Literature and Theory 6_Mohammad Al-Hamdani

104Literary Paritantra (Systems) Vol 1 Nos 1 & 2 Basant (Spring) 2009, 104 - 109 Joyce and Feminism Mohammad H. Al-Hamdani ESL Instructor Yemen-America Language Institute, Yemen Abstract The paper “Joyce and Feminism” is a study of the themes of the feminist reality that Joyce reflects in Dubliners in general and in "Eveline" and "The Boarding House" in particular. The paper explores the use of feminist images in these stories. It provides an interesting view and understanding of Joyce’s use of feminism in his texts. The theory has been explained and a case study of the two stories has been made in the paper. Is his text antifeminist? Or is his text pro-feminist? The paper makes an effort to present a definite and well-supported answer. James Joyce produces texts that are interestingly filled with feminine images. Dubliners contains stories that are highly loaded with feminine images. Examples of such images can be found in "Eveline" and "The Boarding House". The way Joyce depicts females in his stories may be deceptive for those who are reading Joyce for the first time. His depiction may seem anti-feminist because of the sufferings and hardships women in Ireland and women in general go through in his texts. This way of depiction is actually an exposure of the anti-feminist reality that was prevalent before and in as well as after his time. Joyce's texts are universal. The feminist reality highlighted and dealt with in his stories is actually the same reality that most women live all over the world. The hardships Eveline endures can be similar to the ones a German, Italian or any woman in the rest of the world may go through and that is how Joyce's text gains its universality. Thus, his exposure of the feminine reality in Ireland becomes the exposure of the reality of Women all over the world. This paper will be a study of the themes of the feminist reality that Joyce reflects in Dubliners in general and in "Eveline" and "The Boarding House" in particular. This paper argues that James Joyce is a feminist writer. His reflection of this reality does not really mean that he agrees on this reality. His portrayal of the feminist reality is actually his way of treating and curing this social and moral disease that paralyzes the female society. Joyce's way of representing females is honest and it is very informative as well as educating. His audience gets to see the whole image with no impurities. They get to live the cruel reality that women endure which is definitely the way Joyce treats and cures this reality. This paper will highlight the images and aspects of the feminist reality represented in the stories mentioned above. Feminist criticism has come into sight as an outcome of what women suffered through ages especially in patriarchal societies. There are several versions and schools of feminism that are tangled together. As Dobie points out in her Theory into Practice, feminist criticism differs in shape and direction from person to person and from a country to another (Dobie 97). Although feminist criticism may take different forms, it all comes ISSN 0974- 7915 Print, ISSN 0974-7923 Online, http://www.literaryparitantra.org Copyright ©2009 Dayalbagh Educational Institute Showalter uses the other French critic Jacques Lacan's Symbolic Order which is the acceptance of the fathers’ language by females. It is crucial to be a text produced by a female writer that is being examined because most of the male writers have produced texts that help and are in favour of the exploitive reality that females live in. ISSN 0974-7923 Online. An interesting point revealed here is the fact that this category of feminist criticism does not focus much on the quality of the text and pays little attention to the aesthetics of the text. " the common thread uniting these disparate groups is the belief that the social organization has denied equal treatment to all its segments and that literature is a means of revealing and resisting the social order" (Dobie 106). She is deprived from the joyous childhood which a lot of children enjoy. the noted feminist critic uses interesting feminist terms. We can see why such a thing is done. This quotation supports what has been stated earlier. 36).Literary Paritantra (Systems) 105 down to "the assumption that Western culture is fundamentally patriarchal. 106). Another important term that is used by all feminist critics is misogyny which is the negative ideas and images some men have about women. a point that proves Joyce is a feminist writer is the fact that he can be seen as a gynocritic because he highlights feminist subject matters in a very different way than most male writers do. It is crucially important to note that Joyce's texts are very fertile soil for the second category. Moreover. He focuses on females because of their imbalanced relationship with males and the consequences of such a relationship. The second category deals with Studies of Power. It is also an issue that is highlighted by Joyce as will be explained later. The same term can be applied to women who listen and obey blindly their husbands.literaryparitantra. In this situation the male-female relationship is seen very clearly. When she used to play in the field as a little girl. African American and etc. which is the right to play. An interesting thing is that this group looks at other writers' works from minorities like Jews. This relationship can be easily understood when we look at Dobie's description of what this category does. creating an imbalance of power that marginalizes women and their work" (Dobie 97). This is exactly what happens in James Joyce's "Eveline" and "The Boarding House". A gynocritic identifies "feminine subject matters" in literature produced by females (Dobie. It is simply because of the imbalance of power between such minorities and dominant majorities. The Studies of Power category studies the relationship between men and women. She says. His text cannot be approached from the stand point of Studies of Difference and Studies of Female Experience because these two categories require the text examined to be written by female writers. 