Hauptmann^s Michael Kramer, the stage directions of which were

written in a purple, and a little sheaf of papers held together

by a brass pin.^ The conspicuous ^purple ink^ and ^brass pin^

highlight the graphic qualities of Duffy^s volume. Joyce goes

on to describe Duffy^s odd treatment of the manuscript, again

emphasizing actions. ^In these sheets a sentence was inscribes

from time to time and, in an ironical moment, the headline of

an advertisement for Bile Beans had been pasted on the first

sheet. The infrequency of Duffy^s inscription and his ^ironic^

outlook toward the physical text are made clear. Any notion of

his feelings regarding the ^content^ or ^meaning^ of the text

is invisible of implicit. Joyce implies a sort of detachment

fro! m a conventional notion of textual meaning. In ^The Love

Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, many formal properties contrast. ^Let us

go then, you and I/ When the evening is spread out against the sky/

Like a patient etherized upon a table.^ Before you can dig deeper to

understand what Eliot is trying to say, you see image patterns that

bring you somewhere then stop you before you can get there.

In ^A Painful Case^ Duffy demonstrates skepticism and

disillusion with the notion of inter-personal communication

through representation. Duffy is reluctant to ^write out his

thoughts^ because he does not want ^to compete with

phrasemongers, incapable of thinking consecutively for sixty

seconds.^ He doubts that he could convey objective truth to

others. When Mrs. Sinico makes a romantic gesture in response

to his meditations on the incurable loneliness of the soul, he

reacts with disgust. Joyce writes, ^Her interpretation of his

words disillusioned him.^ The character seems unwilling or

unable to represent beliefs in universal truth to anyone. In

the poem, ^The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,^ the writer

shows you assumptions like, ^And time yet for a hundred

indecision^s, / And for a hundred visions and revisions.^

These assumptions stated seem disillusioned and to be

indecisive is to be doubtful. In the end, ^A Painful Case^ is

not painful to be exact, but more empty or ^numb.^ ^The Love

Song of J. Alfred Prufrock at the end gets empty with, ^And

turning toward the window, should say: / That is not it at all/

That is not what I meant, at all^ and also to the very end, ^By

sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown/ Till human

voices wake us, and we drown.^ In ^Araby^ the young boy is at a

loss in the end and alone. This feels empty. T.S. Eliot leads

you from potentiality to deflation and from energy to

impotence. Themes of confusion, loss, frustration, and

lamentation appear through these works. The works are not

overly depressing though, but in fact are beautiful and also

show a strong theme of the ^epiphany.^ In Dubliners, and in T.

S. Eliots^ poem I selected, I was gripped momentarily by a

quiet moment of realization of life. The poem was life and the

short stories in Dubliners showed life situations. I can

probably compare myself through my life to diffe! rent aspects

or situations described by these works.