An Introspective Case Into James Joyce's Araby
Jason S. Levinson, ASA
Jasonslevinson@gmail.com
A Case Study into James Joyce 's Enigmatic Past:
He elegantly personifies the homes on North Richmond Street as “conscious of decent lives within them” which “gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.” And the street itself “blind” (Joyce Pg. 328). These first few lines of the short fiction tale “Araby” indicate exactly what the story entails. What desperately awaits the reader, in James Joyce’s discovering tale of a young boy who comes to terms with his repressively strict yet illusory living environment, is a true reflection of the Authors own experiences as a Dubliner. The narration is intertwined with thoughts of escapism from a forever mundane existence which lacks form and emotional freedom. Whether the transparent symbolism, which balances this reflection, is strictly of religious reference or of purely psychological creed is not the discussion at hand. In fact, it is merely a coming of age tale with a religious undertone as Joyce never disappoints to tie his perspective on religion and life into his fiction. Araby begins by describing the town of Dublin, Ireland as quite forlorn and despairing; a place that is not necessarily filled with adventure and spontaneity, as through the narrators subjective eyes. “When we met in the street the houses had grown somber…towards it (the sky) the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. (Joyce Pg. 328)” With key words such as “somber” and “feeble” in the first few paragraphs alone, Joyce sets up a mood for the later plot. This description shows that the boy is not too fond of his surroundings in fact, undermining them. Traditionally this fictional plot may be best described as man verse society although, while relating Araby to Joyce we come to discover it may actually be man verses himself. The boy announces “the career of our
Jasonslevinson@gmail.com
A Case Study into James Joyce 's Enigmatic Past:
He elegantly personifies the homes on North Richmond Street as “conscious of decent lives within them” which “gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.” And the street itself “blind” (Joyce Pg. 328). These first few lines of the short fiction tale “Araby” indicate exactly what the story entails. What desperately awaits the reader, in James Joyce’s discovering tale of a young boy who comes to terms with his repressively strict yet illusory living environment, is a true reflection of the Authors own experiences as a Dubliner. The narration is intertwined with thoughts of escapism from a forever mundane existence which lacks form and emotional freedom. Whether the transparent symbolism, which balances this reflection, is strictly of religious reference or of purely psychological creed is not the discussion at hand. In fact, it is merely a coming of age tale with a religious undertone as Joyce never disappoints to tie his perspective on religion and life into his fiction. Araby begins by describing the town of Dublin, Ireland as quite forlorn and despairing; a place that is not necessarily filled with adventure and spontaneity, as through the narrators subjective eyes. “When we met in the street the houses had grown somber…towards it (the sky) the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. (Joyce Pg. 328)” With key words such as “somber” and “feeble” in the first few paragraphs alone, Joyce sets up a mood for the later plot. This description shows that the boy is not too fond of his surroundings in fact, undermining them. Traditionally this fictional plot may be best described as man verse society although, while relating Araby to Joyce we come to discover it may actually be man verses himself. The boy announces “the career of our
Bibliography: Ellmann, Richard. James Joyce. Oxford University Press, 1959, revised edition 1983. ISBN 0-19-503381-7 Coulthard, A.R Hunter, J. Paul. The Norton Anthology of Literature. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2006. (Pg. 391) Biography Short: James Joyce Joyce, James McCourt, John (May 2001). The Years of Bloom: James Joyce in Trieste, 1904-1920. The Lilliput Press. ISBN 1901866718. Solomon, Robert C. (ed.) (2005). Existentialism (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517463-1.