Dubliners was published in 1914 and written by James Joyce, born in 1882. When applying feminist theory to the Dubliners stories, it must be kept in mind that although feminism had the his Starting in the 19th century, many of the formative feminist essays were written after the death of James Joyce Joyce probably did not intend to analyze his short stories through a feminist lens and it should also be considered that it is equally likely that women were not of. Joyce 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 a representation of how men understood women in the absence of women present during the. The time period film Dubliners was written, "A Little Cloud", was included in the short story collection and only featured one woman in a speaking role in its entirety. The character in question was Little Chandler's wife, Annie, who only appeared at the very end of the story. However, during their conversation in the middle of the story, Little Chandler and Gallaher talk about women and reveal during this conversation their thoughts about women and their expectations of them. Despite the near absence of women in “The Little Cloud,” the tale remains intriguing and complex for a multitude of reasons, portraying the conflicting ideals of men and how misogyny manifests because of these ideals. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay “A Little Cloud” begins with Little Chandler remembering his friend, Ignatius Gallaher, who left Dublin and found success elsewhere. They plan to meet and initially Little Chandler is excited and ecstatic about his friend and his prosperity. At first, Little Chandler wants to live vicariously through Gallaher and presses him on what life is like outside Dublin. Their conversation soon turns to what women are like in the places Gallaher has visited, who then states that "there is no woman like the Parisienne - for style, for going" (Joyce 72). It is never made clear exactly what going means, but one can only assume that it is colloquialism for a promiscuous or otherwise unscrupulous woman by early 20th century standards, as Little Chandler immediately insists that if the women of Paris they go, then the city is an "immoral city... compared to London or Dublin" (72). A double standard immediately arises as, although Little Chandler expresses disgust at Gallaher's lifestyle, he does not indicate that he believes Gallaher is immoral, although it is understood that if Gallaher knew that Parisienne women are promiscuous, then, by proxy, be also promiscuous. However, Little Chandler does not state that Gallaher is immoral, and in fact, earlier, he states that although he finds Gallaher vulgar, Little Chandler is also envious of Gallaher's life. This fuels conflict in Little Chandler's mind: he is both repelled and attracted to exotic or promiscuous women, which is but one cause of his later resentment against his life, his wife, and his infant son. In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir described the concept of the Eternal Feminine, a standard by which all women are judged but none can reach it because it is impossible to do so. The Eternal Feminine is made up of too many contradictory ideas for one person to realize them all, and in judging women by this standard, de Beauvoir believed that it denies real women the right to live as they are and forces them to live like failures , because The ideaof the Eternal Feminine is never wrong and “is never considered a false entity” (41). Instead, it is women who simply cannot live up to the standards imposed on them by men. In “The Little Cloud” the conflict Little Chandler faces is somewhat similar. At one point in the conversation with Gallaher, the man asks about Little Chandler's marriage, to which he blushes and smiles, revealing that "[he] got married last May twelve months" (Joyce 74). At this point in the story, little Chandler is satisfied with his marriage, his wife and the life he leads. This indicates that, although later in the story Little Chandler resents the mannerisms of his wife, Annie, it would make sense to infer that at some point, Little Chandler, at the very least, tolerated her composure. The situation only begins to change when Little Chandler feels that Gallaher is patronizing him and wishes to "get even somehow, to assert his manhood" (76). This claim manifests itself in a misogynistic way. He begins to desire "exotic" women, finding them exciting solely because of this "exotic" nature. Just as the Eternal Feminine is a standard that can never be met, Little Chandler's standards are similar. He must, at some point, have been attracted to Annie for some reason to marry and start a family with her, so his preference for women changes from a woman like Annie, who is white, prim and proper to the woman in his fantasies . , Jewish, exotic and rich. It is equally likely that if Little Chandler had married a Jewish woman, he would have found her wanting even at the end of “The Little Cloud” because she would not have been a woman like Annie: white, prim and proper. He wanted a woman like Annie and married her, but later he is dissatisfied with her lack of passion and his standards cannot be met: he looked coldly into the eyes of the photograph and they responded coldly. They certainly were cute and the face itself was cute. But he found something petty about it. Why was he so unconscious and gentlemanly? The composure of the eyes irritated him. They rejected and challenged him: there was no passion in them, no ecstasy. He thought about what Gallaher had said about rich Jewish women. Those dark oriental eyes, he thought, how full of passion, of voluptuous desire! … Why had he married the eyes of photography? (78). Furthermore, Little Chandler's idea of ​​a perfect woman damages his relationship with his wife and his newborn son, as he allows his conception of the ideal woman to cause resentment within him when he finds that his wife does not meet his standards. . Little Chandler's resentment grows when he thinks he's stuck in a marriage that has him stuck, but more importantly, married to a woman who isn't exotic. He racializes a Jewish woman's features, especially her eyes, and begins to lust after those features in particular. By creating the image of the perfect Jewish woman based solely on racialized characteristics, Little Chandler sets himself up for disappointment when women in the real world don't conform and look exactly like the image he created in his head. Just as the Eternal Feminine and the concept of perfect femininity can only harm women when they don't achieve it, lusting after and idealizing women of color based on stereotypes and racialized characteristics can only disappoint the women in question when they appear or behave in a different from what I am. he was hired by them. One can only infer that if Little Chandler met a Jewish woman and she was reserved or her features were not what he was imagining, he would be resentful of her too, just as he is of Annie. The standards,.