Notes on Dubliners

by James Joyce

The Sisters

Characters – narrator
- Mr. Cotter
- aunt & uncle - Jack
- Father Flynn
- Eliza – Father's Flynn wife

 The narrator had a bad feeling about Father Flynn's state (he was paralysed)
 That morning he/she found out that, indeed, Father Flynn died, but tried to not look
too affected
 Mr. Cotter had the idea that youngster may remain with the youngster – he might have
been jealous (?) because Father Flynn seemed to be very close with the children
 little house in Great Britain Street – the narrator visits the place where he/she used to
meet Father Flynn (”I wished to go in an look at him but I had not the courage to
knock”)
 The narrator visited the house of mourning with his/her aunt – he/she somewhat had a
feeling of freedom at the thought of Father Flynn being dead – even though, as his/her
uncle reminded him/her, Father Flynn was the one who thought him a lot of things –
e.g. how to pronounce words in Latin
 The narrator thought that even dead, Father Flynn would be smiling, as it seemed that
the smile was plastered on his face, but he/she was wrong
 Eliza confessed that her husband died peacefully
 ”It was that chalice he broke... That was the beginning of it.”
 Eliza tells a story about how Father Flynn could not be found anywhere by clerk,
Father O'Rourke an another priest – he was found sitting in the dark in his confession-
box, wide-awake and laughing-like softly to himself – an idle chalice on his breast

An Encounter

Characters – narrator
- Joe Dillon & his little brother Leo
- Father Butler
- Mahony

 Joe D. introduced the boys to Wild West – he had a little library of old numbers of
The Union Jack, Pluck and The Halfpenny, Marvel
 The boys would meet up in the siblings' back garden after school for indian battles
 The narrator an Leo were more timid, whilst Joe played fierecely – looking like some
kind of Indian and shouting ”ya! Yaka, yaka!”
 One day, at school, while he was teaching (Roman History) in class, Father Butler
remarked Leo Dillon had an inappropriate (in his view) magazine/book – called ”The
Apache Chief” – he was very angry with it an said that educated boys should not read
such ”rubbish”
 Yearning for adventure => the narrator and Mahony went on an ”adventure”, where
they met a man
 The man approached them with sexual innuendos saying that he is going to whip any
boy who had a girl as sweetheart
 The boys went with fake identities and never told the man that they were not National
School boys
 The narrator an Mahony managed to escape

Araby