Araby
The short story "Araby", by James Joyce, expresses the meaning of the word "blind" for an understanding of the story. The blindness, which refers to a dead-end street, revolves around a young boy from North Richmond. Loneliness surrounds this individual in every aspect of his life. The most devastating part about the life of this child is that he does not get himself out of this state of loneliness throughout the story. The story begins with the narrator describing the setting of the story. Immediately the setting of the story puts the boy on a dead-end street, where he is literally trapped and ignored by the other houses on the block. " An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbours in a square ground. The other houses on the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces." In addition, the fact that the former tenant died in one of the rooms of the house does not even help him overcome this loneliness because the sense of death (like the blindness of the street) is present in the house. The wild garden in the back of the house has an apple tree, which I believe represents the boy. The ap
ple tree is located in the middle of the garden, lonely, with a few straggling bushes next to it. The story also tries to alienate him from the rest of society every chance it can get. For example, his trip to Araby is also lonely. "I took my seat in the third class carriage of a deserted train." When the crowd of people were about to enter the train, maybe giving the child a sign of relief, the porter denied them their entrance. Another example how the story tries to The story does not even give the child a name. This probably shows the importance of the boy in relation to others in the story. For example, when he is waiting for his uncle to come home, his uncle forgets all about him. He totally forgets the fact that the boy wants to go to Araby. Also, he is referred to as 'boy' or 'you' many times in the story. Not giving him a name takes away his sense of identity, eventually alienating him from himself. alienate him is during the moments of his waiting for his uncle to come home. "I began to walk up and down the room, clenching my fists." These moments are very intense for him because he is already late, and is realizing the fact that he may not get the gift he eagerly craved.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Richmond Loneliness, James Joyce, , uncle home, story tries alienate, apple tree, waiting uncle home, gift feels, tries alienate, trip araby, dead-end street, story tries, setting story, waiting uncle, goal story,
Approximate Word count = 869
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
