Faculty of philology department of english philology viktorija mi

1.3.New Values and Insights into the Representation of Modernist Reality 
 
As maintained by the theorist Hendrik Marinus Ruitenbeek (1962:147), the controversial 
movement of Modernism revealed a number of new insights into the portraying of reality and 
changed the traditional scope of values. Indeed, it reversed reality and fiction by raising the 
problematic question of reality. Modernist literary works were mainly based on the experimental 
representation of human consciousness and the detailed exploration of the individual identity. 
Undoubtedly, modernist authors seek to represent the conscious and unconscious mental activities 
and to analyze the complexities of the human psyche. In Berman’s words (1988: 15), “modern 
environments and experiences cut across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and 
nationality, of religion and ideology: in this sense, modernity can be said to unite all mankind. But 
it is a paradoxical unity, a unity of disunity: it pours us all into a maelstrom of perpetual 
disintegration and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and anguish.” Indeed, 
Berman believes that the issues of psychology such as dreams, visions, and memories become the 
central focus of attention in the novels of modernist writers, such as James Joyce, V. Woolf, and 
T.S. Elliot.
For instance, in his masterpiece Dubliners Joyce portrayed the peculiarities of life in the city 
that he loved and hated at the same time. He created a number of stories that all represent a certain 
stagnation of mind: all of the principle characters encounter some type of obstacle that they seem 
more than capable of overcoming but typically, they fail to find the right solution. Rene Wellek and 
Austin Warren (1993:165) argue that the characters of the stories in this book are in a constant 
search for their identity, or their lost inner worlds, they suffer from the feelings of hesitation and 
guilt, low self-esteem, and often make wrong decisions because of inner fear of changes and 
positive progress. Thus, in Dubliners, the reader can see a convincingly realistic depiction of 
society that suffers from inappropriate or debatable moral, cultural, and social boundaries and 
norms. Indeed, the role of the reader here changes as reading Joyce’s fiction is not an easy process 
or comfortable experience; the reader is forced to control, to organize, to interpret, and to make his 
or her own judgements. One of the kernel questions in Dubliners can be foregrounded in the 

---

22 
following words: Why are the characters so depressed and passive? In Wellek and Warren’s view, 
the city Joyce depicts for us in each of Dubliners’ short stories is a place suitable for active 
habitants who want to improve the quality of their life, however, the described people are constantly 
fighting with negative feelings and there is no time or chance for those positive innovations left. 
Stevenson(1998:49) supports Wellek and Warren’s insights and develops them by adding that 
Dubliners is a collection of stories that are “realistic, sometimes satirical, portrayal of drab lives in 
a city Joyce shows suffering from paralysis of will, energy, and imagination”. Here I believe that 
the short analysis of one short story from this collection could serve as evidence supporting the 
critics’ view. For instance, I think that at the first glance, one of the short stories from this book, 
The Dead, focuses around the mind and inward experience of Gabriel Conroy at an ordinary party. 
Nevertheless, beneath its surface, the story subtly illustrates many ways in which realistic characters 
of the story lose their confidence and motivation, their wish to seek for something in their life, and 
become psychologically broken. They have no further expectations, plans, or aims. At the end of 
the story, for instance, after Gabriel’s wife has told him about a romantic and tragic love story from 
her youth, he realizes that their relationship lacks true sincerity and mutual understanding, which 
leads him into disappointment and apathy. I believe that Joyce here portrays the great drama of a 
passive hesitating modern human who prefers reflecting on his own feelings and problems but never 
finds the solution and remains deep in apathy, choosing instead to fixate passing life. Indeed, in my 
opinion, this scene in a piece of literature can be understood as a convincing conclusion to the 
whole semantic nucleus of Dubliners that depicts the overarching depression and paralysis which 
damages modern human’s life, as can be clearly seen from the following short extract from the 
same story The Dead (2006), which reveals everlasting despair and disillusionment in the 
characters’ souls:
(3) One by one, they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other