A movie’s success depends on how protagonists act. The same idea applies to a story; whether a story can attract people’s attention or not all depends on the character. People tell a story with a flat character makes readers easy to lose their attention. The same problem happens to me as well. A flat character is an uncomplicated character who does not have a substantial changes in the story. Compare to the flat character, a more complex character who have a dramatic changes in the story is called round character. Thus, I wanted to figure out how to make a round character by expressing him in a unique point of view.
The short story Araby, which tells a story of a young boy fell in love with a girl who he finally realized he cannot reach, written by James Joyce gives an excellent example on writing characters in a unique way. James Joyce uses a narrator point of view. How does a narrative point of view make character different? The life of James Joyce gives many insights about using of narrative technique, and the influence of the narrative techniques. In the story Araby, James Joyce uses the first person narrative perspective, and the advantage of first person narration including revealing the changing of the narrator’s mind, and giving implication to readers to make a complex personality of the character. Therefore, through these three points, people can create their ideal characters.
James Joyce was an influential Irish writer in the modernist Avant-grade of early 20th century. He was born in Dublin, a middle-class family. Joyce began to receive his education at Clongowes Wood College; however, after a couple years, his father cannot afford his education fees, so Joyce transferred to the Christian Brothers O’Connell School on...
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..."James Joyce’s Dubliners." Stories, British and American. Ed. Jack Barry Ludwig and W. Richard Poirier. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1953. 384-391. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 186. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Nunes, Mark. "Beyond the 'Holy See': Parody and Narrative Assemblage in 'Cyclops'." Twentieth Century Literature 45.2 (1999): 174. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Mandel, Jerome. "The Structure of "Araby"" Modern Language Studies 15.4 (1985): 48-54. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Walzl, Florence L. "Joyce's Dubliners: Substance, Vision, and Art by Warren Beck." Modern Language Journal 55.1 (1971): 40-42. JSTOR. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A & P': a return visit to Araby." Studies in Short Fiction 30.2 (1993): 127+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Dublin to the speaker is nothing more than a constant bother in his life. James Joyce discusses Dublin, Ireland as being a very lack luster and tight nit city as he says the area “stood at the blind end” (Joyce 2). Which isn't the first time James Joyce went into detail regarding Dublin and all its wonders. His narratives are at a constant repetition regarding this neighborhood. He depicts this fulfilling need when he discusses the “Araby” and the desire for Mangan's sister. Through out the narrative the speaker is stuck with the need to see her or hear her, he often conflicts with himself and those around him on whether or not to pursue the
James Joyce wrote the book Dubliners; Joyce expresses many different types of emotions throughout the book. The emotions portray individuals in society, and light and dark. The emotions of individuals are examined throughout the stories by other members in society. The stories that express the ideas are: “The Encounter,” “Eveline”, and “The Dead.” The symbolism of individuals in society expresses many different situations that are happening in the characters lives. The symbolism of light goes along with the idea of feeling happy and enjoying life. The theme of dark shows the individuals fighting, and having a negative outlook on life.
Joyce seems to be trying to get the reader to understand that Dublin is a
John Updike’s “A & P,” Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” and James Joyce’s “Araby”
Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A&P': a return visit to 'Araby.'" Studies in Short Fiction 30, 2 (Spring 1993)
James Joyce began his writing career in 1914 with a series of realistic stories published in a collection called The Dubliners. These short literary pieces are a glimpse into the ‘paralysis’ that those who lived in the turn of the century Ireland and its capital experienced at various points in life (Greenblatt, 2277). Two of the selections, “Araby” and “The Dead” are examples of Joyce’s ability to tell a story with precise details while remaining a detached third person narrator. “Araby” is centered on the main character experiencing an epiphany while “The Dead” is Joyce’s experiment with trying to remain objective. One might assume Joyce had trouble with objectivity when it concerned the setting of Ireland because Dublin would prove to be his only topic. According the editors of the Norton Anthology of Literature, “No writer has ever been more soaked in Dublin, its atmosphere, its history, its topography. He devised ways of expanding his account of the Irish capital, however, so that they became microcosms of human history, geography, and experience.” (Greenblatt, 2277) In both “Araby” and “The Dead” the climax reveals an epiphany of sorts that the main characters experience and each realize his actual position in life and its ultimate permanency.
Garrett, Peter K., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Dubliners. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1968.
Norris, Margot. "Blind Streets And Seeing Houses: Araby's Dim Glass Revisited." Studies In Short Fiction 32.3 (1995): 309. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
The short story “Araby” by James Joyce is told by what seems to be the first person point of view of a boy who lives just north of Dublin. As events unfold the boy struggles with dreams versus reality. From the descriptions of his street and neighbors who live close by, the reader gets an image of what the boy’s life is like. His love interest also plays an important role in his quest from boyhood to manhood. The final trip to the bazaar is what pushes him over the edge into a foreshadowed realization. The reader gets the impression that the narrator is the boy looking back on his epiphany as a matured man. The narrator of “Araby” looses his innocence because of the place he lives, his love interest, and his trip to the bazaar.
James Joyce emerged as a radical new narrative writer in modern times. Joyce conveyed this new writing style through his stylistic devices such as the stream of consciousness, and a complex set of mythic parallels and literary parodies. This mythic parallel is called an epiphany. “The Dead” by Joyce was written as a part of Joyce’s collection called “The Dubliners”. Joyce’s influence behind writing the short story was all around him. The growing nationalist Irish movement around Dublin, Ireland greatly influences Joyce’s inspiration for writing “The Dubliners”. Joyce attempted to create an original portrayal of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The historical context for Joyce’s written work was the tense times before the Irish-English civil war broke out. An examination of his writing style reveals his significance as a modern writer.
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Portable James Joyce. Harry Levin, ed. Penguin. 1976, New York. Ulysses. Vintage, New York. 1961.
Araby is about escaping into the world of fantasy. The narrator is infatuated with his friend's sister; he hides in the shadows, peering secluded from a distance trying to spy her "brown figure"(Joyce 38). She is the light in his fantasy, someone who will lift him out of darkness. I see many parallels to my life as a boy growing up in the inner city of Jersey City. We looked for escape also, a trip uptown to Lincoln Park, or take a train ride to New York City where we would gaze at the beauties on 7th Ave.
Joyce, James, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Viking Press: New York, 1916.
Kenner, Hugh. "Joyce's Portrait -- A Reconsideration". The University of Windsor Review. vol.1, no. 1. Spring, 1965. 1-15. Rpt. in Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. ed. Dennis Poupard. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985. 16:229-234.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. 1916. New York: Penguin,1993.