Joyce’s ‘Grace’, which is famously based on the model from The Divine Comedy, also adopts the Book of Job as a framework for artistic expression. Intriguing parallels can also be drawn between ‘Grace’ and St Augustine’s Confessions, ‘Grace’ and the Deeds of Apostles. Seemingly, ‘Grace’ is a tale that deals with alcoholism, but the real focus of the story is religion and its social function in the life of a society in the state of paralysis. The story is rife with allusions and symbols, referring to a variety of sources, primarily theology and the history of the Catholic Church.However,by means of ironic association, the focus is skillfully shifted from theology to the reality of Joyce’s contemporary Dublin, and in the first place, the irony concerns the social life of Dubliners, their manners andtheir way of life. The action of the story is clearly limited by the three venues of a pub, Tom Kernan’s house and the Church, where he is taken as a new convert, to reconfirm his union with the Church.The triadic structure of the story has a symbolic significance; besides The Divine Comedy and The Book of Job, it also refers to the three-partstory of St Paul’s conversion (his sinful fall,a call from heaven andsalvation), thus transforming Tom Kernan intoparodicSt Paul, as well as Job and Dante the character of the poem. Further associative avatars of Kernan can be identified as Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII, who respectivelysignify alcoholism and epilepsy as the symbols of spiritual and physical decay. The Fallis symbolically implied in the beginning of the story, when Kernan falls down from the stairs in the lavatory, and starts his parodic spiritual journey. Theological imagery and ironic references to the history of the Church are widely used in the dialogues of the main characters. Parody picture of the provincial society with its beliefs rooted in folklore Catholicism is revealed through ironic references to the theological concept of Grace. The title of the story refers to the supernatural gift conferred by God on rational beings so that they might be able to attain salvation, but it is a play on words. Besides salvation of an individual through the favour of God, Grace also means elegance in movement or a period of postponement for monies due. It also means elegance in movement and manners. All these meanings have some type of ironic relevance in the story. The ubiquitous theme of alcoholism in the story is intertwined with the hidden references to epilepsy as the ‘falling decease’ or morbus sacer, the name by which it was known in the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This is evident from Tom Kernan’s biting off his tongue when he falls in the lavatory (‘the fallen man’)and from the subsequent discussion of the accident by his friends. After two nights, a group of Mr. Kernan’s friends visit the house in order to convince Mr. Kernan to join them in a Catholic retreat, or cleansing service. The challenge lies in the fact that Mr. Kernan is a former Protestant who converted to Catholicism for his wife and has never warmly accepted his new church. Biting the tongue off clearly brings to mind an injury caused by an epileptic seizure rather than an alcoholic excess. The motif of epilepsy is uncovered in Cunningham’s words when he recalls a man of seventy ‘who had bitten off a piece of his tongue during an epileptic fit and the tongue had filled in again, so that no one could see a trace of the bite.’ Epilepsy is also referred to in the frequently mentioned character of pope Pius IX, who was known for suffering from that illness and for being ‘miraculously cured’ in the womb of the Church, when he took orders as a Catholic priest. Tom Kernan is aware of his illness, although he strives to conceal it. Both ironic motifs of alcoholism and epilepsy (the latter as a ‘falling disease’ or a mock obsession with supernatural powers) penetrate the whole image-structure of the story, forming its main associative background against which the action enfolds. Mr. Power, Mr. Cunningham, and Mr. M’Coy spend their visit at first talking about Mr. Kernan’s accident and his health, all of them taking time to consume alcohol in substantial quantities. The ironic connotation is enhanced by mentioning Pope Leo XIII, who was known as a consumer and an enthusiastic promoter of Vin Mariani, Bordeaux mixed with coca, which was very popular at the period. The final and third section of ‘Grace’ occurs at the Jesuit Church service and focuses on the words of the officiating priest, Father Purdon. Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Kernan, Mr. M’Coy, Mr. Power, and Mr. Fogarty sit near each other in the pews, which are filled with men from all walks of Dublin life, including pawnbrokers and newspaper reporters. From the red-lit pulpit, Father Purdon preaches to them, he claims, as businessman to businessman, as the ‘spiritual accountant’ to the congregation before him. The service, in turn, is a chance for reckoning, and he asks the men to tally up their sins and compare them to their clean or guilty consciences. Both those who accounts balance and those whose show discrepancies will be saved by God’s grace, as long as they strive to rectify their faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...