Compare and Contrasting James Joyce "The Boarding House" and Kelvin Christopher James "Ties"

Essay by acura32aiCollege, UndergraduateC+, November 2007

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We live in a world where corruption and sin surrounds us. It is sometimes not distinctly seen, and it is something we wish did not exist in our hearts. Existing in a society where the perception of being a righteous person is better than actually being that righteous person, we become morally paralyzed. Consequently, our world view becomes the source of our goals and desires, and as such it shapes our behavior and values. Every person has a different way of perceiving and interpreting the world, the people that inhabit it, and the events that transpire with in it. With an understanding of that philosophy, it can help us bring order and perception to a wide range of events that we will encounter through our history. In “The Boarding House” by James Joyce and “Ties” by Kelvin Christopher James, the two authors express the moral paralysis of society by defining the influence of family, validity of religion, and the impact of love.

Family values have changed into a faithless process. A transformation has taken place within households altering the “traditional” family ways. Indicating that society’s pressures will dominate a family’s influence, Joyce says, “She had all the weight of social opinion on her side” (Joyce 3.) Using Mrs. Mooney, who cared more about her business and societies outlook than her daughters well being. The classic family system has become almost obsolete. However, James uses Othello Jones as a character who is constantly admiring his older brother. “Stone was my man” (Joyce 483), he influenced Jones’s way of life while in an environment that was highly hostile. James believed that family connection will not entirely be obstructed by society. Were guidance from our own flesh and blood is the deciding factor in our ultimate choices. The family process might...