Comparing Araby And The Dead, By James Joyce

Just because two things do not look alike on the surface, or at a first glance, does not mean they can not be the same. Things, people, places, stories, etcetera are all more similar than different if you just look closer to the pieces that create them rather than looking at them just as what they are. “Araby” by James Joyce is a short story of a young boy growing into an adolescent as he goes through the common feelings and events that follow experiencing first love. Also by James Joyce, “The Dead” it is about a middle aged man, Gabriel, who is having trouble dealing with the shock of the news of his wife’s first love, his once routine and satisfied life now seems to be falling apart. Despite their incomparable plots, “Araby” and “The Dead”
There would be no reason for each character to feel angry or upset at the conclusion of their story. Neither wants to lose their hope that they will have love in their life forever, but life gives them reason to question if that is possible. In the concluding sentence of “Araby” the young narrator is describing his feelings as he leaves the bazaar; “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” (326). The word derided means to talk about someone as if they have no value, to mock them in simplistic terms, and vanity means someone thinks highly of themselves. So within this statement the adolescent is describing how he is feeling mocked by his own belief that things could have worked out. He thought there was a chance he could impress Mangan’s sister, his love, or even be ‘the one’ for her, but just like the disappointment of his uncle getting him off late and him not getting anything at the bazaar he feels stupid for even trying. Similarly, in “The Dead,” Gabriel is lying in bed beside Gretta and experiencing the same kind of feelings as the young boy; “He thought of how she who lay beside him had locked her heart for so many years that image of her lover’s eyes when he had told her that he did not wish to live.” (172). This quote is talking about the fact that Gretta has already experienced a real strong love before, one that can not
What is love? In “Araby,” this uncertainty is shown as the young boy describes his feelings about Mangan’s sister; “Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.” (323). This boy is describing what it is like to feel desire and attraction to someone, but how can he understand that at his age? The boy is only twelve or thirteen. How can he know what love is when Gabriel can not even figure out if what he feels for Gretta is love or not: “He had never felt like himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love.”(172). If there is no definition of love, then what are the two characters chasing? As well, just like in real life, James Joyce does not give any answers to the questions his stories create which in return resembles how love is complicated and is ultimately hard to