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, another 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! 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 describing his playmates and himself, he contrasts it to the description of the neighborhood. Their shouts "echoed in the silent street" and their "bodies glowed" in the cold air. *After the reader is exposed to the religious situation of the boy and his neighborhood, he is also introduced to the boy's love interest. Here, Joyce again uses light, vision, and beauty to describe the situation. Unlike the dark and gloomy neighborhood that is full of conformists and apathetic worshippers, the romantic part of the story is slightly different. The reader will notice light and heaven-like descriptions by the boy. "Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand."(405) "The light...caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair...lit up the hand upon the railing...and caught the white border of a petticoat, just visible as she stood at ease."(405) However, in this case, they have to do with his romantic life. One interpretation of these descriptions is that the boy is struggling with the fact that he gives her saint-like characteristics, while at the same time being taught in church that wors! hip should exist in contexts of God only and that infatuations are sinful. Coming back to the room where the priest had died, the boy now sees it diffe
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1371
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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