Premium Essay

James Joyce's Araby: A Coming Of Age Tale

Submitted By
Words 1052
Pages 5
Araby: A Coming of Age Tale
In James Joyce’s “Araby” the main character goes through a simple, youthful experience of having a crush on a friend’s older sister. The boy throughout the story describes things that on the surface appear to be simple and uncomplicated. With closer examination we can see that Joyce has designed a reality that a boy might not recognize, but we as mature readers can exam with a finer point. The realities of situations in the story are far more complex than the overall appearance in the story. The aspects of the spirituality, affection, light, and the epiphany contain a boyish narrator’s perspective, that with closer examination reveals a harsher reality.
“Araby’s” perspective on spirituality is simple in appearance, …show more content…
He wished to “annihilate the tedious intervening days” and began to become increasingly distracted with his school work (Joyce 499). The narrator believes these are the days that separate him from completing his noble quest. In actuality the narrator is becoming idle as he becomes increasingly distracted by “worldly concerns” (Barnhisel). His studies became simply “child’s play” and he began to fixate of this girl (Joyce 499). The narrator begins to lust after the girl. He envisions her night and day. His lust is his representation of being distracted from his Roman Catholic faith. Even the word “Araby”, a Middle Eastern word, is another way the Joyce shows how his character is becoming obsessed with worldly things. He is being distracted from his strict …show more content…
The narrator realizes that he has been lusting after Mangan’s sister. With his deep religious background, he would realize that is a sin. He makes this epiphany in a stall where he overhears the conversation among the youth (Barnhisel). He realizes his “stay is useless” not only at the bazaar stall, but also his quest to win the love and affection of Mangan’s sister. His epiphany is the “temporal gloom” that shatters his youth (Coulthard).
Over all the narrator of “Araby” is disillusioned and romantic. He seems the world in a romantic way. The appearances versus reality are very evident to the reader. Over the story he comes to understand that he is driven by his sexuality and lust, but not by his true love and affection of a girl.
Works Cited
Barnhisel, Greg. "An overview of 'Araby,'." Short Stories for Students. Literature Resource Center Detroit: Gale, 2002.Web. 12 Apr. 2014. http://mail.mcm.edu:2058/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420000271&v=2.1&u=txshracd2527&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=017345079d6aa6c7c2cac6a2fbf3296f Coulthard, A.R. "Joyce's 'Araby.' (James Joyce)." The Explicator 52.2 (1994): 97+.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Araby Essay

...Chris Newsome Professor Clough English 101 8 December 2014 "Araby" Analysis James Joyce's "Araby" is the story of a young boy from Dublin. Written in a first person point of view, the same young boy is also the narrator. While his name is never revealed other things about his life are brought to the reader's attention. He is raised on a dead end street named Richmond Street which is described as "blind" (Joyce 572) in the first sentence of the story. Richmond Street is also described as a "quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free" (Joyce 572). Living in a home with his aunt and uncle where a Catholic Priest once lived and died. The boy becomes intrigued by the old books and many other things left in the library by the priest. Soon though he becomes obsessed with his friend Mangan's sister. At first he admires her from a distance and one day while the other boys are playing she speaks to him. Astonished and at a complete loss for words when she finally speaks to him. She asks him if he plans on attending the local bazaar Araby. Desperate to impress her he promises to return with a gift for her from the bazaar. Things do not go as planned however, he spends most of the evening waiting for his Uncle to come home to give him the money he needs. Once his Uncle finally makes it home the bazaar is all but over. Determined to buy the girl a gift he decides to make the journey there anyway. When he arrives everyone is packing up and preparing...

Words: 2037 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Dubliners

...Dubliners Joyce, James Published: 1914 1 About Joyce: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novels Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939), the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Although his adult life was largely spent outside the country, Joyce's fictional universe is firmly rooted in Dublin and provide the settings and much of the subject matter for all his fiction. In particular, his tempestuous early relationship with the Irish Roman Catholic Church is reflected through a similar inner conflict in his recurrent alter ego Stephen Dedalus. As the result of his minute attentiveness to a personal locale and his self-imposed exile and influence throughout Europe, Joyce became simultaneously one of the most cosmopolitan and one of the most local of all the great English language writers. Source: Wikipedia 2 Chapter 1 The Sisters There was no hope for him this time: it was the third stroke. Night after night I had passed the house (it was vacation time) and studied the lighted square of window: and night after night I had found it lighted in the same way, faintly and evenly. If he was dead, I thought, I would see the reflection of candles on the darkened blind, for I knew that two candles...

Words: 68296 - Pages: 274

Premium Essay

Cyrus the Great

...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...

Words: 221284 - Pages: 886