An Economic Study Of James Joyce’s Dubliners

Joyce’s modernist approach to Dubliners paints a picture of Dubliners’ lives from adolescence to middle age,with the economic state of Dubliners being one of the aspects Joyce focuses on,such as priesthoods that can be bought and sold,marriages that are clearly priced,and friendships that are based on profit and culture that can be measured in monetary terms,which are all involved in Dublin’s ecclesiastical,moral,and colonial economies.Although Joyce does not have a grand historical narrative in his novel,the economic activities of Dubliners all reflect the tragic situation of Dublin as the capital of Ireland after it was colonised by the British Empire.This study cuts through the economic lens to reveal Joyce’s critique of British imperialism,Roman Catholic religious imperialism,and Irish depravity,and to explore how the Irish should shape a more positive definition of Irishness.The first chapter discusses the severity of Dublin’s exposure to British colonial religion in the light of religious economy.The three short stories “The Sisters”,“A Mother” and “Grace” are analyzed in relation to historical sources in terms of the involvement of priests in the sale of priesthood,the transformation of the “monastery”and the commercialization of the Church,exemplifying Joyce’s critique of the economic corruption of Irish Catholicism.The second chapter discusses the British economic colonial influence on the Dublin petty bourgeoisie in the light of the colonial economy,combining the text with an economic analysis of the recurring “car” in “After the Races” and “goloshes” and “whiskey” in “The Dead”.This is an economic analysis of the imperial economic colonialism suffered by Ireland and the tragedy of the petty bourgeoisie’s compliance with oppression as a middle force in Dublin.The third chapter discusses the economic profitability of Dubliners in friendship and love based on the theory of monetary value exchange.Through the analysis of “eight years of friendship value exchange” in “A Little Cloud” and “one gold coin value exchange” in “Two Gallants”,it clarifies that Joyce’s The Irish are shown to be human in the face of the exchange of interests,reflecting the confinement of the times and the exploitation of colonialism.Based on the above research,this paper concludes that Joyce’s depiction of the economic problems of Dubliners reveals the religious monetarism of Dublin,the weakness of the petty bourgeoisie,and the degeneracy of the people at the bottom of society,and he intends to advocate and appeal to the bourgeoisie,the working class,and the ordinary people of Ireland that they should rise up and put in efforts for the revival of the nation.