James Joyce's Dubliners and Brian Moore's the Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

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This is a similar theme in Moore's text The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne where the protagonist feels the phantom of her aunt constantly watching her. Her desire for comfort and consolation is furthermore evident in the personification of her shoes, which resemble a familiar face and wink up at her. This can be further evidenced in the concluding chapter of the novel, in which Judith puts up a picture of her aunt and the Sacred Heart, which “makes a new place become a home”.

This leads me to the other form of subjugation in the books, religious rule. The Sacred Heart that Judith decorates in her private room, shows that she feels just as intimate with religion as she was to her family. This is furthered through her interior monologue of multiple prayers and remembers ‘novenas’ she has committed herself to. When her faith breaks, Moore reveals how dependant people are on religion as she almost immediately turns to alcohol and depression. Judith Hearne’s faith had held for years of turmoil of loneliness until this point. The recurring pose of Judith dropping her hat shows the paralysisin her way of life. Judith is helped by others with a miniscule task that, even while drunk, she should be able to recognise and resolve alone. In comparison to Joyce’s stories, her problems seem trivial, though enhanced through her depression. This is similar to Father Flynn in ‘The Sisters’, who also receded into toxic state, stained with sulphur and rotting, while pressured to remain as a religious figure to others. His blasphemous act of dropping the chalice shatters his faith, as he expects God to punish him. Throughout Dubliners the paralysis of the characters strikes through different methods. In Dubliners paralysis is revealed via other methods; for example ‘The Dead’ it can be read in a few points of interaction such as Gabriel paralysed by his own self consciousness, only concerned with how other perceive him, without others. Gabriel feeling uncomfortable when opposing someone’s ideas shows he walks himself in circles exactly like Morkan’s Horse.

Finally, this displays to me another form of subjugation explored in both narratives; religious rule, the patriarchal society is enforced via the catholic religion, the constant use of priests as roles of authority, and how they are looked up to shows how both males and religion is a domineering aspect of society. The inferiority of ‘civilian’ social status in comparison to those of the church is relative to higher and lower class gaps. In both Judith Hearne and Dubliners e.g.: Father Flynn in ‘The Sisters’ are both well respected Priests, revealed to live almost luxuriously in comparison to other characters. Father Flynn has some servants and enough resources for his family to live comfortably. In addition, Judith Hearne reveals females of religious organisation, in which the nuns are still servants as nurses to the public, Father Quigley showing as a ‘well respected visit’. Although this is commonly a proud and an altruistic profession, the voluntary and thankless job seems forced upon them to take care of people deemed unfit for society. The reluctance to let Judith into the Earnscliffe Hospital and treatment to patients could further reveal the dependence in society as church attendance could suggest reliance on religious order to keep stability in the mind of patients. The feeling of Religious dominance equalling a higher social status persists within Judith Hearne, as she always visits the O’Neill’s after church, their higher status out of her reach, yet she feels as family with them, almost as if the religious act has purged unworthiness, and in fact Judith abuses her visits for avoid paying for food. The title of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne can be seen as an oxymoron, lonely and passion seen forged together in an odd term. Passion through this sentence can be read in two forms, both her feverous attraction and affection to Mr. Madden or her suffering.

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