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When food is more than simply sustaining the body

"The Dead" is not only the most famous story in Dubliners, it is also widely recognized

as one of the finest short stories in the English language. Joyce made this story thrice as lengthy

as the average Dubliners tale within which his array, acute psychological insights, and perfect

control of his art are all distinctly portrayed.

Dublin is a conquered city, the old capitol of a dominated nation. At the time when the

stories of Dubliners is set the political dimension of Dublin is still suffering from the loss of the

nationalist movement's greatest leader, Charles Stewart Parnell. The author does not exactly

write in order to campaign, in fact his judgment on the state of Irish politics and the effects of

colonization on the Irish psyche are both quite dreary.

Colonialism and politics is a recurring theme in Joyces stories. He portrays the political

divisions in Ireland in the conversation between Miss Ivors and Gabriel. Joyce invokes this

theme in The Deadin the scene where Gabriel dances with Miss Ivors; he makes Gabriel face

a barrage of questions about his nonexistent nationalist sympathies, which he fails to answer

appropriately. Failing to compose a significant response, Gabriel blurts out that he is sick of his

own nation, thereby surprising not only Miss Ivors but himself with his demeanor and his loss of

control.

In Dubliners, food serves as a reminder of both the threatening lifelessness of routine and the

joys and difficulties of togetherness In The Deadeven the food on the table evokes death. The

life-giving substance appears at rival ends of the table that is lined with parallel rows of

various dishes, divided in the middle by sentries of fruit from afar three squads of bottles

keeps vigil. The military language transforms a table set for a communal feast into a battlefield,

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overflowing with connotations of danger and death. Food in Dublinersalso gives Joyce a device that

both sustains life yet also symbolizes its restraints to portray his characters and their experiences.

Albert Camuss "The Guest" is in part a condemnation of the French occupation of

Algeria. The story is set on the eve of the Algerian War, which takes place from 1954-1962.

When the French began to colonize Algeria the first aspect they conquered was their mind

through the education system. As we see in the Algerian classroom at the beginning of the story

the blackboard shows four rivers of France which is ironic because in an Algerian classroom

African geography should be taught. But ever since France colonized Algeria they began

instilling their values in to the Algerian classroom.

The condemnation of such a state by the author is apparent as even Balducci, a loyal

worker of the government, acknowledges that he has mistreated the natives: "Mettre une corde

un homme, malgr les annes, on ne s'y habitue pas et mme, oui, on a honte" ("Putting a rope

around a man's neck, in spite of years of doing it, well, I can't get used to it. Yes, I am even

ashamed).

Even though the relationship between Daru and the Arab is the core of complexity in the

story yet the real complexity lies in the relationship between Balducci and the Arab. On the

surface though the relationship seems to be that of a colonizer and colonized yet it is not difficult

to understand that Balducci is more driven by his duty to the nation than any personal gain. And

perhaps he too wanted the Arab freed else after knowing that Daru planned to not give him in

Balducci only rebukes him which is perhaps the surface expression of a patriot but does nothing

to ensure that the Arab does not escape. It is not difficult to understand that the relationship

between Balducci and the Arab could have been a different one had the political dimension no

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interfered. But in a colonial situation the normal development of relationships get arrested. This

is also to be noticed in the novel by Doris Lessing The Old Chief Mshlanga, which views

colonialism through the eyes of one of the colonials, a young white girl. The story focuses on her

encounter with an African chieftain that brings to light the differences between her people and

the natives of land they occupy. The author, uses the narrative to tell the reader that friendship

and even co-existence between the two is unattainable.If we analyze the images, metaphors, and

similes the author uses to tell the story, we understand the reality of colonialism that the author

tires to communicate: that as long as colonialism exists, the divisions it creates and maintains are

impossible to surmount.

In the story The Guestwhile sharing tea becomes sharing stories between the Arab and

Daru it is also the formation of a bond that is intangible, from the very beginning Daru is

predisposed to grant the Arab freedom as he unbinds his hands and gives him tea which finally

leads to Darus giving food to the Arab(thereby assuring sustenance) and leaving him alone in a

deserted place which though apparently suggests freedom yet both the characters know it to be

quite on the contrary.

In both the stories, The Guestand The Old Chief M shlangasetting serves a significant

purpose. In The Guest the desolate mountain plateau, symbolizes Daru's isolation and his

predicament as an Algerian-born Frenchman caught between belligerent factions. The vast

barren landscape (l'immense tendue du haut plateau dsert) may also represent the emotional

void resulting from the author's denunciation of belief in God or belief in anything unitary. In

Lessing novel from the very opening we sense the narrators detachment from Africa and its

people through Lessings detailed description of the landscape. The positioning of the "jutting

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piece of rock" gives us the picture of an "intruder" in the landscape in a field of sparse

vegetation, this rock is thrusting up out of the soil which is an intrusion in the scenery and out of

place. This symbolizes the whites who are intruders, trespassers unwelcome in Africa whose

presence is out place.

Both the stories project a future that is bleak unless changed. Both the authors Camus and

Lessing have a take on freedom and choices and both the victims if not apparently, in a way

choose their own ends. Though the stories end at a point but the concerns dealt with by the

authors surely do not. Lessings novel ends in a dispute between the narrator s father and the old

chief over twenty goats. Significantly although the chiefs tribe gets relocated and looses the

goats, they are the ones who win the narrator s respect. However Camuss story is more

ambiguous than that but it surely does a great job in portraying the implications of colonialism

and its effects on the colonized subjects psyche.

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Works Cited

Bloom, Harold.Explorations and Colonization.New York : Infobase Publishing, 2010

Joyce, James.Dubliners. Edinburg: Riverside Press, 1914