The characters who inhabit Joyce's world in "Dubliners" often have, as Harvard literature professor Fischer said in a lecture, a " limited way” of thinking and understanding themselves and the world. around them. However, such “determinism” does not operate on a broad cultural scale, but acts in a more restricted, more local, more interior and more idiosyncratic way. That is, the forces that govern Joyce's characters are not necessarily cultural or socio-economic in nature, but rather, as Professor Fischer stated, "tiny" and operate on a more intimate level. Regardless, because of these "forces," these stories often tend to be about something that, as Professor Fischer said, doesn't happen, about the "novel of desire and desire." self-disappointment.” Joyce's story "A Painful Case" is a perfect example of a story about something that doesn't happen, and specifically about "the romance of desire." However, it is through such desire and the various "erotic" forms it takes that Joyce's characters are able to transcend the "forces" that govern their lives. In “A Painful Case,” the erotic takes three distinct forms: mental, physical, and what I call “aural.” Although all three play a role in the story, it is only through "aural" eroticism that Joyce's protagonist, Mr. Duffy, comes to experience a moment of "self-transcendence." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Although "aural" eroticism may ultimately serve as a conduit to Duffy's self-transformation, it is initially "mental" eroticism that brings Mr. Duffy and Ms. Sinico together . Joyce writes: “Little by little he (Duffy) mingled his thoughts with hers. He lent her books, provided her with ideas, shared his intellectual life with her. She listened to everything” (110). Joyce uses the word “entangled” to frame the “mental” eroticism he describes. “Tangled” instantly evokes a physical and erotic intertwining of bodies, but Joyce applies it more to “thoughts.” Thoughts, rather than bodies, are “entangled” and their mutual exchange of “ideas” is described as “sexual intercourse.” We are told that “in exchange” for “theories,” “facts” are “given” (111). Joyce, using expressions like "sexual intercourse", "return" and "given", constructs an "erotic" framework into which he inserts "ideas", "facts" and theories", thus reinforcing the idea that the transmission of such “facts” and “theories” must necessarily take on a distinctly erotic dimension. It was only two paragraphs later, after Duffy and Mrs. Since had become better acquainted, that Joyce repeated this sentence almost verbatim, writing: "Little by little, as their thoughts became entangled, they spoke of less distant" (111). Note that whereas previously it was Duffy who "tangled his thoughts" with those of Mrs. Sinico, in the second case a change occurs in the subject, now it is "their thoughts" which become entangled. In the first case, Duffy plays the typically masculine role of the aggressor; he is the one who initiates the "entanglement." passive verb tense Such a change only becomes meaningful when we consider the “physical” forms that eroticism takes in “A Painful Case.” The first and only instance of actual physical contact occurs when Mrs. Sinico loses. control of his emotions and “passionately takes his hand and presses it to his cheek” (112). In this case, it is Ms. Sinico who acts as the aggressor;she is the one who initiates physical intimacy with Duffy. The roles have been reversed; where Duffy played the role of the aggressor by “entangling” his mind with his, it is she who plays the role of the aggressor by entangling her hand with his. But although Duffy and Ms. Sinico share “facts” and “ideas” with each other in a “mental spirit.” "In erotic mode, they are never, through such sharing, "united". And when "physical" eroticism is attempted, the two are effectively separated. It is therefore not through physical or mental "eroticism". , but, as we will see, through “aural” eroticism, the two eventually become closer. The first example of this occurs when Joyce writes: “The dark, discreet room, their isolation, the music that still vibrated. in their ears united them” (111) As with the description of “mental eroticism” (i.e. “tangled thoughts”), Joyce also describes “aural eroticism” in physically erotic terms. It is through sound, in this case “music”, the music which we are told “vibrates”, that the two come together, “unite”. The decor, “a dark and discreet room”. ", the way the music is described, "vibrant" and the use of the phrase "united", all suggest some kind of romantic, physically erotic union. Similarly, Joyce later describes how Duffy "seemed to feel his voice touching his ear..." (118). By describing a voice as “touching” an “ear,” Joyce again suggests a physical act of eroticism. However, unlike the "touch of their hands", which Joyce says Duffy also imagines, the idea of ​​a "voice touching an ear" suggests not only an external "touch", but, because a voice enters the body and soul, also involves images of penetration. A voice, unlike hands, penetrates; committing the most erotic act of all. It is only at the end of the story, however, that we are able to understand not only how "sound" and "voice" function in an "aural erotic" way, but how this eroticism is responsible for the transcendence of Duffy's self, albeit ephemeral. In a passage that Professor Fischer would describe as a Joycean “moment” or “unity,” he writes: “He turned his eyes toward the gray, shining river that meandered toward Dublin. Across the river he saw a freight train leaving Kingsbridge station. , like a worm with a fiery head winding in the darkness, stubbornly and laboriously. He slowly disappeared out of sight; but he still heard in his ears the labored hum of the engine repeating the syllables of his name. had come, the rhythm of the engine hammering his ears. He began to doubt the reality of what his memory had told him. He stopped under a tree and let the rhythm die down. He couldn't feel her near him or in the darkness. his voice touched his ear. He waited a few minutes, listening. He heard nothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: he felt alone" (118). We must first treat Joyce's sexually explicit metaphor of the train as a "worm with a fiery head slithering through the darkness." There are obvious connotations here overtly phallic, and it is this explicitness that is so surprising; Joyce's tone in this case differs considerably from other erotic moments in the story While the "tangled thoughts" or "ear-touching" voices can have. vague erotic undertones, Joyce's metaphor here is so graphic, so explicit and so overt that it can be read as a "cliché?" The idea of ​​a train symbolizing a penis is by no means new. then, in another abrupt change of tone, comes out of his "realism" and tells us that the "engine drone" reiterates "..