The Theme Of Lost Love In Araby And The Dead By James Joyce

James Joyce centers a lot of his narratives on the frivolity of childhood. In both of his stories Araby and the Dead, he evolves around the theme of childhood romance and the lost love. Looking at both of the stories, one can inference that both stories are irreparably connected, however, there are some very subtle differences.

When they are talking about their lost loves, the settings are somewhat the same. It was winter time when both lost their childhood loves. The girl in both of the stories were Roman Catholic, as they both state to their childhood loves that they have to go for a retreat in the convent for prayer and religious study. They describe their loves using dark/light imagery. In “Araby”, the young boy describes his childhood love as: “the light from the lamp…caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing.” (324) In “the Dead”, Gabriel also observes his wife standing on the staircase through light and dark imagery, as he

In Araby, the view of childhood romance is very poignant. It goes through the development of his childhood love, and the character’s feelings for her, developing even to the point where he ejaculates, “her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance.” (42) However, in “the Dead”, it leads up to the subject of Gretta’s lost love very subtly. She does not talk about her romantic feelings for the loss of her childhood love until almost the end of the story. This makes the motif of her lost love stronger, as we can see that the death of her love makes a huge void in her life: even though she does not share this with anyone until this point in the story. The difference also lies in the sexes of the characters. In Araby, childhood romance and the loss of love are portrayed through the lens of a young boy, but in The Dead, these motifs are shown by the feelings of a teenage