How did James Joyce combine realism and symbolism in Dubliners?

In his short-story collection Dubliners, James Joyce combined realism and symbolism to depict the restrictive, often bleak nature of early 20th-century Catholic Dublin society.12

Joyce employed a style he famously termed "scrupulous meanness," utilizing a starkly naturalistic approach to capture the sordidness and sense of paralysis he perceived as constricting his characters' lives. This realism is grounded in the collection's well-defined structure, which moves through the stages of life—from childhood and youth to maturity and public life—to provide a comprehensive view of the city.134

Simultaneously, Joyce integrated a complex network of recurring symbols to elevate these mundane experiences. While the stories are rooted in the everyday, they are imbued with deeper meaning, reflecting his complex relationship with the symbolism and structures of his Catholic upbringing. This synthesis is perhaps most evident in the final story, "The Dead," where Joyce transitions from the collection's pervasive pessimism to a powerful, lyrical tone, using symbolic depth to transform a naturalistic narrative into a work of profound emotional resonance.54163