36). This female character is deprived from basic things that are mostly granted for humans in vast areas of the world. Her gynocriticism is concerned with developing a specific female framework for dealing with works written by females (Abrams 90-1). Joyce's reflection of "the economic and the social exploitation of women" is a condemnation of such exploitive and unjust circumstances surrounding women. That is actually what Joyce does. The father who is a dominant male chases the little girl and deprives her of the simplest right she has.org Copyright ©2009 Dayalbagh Educational Institute . It talks about Eveline exclusively. Joyce does the same thing. Joyce's use of the "blackthorn stick" is definitely a phallic image according to psychoanalytical criticism and it is used to ISSN 0974. There are three important categories of feminist criticism. In "Eveline" the narrator talks about the deprived female. Elaine Showalter. This is seen when the narrator speaks at the beginning of the story of a man from Belfast who buys the field Eveline and her friends used to play on as kids and he builds houses on it (Joyce. Another aspect of the theme of deprivation is seen in her childhood. her dad would come and hunt her out of the field with a "blackthorn stick" (Joyce. James Joyce presents certain female stereotypes in "Eveline" and "The Boarding House". The third and last category focuses on Studies of Female Experience. However.7915 Print. "they attack the economic and the social exploitation of women" (105). http://www. he fights such patriarchal concepts that imprison and mistreat women. The first category is concerned with Studies of Difference. She stays in Dublin where she suffers. too. Joyce sets Mrs Mooney free from her bad husband when she goes to a priest and gets divorce. Thus her freewill of choosing her life partner is taken away from her and that is her deprivation from freewill. Mrs Mooney is known to the audience to be the daughter of a butcher. 38). there is a very strong hint of her marriage being an arranged one. She works in the stores though she does not like it. Joyce's depiction of the character of Eveline is extremely moral. Also. She promised her mother to keep the family together as long she breathes. shoplifting and many more. Although Joyce uses the phrase "she marries". In "Eveline" Joyce lets the audience know that Eveline works in stores and also at home. She further says . She stays to take care of her family and so she keeps the promise she made to her mother. brothers and sisters. In the story the reader is told that Eveline knows a man named Frank who is totally the opposite of her father. http://www. Thus. She suffers a lot of hardships and deprivation as mentioned above but she never goes astray. In addition to that she works at home. The last aspect of deprivation in "Eveline" is the deprivation of a true loving husband. He treats her worse than he used to when her mother was still alive. Not a lot of writers do the same thing Joyce does with his female characters especially in the timeframe he lived in. Moreover. also. She never becomes a bad woman. which is close to "Spring Gardens" (Joyce. The narrator of the story says. It is in the southern half of the globe. This is also another example of the male-female relationship and the dominance males practice over females. Hence. He suggests that Eveline does not like her job which is reflected in her dilemma to leave or not to leave home. ISSN 0974-7923 Online. she marries her father's "foreman" (Joyce. She takes care of her father.7915 Print. She. She thinks of him as her way out of the misery and hardships she undergoes in Dublin. However. Some other male writers could have easily directed such a character as Eveline to prostitution and all kinds of stealing like pocket picking. 61). She does not try to find any indecent job that would make her much easier money. The story is full of details of how Frank and Eveline like each other and how he takes her to The Bohemian Girl which makes her happy (Joyce. A different feminist theme that Joyce raises is of the working women and their suffering. Thus Joyce ameliorates the image of females and even proves that they can be better than men. She stays there to take care of her old father who was not nice to her and also she takes care of her brothers and sisters. Joyce shows his reader the unfolding result of any kind of imbalance that occurs in the male-female relationship. This hint is materialized through her marriage to her father's foreman which implies her father's interference in her marriage. This is the psycho-feminist explanation of the use of the "blackthorn stick". This simply can be understood as her dire need for money or it could be seen as her father pushing to work against her will. Al-Hamdani hunt a female who does not possess it. 61). Mr Mooney treats her badly and insults her in front of the costumers in the butcher's shop. sees Frank as her savior. she does not desert her family but she remains true to them. she is deprived of her