James Joyce's Araby
University of Zurich English Department
HS 2012
Diane Picitto Christa Schönfelder Textual Analysis Course
James Joyce’s Araby: Criticism of Society
Nadja Müller Altwingete 6, 8524 Buch bei Frauenfeld 052 740 42 40
March 2013
Diane Picitto, Christa Schönfelder Rewrite Textual Analysis: Essay HS12 James Joyce’s Araby: Criticism of Society
Nadja Müller 01.03.2013
James Joyce is one of the best known novelists of the modernist period and his 14 Dubliners stories, of which one has the title Araby, are “the epitome of a revolution in the use of fiction” (Head i). Furthermore, Araby belongs to the childhood narratives (Brunsdale 4). Thus, the story is about a boy who is in love with the sister of a friend, and it seems to be his first love. He then wants to buy her a gift on the bazaar, to rejoice her. Finally, the story ends with the boy having an illumination about sexuality, which threatens his illusion about love. This epiphany/illumination happens when the saleswoman, which can be seen as a ‘representative’ for society, lets the boy down and destroys his romantic ideal of love at that moment. This could point towards social criticism, which later on will be discussed. Another indication for social criticism can be found on Joyce’s emphasis on gloominess by connecting it to the adults and their dark souls – the uncle and the marketer –, which probably stand for society as a whole. The gloominess of the text is expressed literally by the repetition of the theme of darkness and by the metaphors of the latter. This is also the reason why the mention of “light”, of which the meaning can be interpreted as the pure soul of a child, is rarely emerging throughout the text. By discussing the text’s epiphany ant its theme of darkness and light, this essay will argue that Joyce’s purpose is to criticize society. The metaphor of light and primarily the mention of darkness define the figurative language in the text, and especially in the last sentence
HS 2012
Diane Picitto Christa Schönfelder Textual Analysis Course
James Joyce’s Araby: Criticism of Society
Nadja Müller Altwingete 6, 8524 Buch bei Frauenfeld 052 740 42 40
March 2013
Diane Picitto, Christa Schönfelder Rewrite Textual Analysis: Essay HS12 James Joyce’s Araby: Criticism of Society
Nadja Müller 01.03.2013
James Joyce is one of the best known novelists of the modernist period and his 14 Dubliners stories, of which one has the title Araby, are “the epitome of a revolution in the use of fiction” (Head i). Furthermore, Araby belongs to the childhood narratives (Brunsdale 4). Thus, the story is about a boy who is in love with the sister of a friend, and it seems to be his first love. He then wants to buy her a gift on the bazaar, to rejoice her. Finally, the story ends with the boy having an illumination about sexuality, which threatens his illusion about love. This epiphany/illumination happens when the saleswoman, which can be seen as a ‘representative’ for society, lets the boy down and destroys his romantic ideal of love at that moment. This could point towards social criticism, which later on will be discussed. Another indication for social criticism can be found on Joyce’s emphasis on gloominess by connecting it to the adults and their dark souls – the uncle and the marketer –, which probably stand for society as a whole. The gloominess of the text is expressed literally by the repetition of the theme of darkness and by the metaphors of the latter. This is also the reason why the mention of “light”, of which the meaning can be interpreted as the pure soul of a child, is rarely emerging throughout the text. By discussing the text’s epiphany ant its theme of darkness and light, this essay will argue that Joyce’s purpose is to criticize society. The metaphor of light and primarily the mention of darkness define the figurative language in the text, and especially in the last sentence