「진흙」에 나타난 아일랜드 핼러윈

Abstract

It is widely believed that Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic pagan festival of Samhain, which celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of winter. Samhain or Halloween was considered the most supernatural time of the year—a time when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld blurred, allowing otherworldly entities to enter into the lands of the living. As implied in To Kill a Mockingbird, the meaning of Halloween has changed over time and has varied from place to place. In “Clay,” James Joyce demonstrates how Irish people at the turn of the century celebrated All Hallow’s Eve, the traditional name for Halloween. Interestingly, Joyce depicts an Irish Halloween in two different ways. He overtly demonstrates how Irish people celebrate the day, playing tricks upon people and enjoying fortune-telling games. On the other hand, Joyce covertly presents a Halloween ghost story that is not easy to identify. Since Maria is living a death in life, she may be seen as a ghost who visits Joe’s home to enforce the obligations of kinship. From Joyce’s way of presenting an Irish Halloween, it is assumed that the meaning of Halloween has significantly changed during Joyce’s time and that the people would like to celebrate life, not death, on Halloween. On top of that, Joyce did not want to highlight Catholic doctrines embodied in a typical Halloween ghost story as he believed that Protestants and Catholics should work together to build an independent Ireland. By conveying universal values rather than Catholic ones, Joyce also liked to appeal to wide readers around the world.