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Week 3 Discussion
Perform a close reading of one or both of the following works in Schlib and Clifford, Chapter 8:
- “Counterparts” by James Joyce (276–280)
- “Eveline” by James Joyce (291–293)
- How might various critics (postcolonial, feminist, Marxist, psychoanalytical) interpret the following lines from “Counterparts”:
- “The man passed through the crowd, looking on the spectacle generally with proud satisfaction and staring masterfully at the office-girls” (para. 42).
- “His heart swelled with fury and, when he thought of the woman in the big hat who had brushed against him and said Pardon! his fury nearly choked him” (para. 57).
- “What’s for my dinner?” (para. 71).
- Construct an argument about “Eveline” using one or more of the following critical approaches: postcolonial, Marxist, reader-response, and/or feminist.
- Compare both stories, “Counterparts” and “Eveline,” to one another, arguing that Joyce has or has not prepared us for the endings. See “Strategies for Writing a Comparative Paper,” p. 161–167.
Be sure to defend your position with evidence (i.e., quotes) from the text.
Week 3 Discussion Answer
FEMINIST VIEW: Every child deserves to be a child as to every woman deserves to realize the rights of every woman. In the story, Eveline took the role of a parent at an early age when she took the responsibility of a mother to her siblings. It was not her choice but it was the expectation that was placed upon her and she knew she need to take the right choice and care for the younger ones.