mother and it is a common sense that there can be no substitute for a mother's compassion and love. Similarly the theme of deprivation continues to exist in "The Boarding House".106 Mohammad H. In addition to that. 39). Yet another aspect of the deprivation theme is the death of Eveline's mother. at the end of the story she does not get on the boat with him and sail to Buenos Aires. she sees her dream of establishing a new home with Frank .literaryparitantra. She sacrifices her own happiness for the good of her family and this is a very noble depiction of females on James Joyce's part. Argentina which is geographically opposite of Dublin. Another aspect of the deprivation theme in "The Boarding House" is the respect she is deprived of. "her father was not so bad then" (37)."she would not cry many tears at leaving the stores" (37). She believes she has the right to have and enjoy happiness. This is too much work and responsibility as well as ISSN 0974.org Copyright ©2009 Dayalbagh Educational Institute . This can be perceived as Joyce's refusal of the anti-feminist society that Dublin had at that time and he wanted the total opposite of that.The death of her mother made her father worse. whereas Dublin is in the northern half of it. "it was hard work—a hard life"(Joyce. Joyce says. She does not have enough experience to do it. He is thirty four or five which means he takes advantage of the girl. The shouting and disrespect she receives from her husband in the shop in the presence of costumers are the reasons that make her quit working. She opens herself a new business which is the boarding house. Polly gets to work in the boarding house where she is surrounded by young men. food and happiness. This results in Mrs Mooney pulling her daughter out of the office for she does not wish her daughter to face the same difficulties she suffered with her husband. Once more Joyce proves that he is not an anti-feminist by depicting Mrs Mooney as character that is very capable of dealing and handling her responsibilities and problems. Moreover. the question of the reasons that make her do such a thing will come up. Most of the guests are tourists and artistes. Joyce talks in that story about the "disreputable sheriff's man" who comes and tries to speak to his daughter in the office (Joyce. She does not shelter nor feed him after she becomes in a better position than he is (Joyce. 61). Mr Mooney. ISSN 0974. ISSN 0974-7923 Online. It would be extremely hard for a woman to find a job that is good enough to grant her a decent life and that is why they search for marriage. That's how Joyce does females just. This will lead the reader to realize the difficulty women have in finding security. Polly serves as an integrated part of the working woman issue. Mrs Mooney and her daughter Polly serve as other examples of working women that are highlighted by Joyce. Unlike her ex-husband who works for the sheriff and just sits on his butt most of the day waiting to be placed in a job (Joyce. The house makes her good money. She makes it out of her job in the butcher shop and she escapes the miserable marriage as well. Joyce tells his readers about Polly's work and how her father's abuse chased her out of the typist office in a corn-factory. This is what makes him a feminist writer. 63). This is a clear indication that her father who is a drunken head is simply trying to get some money out of his daughter. Many may argue that the girl is the one who traps him into marriage if so then wouldn't still be shameful and immoral for a man in Mr Doran's age to play around with a girl that is half his age and maturity. This is a very strong and effective yet hard to see the way Joyce portrays. The first example of Mrs Mooney working with her husband in their butcher's shop has already been established earlier. Mr Mooney's public actions in the shop are impolite and disrespectful. She is another instance of the disturbance females endure in their working places in "The Boarding House". 62). This means that she finds success in her new lifestyle. He does not make all men miserable but those who are anti-feminist.7915 Print. Joyce shows the reader the tip of the iceberg and the reader would know for sure that the mass of the iceberg that is underwater is a lot bigger.org Copyright ©2009 Dayalbagh Educational Institute . The invisible mass of the iceberg is what Mr Mooney does to his wife at home where no one sees them. This is Joyce's own way of being fair to women and what they have been through. The female character is the plaintiff and the anti-feminist male is the defendant. Her cause and source of her misery in her work is none other but her husband. http://www.literaryparitantra. In this certain situation the iceberg that is visible is Mr Mooney's shouting at his wife in public at the shop. Marriage is the easiest way to get a secured life and it is not necessarily a bad thing like prostitution as already discussed earlier. It reveals a part of his unrivaled genius. He makes the women successful and their enemies miserable. This conclusion is endorsed by Joyce's use of the word "disreputable".Literary Paritantra (Systems) 107 pressure for any human being to handle but still Joyce portrays Eveline as a character that is up for such challenges. In addition to that it would be really hard for a nineteen year old girl to trap guy into marriage. It is as if Joyce is the judge and his text is the court house. The reading process becomes watching the trial and actually being a part of it. She gets divorce against her husband's will and frees herself. Polly who is nineteen years old only gets involved in a relationship with Mr Doran who is far older than she is. Polly is much attached to her mother. The working woman theme. At the end of the story there is a role reversal. He does not fall in the same anti-feminist holes like other great writers do. This is simply what the oedipal attachment is all about. All the stories in his collection Dubliners are reflections of his life. Women have suffered such issues prior to Joyce's time and after his time. However. At this point Joyce reveals parts of the ugly reality in Dublin.7915 Print. Many examples can be drawn from great writers' texts like Shakespeare's. He tries to find a way out of marrying Polly. 