Araby

Araby Literary Critique

In the short story Araby by James Joyce, the narrator, whose name is not disclosed, is struggling to face the reality of the dark, depressing, gloomy society where he lives. This is a coming of age story with it commences with the author giving the readers a sense of the neighbourhood. In the beginning of the story, the audience learns that when dusk falls, the kids go outside to play with each other. Throughout the story, the narrator struggles with having a crush on his friend’s sister. The narrator becomes deeply infatuated with Mangan’s sister, resulting in him being unable to talk to her, but yet dreaming about her and even says her name in prayers. She eventually talks to him and asks him if he’s going to the
By doing this, he aided in the comprehension of the text by making it simple for the reader. The author also used a lot of figurative language such as metaphors, similes and to clarify the text. For example, the narrator says ``I recognized a silence like that which pervades a church after service``. This simile does not only help the reader to recognize that the place was silent, but also helps them realize that it was an eerie silence. The figurative languages gives the audience a chance to feel what the narrator is feeling and it also gives them a chance to ``step into his shoes``. Another literary device which the author commonly used was biblical allusion. With this it allows the reader to take a look into the religious beliefs of the society, which can help to understand why the characters do things a certain way. For example, In the discussion with Mangan`s sister she said that she can`t go to the bazaar because of a retreat that week in her convent. This lets the audience know that the characters are deeply rooted in Christianity. This helps to gain a deeper understanding of the characters. Diction was also used frequently to add detail to the story. Joyce often used this so that the reader could have a feel of the setting. One example is when he wrote about the ``straggling bushes`` and ``wild bushes``. This description causes the town to sound like a depressing,
In Araby, the form allows us to the character development from when his infatuation started up to when he came back to reality. It allowed us to precisely examine the character and also to watch him grow as a person. The carefully chosen words permits the reader to get a sense that he is looking for an escape of reality, an escape from the depressing, lifeless society which he lives in. The narrator uses his infatuation with Mangan`s sister to temporarily escape from that aspect of the world. Therefore when he was asked to go to the Araby, the bazaar with the exotic, unique and magical name, he thought that this would help him to escape from this gloomy environment. But as he stepped off the train onto the ``improvised wooden platform`` one would think that he would realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side, however it was not until he stepped into the eerie bazaar that he realized the he was `` a creature driven and derided by vanity`` . This was in reference to his love of Mangan`s sister and how foolish he followed this dream only because of his love for her. He also realized that it was also a ridiculous to follow this false dream of escaping his environment. This is when one is able to see the conflict of person vs. self and person vs. society. In this quotation the audience is able to view the growth of the narrator. This is when one