An Encounter

Dubliners is a collection of many stories featuring characters who walk through the city as they go about their day. Choose another story from the book and discuss the ways in which the narrator’s Dublin is similar and different to the Dublin found in that story.

Vernacular features prominently in all of Joyce’s works. Discuss how the inclusion of terms like miching, skit, and josser added or detracted from the story while you were reading.

The Wild West that the narrator frequently mentions is a hot, desolate place where water is scarce, while Dublin is situated on or along several waterways and sees considerable rainfall throughout the year. How does this contrast play out in the story?

Rivers and bridges are an ever-present part of life in Dublin. Find each point in the story where the narrator is at or crossing a river or bridge and discuss what physical, emotional, or psychological changes are happening at that moment.

Naturalism involves the inclusion of lots of clear details and scientific descriptions. What moments stood out the most as being particularly detached from emotion?

There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding the old man’s actions on the field, but there are smaller instances of ambiguity throughout the story as well. Discuss how reducing the ambiguity in some of those moments might have changed the story.

What do you think the narrator might take away from his “encounter”? How do you think it might impact his desire to go out and experience more of the world in the future?

Social and religious divisions were ever-present in Joyce’s Dublin. How might the story have changed if the boys were from a lower social class? A higher social class? Protestants?