AFTER THE RACES (KEY SYMBOLS, CONTEXT)

Question 1

Key characters in “After The Races”

Answer 1

1. Jimmy Doyle (Irish)
2. Charles Segouin (French)
3. Villona (Hungarian)
4. Andre Riviere (French-Canadian)
5. Routh (Englishman)

Question 2

What does the title ‘After The Races’ symbolise

Answer 2

• “Race” = the literal automobile race.
• “Race”= The metaphorical European Race for Empire- specifically how the imperalist powers (France/ Britain) dominated colonial expansion, leaving other European nations to arrive ‘after the race’ left behind in power and wealth.

The title captures the postcolonial position of Ireland —always chasing, never leading.

Question 3

Summarise the plot of ‘After The Races’?

Answer 3

• The narrative follows Jimmy Doyle young Irishman eager to associate with wealthy Europeans). After the automobile race, he joins a group of affluent men partying through the city
• They drink, dine, and eventually gamble on a yacht.
• Jimmy, out of his depth, loses a significant sum but remains intoxicated by the illusion of success. The story ends with him realizing his losses as dawn approaches.

Question 4

What cluster is the story in and why?

Answer 4

• Adolescence (follows a naive protagonist attempting to navigate adult life, whose youthful idealism is exploited and used to outsmart him)
• Themes explored= ideological and emotional immaturity and naive ambition.

Question 5

Is there an epiphany in ‘After The Races’?

Answer 5

• False or failed epiphany (symptomatic of youth)
• His perspective of wealth or that he is one of the group is blinkered and shattered by the end (though he cannot articulate this failure)
• This functions as a critique of aspirational class climbing , as a hollow, performative, degrading endeavour.

Question 6

Ket context- industrialisation, modernisation

Answer 6

• The French were fellow Catholics and traditional Irish allies. Though, often reliable (their support never brought Ireland to independence).
• Ireland saw the emergence of a prosperous business class due to industrialization and global trade.

The Irish cheer for Frances as they were allies and also had no cars of their own to support.

Question 7

Key context- Joyce’s lampooning/ satire

Answer 7

• Joyce lampoons the behaviour of the newly wealthy Irish bourgeoise during the early 20th centuary.
• As well as dramatising Ireland’s lack of technological progress (due to economic limitations)

Question 8

Key context- Hungarian Soverighty

Answer 8

• When the story was published (1904) Hungary attained some degree of autonomy through the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867). Thus, through Villona, Joyce suggests a path for the Irish towards political and economic soverignty.

Question 9

Key conflict in the narrative?

Answer 9

• Class conflict

Question 10

Describe the prose/lexicon in ‘After The Races’

Answer 10

• Prose= Sophisticated, lofty, euphoric, long flowing sentences.
• Elevated Lexicon= Reflect Jimmy’s self-mythologizing.
• However, this elevated diction collapses at the end, as he becomes outgeneralled and emotionally bewildered.

Question 11

Key narrative techniques used in After The Races?

Answer 11

• Limited free-indirect discourse (highlighting his lack of emotional depth/superficiality)
• Narrative irony is used to undercut Jimmy’s perceptions- he feels triumphant, wheras the reader see he’s being patronised, exploited.

This irony is central to Joyce’s critique of aspirational nationalism and shallow cosmopolitanism , and contributes to the modernist tone of disillusionment .

Question 12

Key symbols in ‘After The Race’?

Answer 12

1. Cars
2. The men
3. Cadet Roussell
4. Card game
5. ‘Dark Stupour’
6. ‘Daybreak Gentlemen’