The Chalice
In the first story of the collection, Eliza, the sister of Rev. James Flynn, tells everyone about the beginning of his madness: "It was that chalice he broke." Well, actually an altar boy that the...
Windows
When you start looking for your own apartment, house, or penthouse, watch out for bad windows. If they're all full of dripping air conditioning units, or so small that the sun has to knock to get i...
Ivy Leaf
In "Ivy Day in the Committee Room," Mr. O'Connor wears an ivy leaf pinned to his jacket in honor of "Ivy Day." Everyone in the room, and on the streets, would have seen it and known something very...
Money
Many of the stories in Dubliners have something to do with money; this might not sound particularly special, because what in the world doesn't have something to do with dollars? Several of these st...
Snow
Among professors and literary critics, one of the most hotly and heavily debated symbols in Dubliners is one of the coldest lightest, fluffiest and happiest things you can imagine: snow. It's...
Music
It doesn't take a drum major to notice all the music in Dubliners. Lots of times, Joyce includes a song so that we get a feeling of the realistic atmosphere around Dublin as well as the emotional e...
Clothing
Take Mr Kernan's silk hat in "Grace" as an example. At the beginning of the story, he almost loses it in the grime of the floor where he falls. In the middle, we learn that he always carries his ha...
Rain
Everyone knows Ireland's rainy, but it seems to rain in a lot more in Dubliners than it should. Almost everybody's parade gets poured on. From the narrator of Araby, who walks out to the bazaar in...