Sybolism in Araby
James Joyce 's short story "Araby" is filled with symbolic images of religion, materialism and paralysis. The story opens and closes with a strong sense of symbolism that is continually alluded to throughout the story. As seen in the body, the images are shaped by the narrator 's experience of the Church and the stagnation of Dublin. The protagonist is fiercely determined to invest in someone within this Church the holiness he feels should be the natural state of all within it, but a succession of disillusioning experiences awakens him to see that his determination is in vain. At the climax of the story, when he realizes that his dreams of holiness and love are inconsistent with the actual world, his anger and anguish are directed, not toward the Church, but toward himself as "a creature driven by vanity" (p33). By analyzing "Araby 's" potent use of symbolism and the inherent meanings divulged through this method of discourse, we are able to see how the symbols are actualized to provide the reader with insight and depth into a story, whilst also encapsulating the narrator 's experience. It is this experience that drives the narrative 's momentum forward to the epiphany.
The story begins with a description of North Richmond Street, an enclosed street within Dublin. "Being blind" (p27) the street represents Dublin 's paralysis, the personification of the houses gazing "at one another with brown imperturbable faces" (p27) symbolizing the complacency with which the street has come to accept its stagnation. The elements of the church are described as oppressive with the boys needing to be set free ' from the quiet Christian Brothers ' School. This opening paragraph discloses the ineffectuality of the Church through the portrait painted. This seeming lack of religious adherence is a contextualization of 20th century Ireland. The religious undertones of North Richmond Street are symbolically alluded to in the composition of the houses which mirror the construct of pews
The story begins with a description of North Richmond Street, an enclosed street within Dublin. "Being blind" (p27) the street represents Dublin 's paralysis, the personification of the houses gazing "at one another with brown imperturbable faces" (p27) symbolizing the complacency with which the street has come to accept its stagnation. The elements of the church are described as oppressive with the boys needing to be set free ' from the quiet Christian Brothers ' School. This opening paragraph discloses the ineffectuality of the Church through the portrait painted. This seeming lack of religious adherence is a contextualization of 20th century Ireland. The religious undertones of North Richmond Street are symbolically alluded to in the composition of the houses which mirror the construct of pews
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