Araby
*Although "Araby" was a very short story, the author James Joyce did an impressive job of discussing very deep issues through his skills in using light, vision, and beauty. He is able to discuss things like religion, infatuation, and inner human feelings simply through descriptive words and what seems like a simple story at the surface. At the surface, "Araby" is a just the story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for a girl he has a crush on. Yet after careful canalization, the short story turns out to be a young man's struggle with religion, his love, and the realization that he is a very shallow person for being infatuated with the physical beauty of a woman. *With the very first line of "Araby," Joyce is being critical of the church during his time. "North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free."(404) Interestingly, James Joyce describes the street in terms of vision. He calls the street and its people "blind." Perhaps they are blinded by religion. Another very critical point here is that he describes the boys being "free" when they leave their Christian school at the end of the day. In this beginning part of the story, ano
*Although James Joyce's "Araby" ended with a somewhat negative or gloomy mood, the message was powerful. The issues of inner vs. physical beauty and religion are very deep issues that need great analysis and interpretation. Even though "Araby" was short, it was able to do justice to these issues by being so open to interpretation. One can look at this story at the surface or much deeper and even still, much is left unsaid. References to light, vision and beauty are extremely powerful, especially when it comes to discussing the issues that James Joyce did in "Araby." ther point to notice the boy's description of his own home. "The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back drawing-room. Air musty, from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms."(404) It seems as though at one point, even the boy had been a victim of his church's beliefs. Later, this same setting of the area where a priest died, is also the location of the boy meeting or dreaming about his lo! also uses very strong language like the word "pervades." When he gets near one open shop and sees a beautiful vase, the reader is again given hope that this is the beautiful gift he will take for his beautiful lover. However, the owner of the shop, the price of the vase, and the overall mood of the trip to Araby all lead to him rejecting the gift. "I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless."(407) As he walks away from the stall, he again makes references to darkness. "I heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the light was out."(408) This statement was especially powerful since the beauty of the bazaar was expected to reinforce his love, yet instead it was dead and the "light was out." He also says, "the upper part of the hall was now completely dark."(408) ve. Furthermore in describing the religious state of his neighbors and his own home, he uses very dark descriptions. There are "dark muddy lanes behind the houses"(404) and "dark dripping gardens"(404) where him and his friends played. These are very contradictory to connecting religion with light. When describ
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Approximate Word count = 1425
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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