Common Themes in Short Stories

James Joyce, a most prestigious author of many titles, has incorporated into his works many different thoughts, life experiences, as well as themes. Those three things that he used in his works I believe are what made him the awesome author he is today. The main focus of this paper is to inform you of the themes that reoccur in many of his short stories. Some themes that I noticed were: family, frustration, dreams of escape, love infatuations, and finally, sin. Family is a strong theme in Joyce’s writings for in Araby, the young teen finds himself obeying his uncle and asking his permission to go to the festival showing his sense of respect and need for family. In Eveline the family theme can be seen when Eveline stays and takes over the role of head of the household as a teen when her mother dies, because she feels it is her duty and she owed it to her mother. The family theme that I identified can be interpreted many different ways from the context that it was written, but these two short stories were appropriate for this theme. Frustration another prevailing theme in some of Joyce’s work has also been outlined in Araby. Everyday the boy would suffer with an infatuation with a girl he could never have. He even had to deal with his frustration of his self-serving uncle, which he and his aunt were afraid of. The absolute epitome of frustration comes from his uncle when he arrived late at home delaying the one chance of going to Araby. When the boy arrives at Araby to find out that all of the shops are closed his true frustration was reveled on the inside. James Joyce, the man who implied all of his themes was a master of disguise because this theme was an extreme accomplishment to find. The dream of escape comes into play in his stories also. In Araby the boy after arriving at Araby he discovered that everything had already closed. That was his one and only implied chance of escape from his Uncle that was so cruel and uncaring,