Araby analysis
ARABY
By James Joyce
James Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant- garde of the early 20th century. One of his major works is the short-story collection Dubliners (1914) which form a naturalistic description of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. “Araby” is one of fifteen short stories that together make up the collection. It is the story of a boy who fell in love with the sister of his friend, but failed to buy her a worthy gift from the Araby bazaar. Through “Araby”, Joyce suggests that all people would experience frustrated desire for love and new experiences. The setting, the atmosphere and the characters in this story are the elements that made “Araby” a successful work. James Joyce focused on describing the dark and quiet scene of the city, this setting created an atmosphere of darkness and hopeless, an idea of people living in a world without ideals and dreams. The setting in the beginning provided a description of the street and the house in which the boy lives. The story of “Araby” took place in a lower-middle class neighborhood of Dublin, Ireland in the early 1990’s. The protagonist lived in North Richmond Street, which was described as a “blind”, “quiet” street and presented the first view of the boy’s world. Most of the story took place in the protagonist’s house. It was an “uninhabited house of the two storeys stood at the blind end”. The former tenant of the house had died in the back-drawing room so the house was “musty”. Moreover, when the winter came and the city was seemingly covered the darkness and coldness, the author used many words to describe it, such as: “dusk”, “violet”, “somber”, “feeble lanterns”, “dark muddy lanes”, “dark dripping garden”, “dark odorous stables”… These descriptions of the surroundings give the reader an awful feeling about the city. It is a fact that ordinary people
By James Joyce
James Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant- garde of the early 20th century. One of his major works is the short-story collection Dubliners (1914) which form a naturalistic description of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. “Araby” is one of fifteen short stories that together make up the collection. It is the story of a boy who fell in love with the sister of his friend, but failed to buy her a worthy gift from the Araby bazaar. Through “Araby”, Joyce suggests that all people would experience frustrated desire for love and new experiences. The setting, the atmosphere and the characters in this story are the elements that made “Araby” a successful work. James Joyce focused on describing the dark and quiet scene of the city, this setting created an atmosphere of darkness and hopeless, an idea of people living in a world without ideals and dreams. The setting in the beginning provided a description of the street and the house in which the boy lives. The story of “Araby” took place in a lower-middle class neighborhood of Dublin, Ireland in the early 1990’s. The protagonist lived in North Richmond Street, which was described as a “blind”, “quiet” street and presented the first view of the boy’s world. Most of the story took place in the protagonist’s house. It was an “uninhabited house of the two storeys stood at the blind end”. The former tenant of the house had died in the back-drawing room so the house was “musty”. Moreover, when the winter came and the city was seemingly covered the darkness and coldness, the author used many words to describe it, such as: “dusk”, “violet”, “somber”, “feeble lanterns”, “dark muddy lanes”, “dark dripping garden”, “dark odorous stables”… These descriptions of the surroundings give the reader an awful feeling about the city. It is a fact that ordinary people
References: 1. http://fiction.eserver.org/short/araby.html 2. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dubliners/section3.rhtml 3. http://lit360.wikispaces.com/Setting+in+Araby 4. http://www.enotes.com/araby-qn/setting 5. http://www.enotes.com/araby/character-analysis