A Review On James Joyce’s A Little Cloud

摘 要：對比與象征手法的運用在《小白云》的創作中得到了充分體現，喬伊斯這種以小見大的表述成功升華了創作主題，從現代主義的角度看待人生的方式亦體現其中。

關鍵詞：對比；象征；現代主義

中圖分類號：G642 文獻標識碼：B 文章編號：1002-7661（2013）25-010-02

A Little Cloud is one of James Joyce‘s first published book Dubliners. A Little Cloud was written in 1906， which portrays the common people‘s humble existence and inescapable failure. Little Chandler is one of these typical common people in Dublin. Brief as it is， a little cloud shows James Joyce‘s talent employment of artistic devices especially contracts and symbolism. Besides this it also shows the ultimate concern over human existence in the modern world of James Joyce as a famous modernist.

1、The Contrast between Illusion and Reality

In A Little Cloud， there‘s a sharp contrast between fantasy and reality. Little chandler is a man full of illusions. After lunch he is indulged in the meeting with his long departed friend Gallaher. Gallaher comes from London which is the symbol of success for little Chandler. To see such a successful friend brings him a sense of seriousness and superiority. For the first time in his life he is so self-confident. He thought Dublin is not a place for success and his soul revolted against the dull inelegance of Capel Street.

He wants to be a famous poet and every step brings him near success. He thinks he is still young –thirty two years old. And he thinks that the English critics would recognize him as one of the Celtic school. Besides he tries heard to make his name more Irish looking. He hopes Gallaher would be able to get his poems published in some London paper.

But what‘s the reality？ His friend was not as successful as he thinks. Gallaher‘s success is not the same kind of success in Chandler‘s mind. Chandler asks whether Paris is beautiful but Gallaher tells him Paris in more of a place of gaiety， excitement. Chandler looks for a spiritual and poetic life while Gallaher seeks in physical and secular life. Chandler wishes his friend to find his love earlier but Chandler wants to marry money.

He regards Gallaher as his friend and invites him to have an evening with his family which was refused just because the later was going to have card-party with another young man. The in timid friend in his mind in fact is not a friend at all. His entire dream related with this friend is just illusion which is an insult to him. In addition to this， Chandler is also a day-dreamer in his everyday life， as he often turns from his tiresome writing to gaze out of the office window thinking his useless struggle against fortune.

2、The Contract between Chandler and Gallaher

The character of Gallaher is used to make contrast with Chandler. Gallaher is a successful man. Everyone can tell that from his traveled air， his well-cut tweed suit， and fearless accent. Gallaher‘s heart is in the right place. Contracted with Gallaher， Chandler is always become flushed. His frame is fragile； his voice is quite and his manners are refined. In the dark street， a sound of low fugitive laughter made him tremble like a leaf. Gallaher is a brave， successful， brilliant figure on the London press while Chandler is a shabby tiresome office clerk struggling for life with unpaid furniture.

He had never been in Corless‘s and felt nervous when he got near it in which place the two friends would meet. He halted before the door in indecision. The light and noise of the bar held him at the doorways for a few moments and his sight was confused by the shining of many red and green wine-glasses. He felt the people were observing him curiously but in fact no one pays attention to him. It is just because he felt ashamed to get the waiters spoke French and German. However Gallaher seems like a usual customer of the place and behaved quite freely just like the master of all things.

Chandler was superior to Gallaher both in birth and education， but he is a failure both in life and career. Chandler used to lecture Gallaher on Sunday mornings but he is a failure in the end. He had never traveled except to the Isle of Man which is not far from his homeland but Gallaher had known not only of London， pairs but also other places and seen a lot.

Chandler wishes his friend to find his true love soon but Gallaher tells him strictly that he wants to marry money. In Chandler‘s opinion a symbol of success like Paris must be very beautiful but Gallaher thinks it is a place of excitement. Chandler regards Pairs an immoral city which Gallaher appreciates the Parisienne for style， for go. Chandler remembers his unpaid furniture while Gallaher once drank freely and borrow money from all sides which is one of the reasons that he went to London. Gallaher is an adventurer， hedonist showing no respects for morals while Chandler is a refined timid common nobody but still an honest man. Joyce make sharp contrast between them but neither of them is the ideal person in his eyes.

3、The Use of Symbolism

James Joyce uses a little cloud as the title， but in the whole passage we can not see there is anything related to cloud. He uses a little cloud as a symbol. A little cloud comes from the Bible. In Hou Weirui‘s opinion a little cloud is the prelude of the rain. To a drained life， no matter how little the cloud is， it still signifies the timely rain of life， which is the hope and life （Li 45）. In fact it is really a good explanation of the short novel. Fist， a little cloud stands for the hope of the hero Chandler. Secondly， a little cloud has the feature of rootless， uncertainty， which is just a picture of Chandler. He is not sure about life and career just like a little cloud never knows where to go.

Thirdly， in his article Li Zhen considers that a little is a smoke ring （Li 78）. Li Zhen argues that in the whole passage there is no cloud appears except Gallaher puffed at his cigar. This is an interesting point， but smoke rings are still something that easily disappears. In the passage it should be little chandler‘s illusion of a successful poet disappears

Fourthly， cloud also mean something cause nervousness and unhappiness. Clearly we can see， in the end， the meeting makes chandler unhappy and disillusioned， which is just a little cloud.

4、Ultimate Concern of James Joyce as a Modernist

James Joyce portrays little chandler in this way：His hands were white and small， his frame was fragile； he took the greatest care of his fair silken hair and moustache and used perfume discreetly on his handkerchief. Little Chandler‘s characteristic is quite similar with T. S. Eliot‘s J. Alfred Prufrock in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock is also a timid middle-aged man. We did not know whether Alfred leaves his spot or not but one thing was for sure that he lives in imagination. “Knowing everything， but able to do nothing， he lives in an area of life and death； and caught between the two worlds， he belongs to neither” （Chang 177）. Both of them discover lives‘ emptiness and useless of efforts. The two texts all develop a theme of frustration and disillusionment. The tittles of the poem are ironic in the two texts too. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ， the love song is in fact about absence of love （Chang177）， while in a little cloud--- symbol of rain， hope and rebirth is actually a disillusionment.

Besides this there is also another similarity between the two texts. In Joyce‘s A Little Cloud， he describes the circumstance as “the glow of a late autumn sunset covered the grass plots and walls.It cast a shower of kindly golden dust in the untidy nurses and decrepit old men”. This image reminds us of the sky is just like a patient on operation in the hospital in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

From the two points we can see the two texts have surprisingly similarities. Besides this the most same thing between the two is that they all have the feature of Modernism： a sense of loss， gloom， rootless and disillusionment.

5、Conclusion

From the above analysis， we can see Joyce uses contrasts， symbolism to change the common trivial everyday life in to literary monuments. From a little cloud， we can see the life and social scenes at that time. And people like little Chandler and Gallaher still exist today. It was just this writing skill from smallness to bigness， from minuteness to essence that made the gloriousness and eternity of James Joyce.

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