"Grace" is a short story by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

written toward the end of 1905 and published in his 1914 collection ''

Dubliners ''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were writ ...

.''

Plot summary

The story begins with an unconscious man who has fallen down the stairs in a pub after heavy drinking. A friend of his, Mr. Power, finds him, reveals him to be named Tom Kernan, and takes him home to his wife. Kernan is a salesman who once possessed an easy charm and manner but has since descended into

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

. An injury to his tongue sustained during the fall keeps Kernan in bed. Two days later, he is visited by his friends Power, M’Coy, and Cunningham. The friends have concocted a plan to get Kernan to attend a Catholic retreat with them. The four discuss many matters and finally settle upon religion. The friends mention going to a

confessional A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall in which the priest in some Christian churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Churches, but s ...

retreat at a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

church and invite Kernan along. He does not respond to the idea at first. The conversation shows a superficial understanding of faith, and the friends make many comical errors about the church. The scene shifts to the Jesuit church in Gardiner Street where all are listening to a priest’s sermonizing.

Analysis

Kernan's gin-drinking in the novel " Ulysses" (which is set on 16 June 1904) indicates the failure of his friends' plan. According to

Stanislaus Joyce John Stanislaus Joyce (December 17, 1884 – June 16, 1955) was an Irish teacher, scholar, diarist and writer who lived for many years in Trieste. He was the younger brother of James Joyce. He was generally known as Stanislaus Joyce to distinguis ...

, the three parts of the story recall the tripartite structure of Dante's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

'' ("inferno-purgatorio-paradiso").Thomas J. Rice. ''Joyce, Chaos, and Complexity''. University of Illinois Press, 1997. . Page 34.

References

*Joyce, James. ''Dubliners'' (London: Grant Richards, 1914) *Allen, Walter. "The Short Story in English" (Clarendon Press. Oxford, 1981)

External links

* Short stories by James Joyce 1914 short stories {{1910s-story-stub