Gender and Feminist Discourse in James Joyce's Fiction

Introduction: Gender and Narrative in Joyce

Gender plays a prominent role in the fiction of James Joyce, especially with regard to the protagonists' identity construction and deconstruction. As Sheldon Brivic puts it, "the action of Joycean narrative shows masculinity being overwhelmed by femininity to open up alternative possibilities" (457). These alternative possibilities are neither gender-bending nor transsexual; rather, they relate to the subversion of social norms concerning sexuality and gender. Central characters in Joycean narratives are not necessarily androgynous, yet they fuse elements of male and female identity and sexuality. Gender ambiguity, in fact, parallels Joyce's unconventional plot structures and narrative formats: "The equivocality of Joyce's plots participates in the same bifurcation that permeates his genders" (Brivic 457). Both genders and plots, however, are more complex than simple bifurcation — they are multiplexes. In both A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, James Joyce unselfconsciously imbues his narrative structures with feminist discourse, subverting patriarchal norms while simultaneously working cleverly within the restrictions of a dominant society.

Male Identification with the Female

One of the methods by which Joyce capitalizes on feminist discourse is by allowing male characters to identify fully with their female counterparts. In some of his work, this identification is taken to such lengths as to suggest a merging of minds and a thorough disintegration of individual consciousness. In Ulysses, for example, "the puzzling connection between Stephen and Bloom can only be resolved at the end by going into Molly's mind" (Brivic 458). By shifting back and forth between genders, or merging them altogether, Joyce commits a powerful act of literary subversion. The author portrays ideas of gendered reality as being particularly problematic — restrictive to spiritual and psychological identity formation and to the formation of meaningful human relationships. "It is important," Brivic notes, "to see our ideas of both genders as pathological formations" and "unhealthy social constructions" (458).

For example, Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man rebels against the confining identity imposed upon him by a Catholic upbringing, in part by exploring the meaning of both male and female sexuality. Catholicism and conventional conservative Irish society are obstacles that must be overcome if the protagonist is to become whole. In Ulysses, Milly serves as a counterpoint to otherwise repressed male characters. In both novels, female characters aid in the liberation of the male. The subversion of Catholicism — and especially of the Catholic vision of the female body and sexuality — is a key theme in Joyce's work. "Joyce's insistence on a suggestive overlap between Catholic and social purist ideologies of 'true manliness' is deeply subversive, since A Portrait pointedly observes how diligently two ostensibly polarized discourses mutually reinforce each other to intensify Stephen's experience of paralysis" (Mullin 83).

Power, Patriarchy, and Satire

Power and patriarchy are central to feminist discourse, and equally central to Joyce's novels. The "perpetual male conflict" in Joyce's work "renders the power system that supports masculinity unbearable, yet femininity is also untenable for the protagonist who starts as a male" (Brivic 458). What Joyce suggests is a reworking of traditional social structures — a concept that was ahead of its time. After all, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses do not take place in an idealized society but in a fairly realistic one in which patriarchy is alive and well. Several sections of both novels appear to uphold patriarchal systems, structures, and stereotypes; yet Joyce exposes these systems precisely in order to subvert them with satire. For example, when Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses remarks, "Fear not them that sell the body but have not power to buy the soul. She is a bad merchant. She buys dear and sells cheap," he is making a pointed comment about the dynamics of prostitution (Book 3).

Catholicism, Sexuality, and Repression

The Catholic Church epitomizes and symbolizes patriarchy in Joyce's work, especially in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Church literally perpetuates outmoded gender roles and norms that restrict both men and women. Stephen Dedalus is as much a product of patriarchal society as any female character in a Joyce novel. "Joyce presents the young Stephen as an intimidated and overwhelmed victim of contemporary attempts to promote 'true manliness,' attempts reinforcing and often elaborating upon the injunctions of the Catholic Church" (Mullin 85). True manliness is an emerging but covert theme in Joyce's narratives, and his deliberate refusal to formally define masculinity or manliness underscores the futility of gender categories altogether.

Sexual self-restraint and artificial notions of sexual purity are also hallmarks of Catholic doctrine, which Joyce expands upon in both novels. The Church's admonishments against sexuality seem uniquely directed at the female body, particularly given biblical portrayals of women from Eve onward. Nuns in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are depicted as going mad, likely due to their sexual repression — one instance being the "mad nun screeching in the nuns' madhouse beyond the wall" (Chapter 5). In Ulysses, Molly liberates herself sexually, and her introspective monologue at the close of the novel is filled with sexual imagery that signals female empowerment. Closing with Molly's sexual awakening allows Joyce to cement feminist themes firmly in the novel.

Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man learns — first by becoming a priest and later by rejecting that calling — that healthy sexual identity and Catholicism cannot coexist. It is through a spiritual love for a female that Dedalus comes to the realization that the Church can never encompass the whole of reality by shunning the body. Unlike the biblical story of Genesis, in which woman proves to be the spiritual downfall of man, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man woman proves to be the spiritual liberation of man. After Dedalus's realization of his own sexual identity, his journey of personal and creative fulfillment can begin in earnest. Yet sexual repression is not solely the domain of the female body. Joyce also pierces through repressed puritan notions related to the male body, including masturbation, which symbolizes control over the body — wresting it from the Church and a repressive society. As Mullin points out, the excessive surveillance of school children in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man reveals the ways in which both masculinity and femininity are domains of social control. It is not just female sexuality that is stigmatized and repressed but also male sexuality. As a potent form of personal power, sexuality is the key to subversion in Joyce's fiction — social, sexual, and political.

Conclusion: Joyce as Feminist Author

Feminist discourse is deliberately subversive in both James Joyce's Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Male characters are central in both novels, and in some cases the female voice is suppressed or expressed only through the perspective of the dominant male. This narrative structure exposes patriarchy and satirizes the power structures embedded in a patriarchal society. Female characters occasionally play roles that, while supportive, are essential for the transformation of character. Sexuality is a major theme in both novels and is presented within the framework of patriarchy. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the Church and related social institutions impose gendered identities and puritanical sexual norms that repress the spiritual, psychological, and social development of both men and women. Joyce frames male and female sexuality within a discourse of oppression and liberation — one that corresponds seamlessly with feminist discourse. Discussions of sexuality and politics commingle with themes of personal development throughout both works. A careful reading of James Joyce, therefore, reveals carefully crafted and enduring feminist themes.

Works Cited

Al-Hamdani, Mohammad H. "Joyce and Feminism." Literary Paritantra (Systems). Vol. 1, Nos. 1 & 2, Basant (Spring) 2009, pp. 104–109.

Brivic, Sheldon. "Gender Dissonance, Hysteria, and History in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, Spring 2002, pp. 457–476.

Johnson, Jeri. "Joyce and Feminism." Chapter 10 in The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce, edited by Derek Attridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004. DOI:10.1017/CCOL0521837103.010.

Mullin, Katherine. "'True Manliness': Policing Masculinity in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." Chapter 3 in James Joyce, Sexuality, and Social Purity. Cambridge University Press.