Coming Of Age

James Joyce uses the narrator's coming of age in the story through his childhood. His childhood causes him to be blind to the reality of the world around him and he has a positive and happy outlook on everything in the beginning of the story. For example, “The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed” (Gioia & Gwynn, p. 430). This causes the narrator to be ignorant to the harsh realities that surround him such as poverty. For example, “The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes behind the houses, where we ran the gauntlet of the rough tribes from the cottages, to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens …” (Gioia & Gwynn, p. 430).
The drawing board in the story represents the narrator’s coming of age because it represents age and privacy. The drawing board also shows how oblivious he is to the reality of his surroundings. For example, “I went into the back drawing-room… Some distant lamp or lighted window gleamed below me. I was thankful that I could see so little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them…” (Gioia & Gwynn, p. 431). The garden in the story represents the narrator’s coming of age
For example, “At Westland Row Station a crowd of people pressed to the carriage doors; but the porters moved them back, saying that it was a special train for the bazaar. I remained alone in the bare carriage” (Gioia & Gwynn, p. 433). He is maturing from childhood to adulthood because a child would not be going somewhere passed nine o’ clock at night through the city by themselves. For example, “In a few minutes the train drew up beside an improvised wooden platform. I passed out on to the road and saw by the lighted dial of a clock that it was ten minutes to ten” (Gioia & Gwynn, p.