Understanding Depictions of Women When Female Characters Are Nearly Absent From a Story: A Feminist Reading of “The Little Cloud” Anonymous College

Dubliners was published in 1914 and written by James Joyce, who was born in 1882. When applying feminist theory to the Dubliners short stories, one must keep in mind that although feminism had its start in the 19th century, many of the formative feminist essays were written after James Joyce had died. Joyce likely had no intention of his short stories being analyzed through a feminist lens and one should also consider that it is equally likely that women were not Joyce's primary audience. Understanding this, does not detract from a feminist reading of one of James Joyce's stories. In fact, this understanding gives the reader even more to analyze, as it contextualizes one representation of how men understood women in the absence of women present during the time period in which Dubliners was written. "A Little Cloud," was included in the collection of short stories and featured only one woman in a speaking role in its entirety. The character in question was Little Chandler's wife, Annie, who appeared only at the very end of the short story. However, during their conversation in the middle of the short story, Little Chandler and Gallaher talk about women, and reveal during this conversation, their thoughts about women and their...