James Joyce: Short Stories Literary Elements

James Joyce: Short Stories Literary Elements

Genre

Fiction

Setting and Context

Written in the context of the church and daily life in Ireland

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narrative

Tone and Mood

Somber, pessimistic, disheartening

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist in ‘The Sisters’ is father Flynn and the protagonist in ‘An Encounter’ is the unnamed narrator.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is in the story 'The Sisters' when the priest dies.

Climax

The climax comes in the story 'An Encounter' after the unnamed narrator and his friend called Mahogany, meet an old man who discusses with them the topic of corporal punishment.

Foreshadowing

The Death of Father Flynn in the story ‘The Sisters’ foreshadowed the boy's meeting who used to deliver tobacco to him with the priest's sisters.

Understatement

The discussion about corporal punishment by the older man in the story ‘An Encounter’ with the young boys is unsettling and boring.

Allusions

The story ‘The Sisters’ alludes to the Teachings of the Catholic Church and adventure.

Imagery

The description of the meeting of the young boy with the priest's sisters in the story ‘The Sisters’ depicts sight imagery. Similarly, hearing imagery is depicted in the encounter where the unnamed narrator and his friend discuss various topics before they are interrupted by an older man.

Paradox

The main paradox is in the story ‘The Sisters’ when the priest dies, leaving the boy who looked up to him without proper guidance after that.

Parallelism

N/A

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The Catholic Church in the story ‘The Sisters’ is a metonym referring to the source of Christianity.

Personification

N/A

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