66). 65). http://www. His works are not far from his life. ISSN 0974. In some other cases the man would have to pay money for the girl and her mother and get rid of the whole thing (Joyce. social and religious background feel that Joyce perfectly has talked to them and conveyed to them what was going on in his time. Frank Norris and many others. She argues that boys and girls have different concepts of the self. Through them he expressed his dissatisfaction of what was going on around. He says to himself that once he is married he is done for (Joyce. This leads men to deny their relations but women stay relational (Dobie. All the things that happen to Eveline. He may seem to have fallen in some of these holes but he actually does it in a total self-awareness. Darwin and many others. James Joyce’s works and style are extremely unconventional. This notion of such an attachment could explain why Mr. This is an actual representation of how women are considered and treated like sexual products that are to be used once or more and then thrown away. Doran is afraid of marriage. whereas boys leave this role at a certain point in their age. However. Joyce is not just another great writer. She goes on saying that girls have a constant identification role with their mother. This is exactly what Joyce does. He wants to stay free and selective. He has to marry Polly not because he loves her but because he has an affair with her.108 Mohammad H. ISSN 0974-7923 Online. Joyce's "Eveline" and "The Boarding House" set universal feminist examples.org Copyright ©2009 Dayalbagh Educational Institute . He says that in some cases of male-female sexual relationship the male can simply leave and go on with his life. She accepts the marriage and does not deny the relationship she had with Mr Doran. Mooney makes him marry her daughter to keep her honor which he has defiled. This means that he demonstrates the anti-feminist reality he sees but he does not agree with. It is through those works that Joyce communicates eternally with his readers. the hints and implications buried in his works are all unique. Mr Doran is led to marriage against his will.literaryparitantra. This is supported by the fact that readers who come from a different cultural. the structure. She works with her mother. he exposes this harsh reality in which females are not treated fairly and are exploited sexually and economically as well as socially. And once again description and the views of the feminist images expressed in "Eveline" and "The Boarding House" can be strongly Joyce's personal beliefs of his topic. He makes his audience gain the awareness of the antifeminist reality and that is specifically what makes him a pro-feminist writer. Based on all what is stated above. it is as clear as the sun is in the midst of the clear sky that James Joyce is a feminist writer. This actually could be a good point to talk about the oedipal attachment which is referred to by Nancy Chodorow. The narrative. A lot of the deformed descriptions of females by great male writers and philosophers have been mentioned in numerous readings like Aristotle. 101). Mrs Mooney and Polly can happen to any woman in any place not just in Dublin and not just in Joyce's time. the deprivation theme and the male-female imbalance relationship are still common issues dealt with up to this day in several parts of the world. Christopher Marlowe's and even more recent writers like Theodor Dreiser. He has to fix what he has messed up. Mrs. Al-Hamdani Contrastingly. This is all a part of Joyce’s reflections of misogyny. if Mr Doran is the one who tries to exploit her then that is the reflection of how women are treated and looked at by some males. Joyce is not just another great writer. He has been a Fulbright Scholarship holder. Glossary of Literary Terms. YALI (Yemen-America Language Institute) which is sponsored by the U. 1996. NY: Thomson Wardsworth. 6th edition. ISSN 0974-7923 Online. Joyce.” Dubliners. Walton Litz. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Pub. 1996. ISSN 0974. 2001.61-69.” Dubliners. H.. Ed. Robert Scholes and A. “The Boarding House. James.literaryparitantra.S Embassy in Yemen. 61-69. He also wrote articles for Yemen Times. He did his Masters in Ethnic Specific American Literature and Literary Theories in Dec.7915 Print. Robert Scholes and A.. Ann B.Literary Paritantra (Systems) 109 Work Cited Abrams. NY: Penguin. He was also featured in the Graduate College and College of Extended Education’s point of pride at Radford University.S. Theory Into Practice. ---. http://www. Walton Litz.org Copyright ©2009 Dayalbagh Educational Institute . He was featured twice in the Amideast Newsletter for the cultural work which he was doing in U. M. 1993 Dobie. NY: Penguin. Notes on the contributor Mohammad Heffdhallah Al-Hamdani is an an ESL instructor in Yemen’s Premier Language Institute. 06 from Radford University. “Eveline. Ed.