James Joyce's Araby
In James Joyce's short story "Araby," several different micro-cosms are
evident. The story demonstrates adolescence, maturity, and public life in Dublin
at that time. As the reader, you learn how this city has grown to destroy this
young boy's life and hopes, and create the person that he is as a narrator.
In "Araby," the "mature narrator and not the naive boy is the story's
protagonist."(Coulthard) Throughout the story this is easily shown, especially
when it refers to "the hour when the Christian Brothers' school set the boys
free."(Joyce 2112) Although they were freed, they were placed into an "equally
grim world, where not even play brought pleasure."(Coulthard) Joyce demonstrates
this culture by showing a boy's love for a girl throughout the story. This young
boy, is completely mystified by this girl, but at the end, the girl is replaced
by the girl with an "English accent" attending the booth at the bazaar. This
shows the power and persuasiveness that England has at that time over Dublin.
The antagonist in this story, which can easily be determined is the
culture and life in Dublin. This has a great effect on the boy and the rest of
the people from this city. Dublin is referred to as the "center of
paralyses,"(Internet) and "indeed sterile."(Joyce) This plays a huge role in the
forming of this boy's life, where there is no fun. "Araby" is a story "of a
soul-shriveling Irish asceticism, which renders hopes and dreams not only
foolish, but sinful."(Coulthard) In the story, the only thing that the young boy
has to look forward to is buying something for the girl he loves, and in the end
he can't even do that; and by making the final characters English, the story
leaves an impact on the reader about the Dublin society. It shows the antagonist
of the story to be "a repressive Dublin culture."(Coulthard)
Through this allegorical piece, the reader can understand the harsh life
that people are forced to deal with in Dublin society. "The narrator has become
embittered rather than wiser, which was his destiny from the first for desiring
joy in an environment that forbade it."(Coulthard) "Araby" seems to be
reflection on Joyce's own life in a repressive Dublin culture.
Works Cited
Coulthard, A.R.. World Literature in Review. (Internet)
http://www.elibrary.com/id/2525/getdoc.cg...2D000&form=
RL&pubname=explicator&puburl=0
(No Author). Exhibition and inhibition. (Internet) http://
www.elibrary.com/id/2525/getdoc.cg...ame=twentieth_
century_literature&puburl=0
Joyce, James. Works of James Joyce. (Internet) http://www.
Elibrary.com/id/2525/getdoc.cg...13&form=rl&pubname=
monarch_notes&puburl=0
Joyce, James. "Araby." The Harper Collins World Reader.
Ed. Mary Ann Caws and Christopher Prendergast. New
York: Harper Collins, 1994. 2112-2116.
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