Failure of Love

1573 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Araby by James Joyce's Analysis

There is a theme found time and time again, when almost any literary piece is studied or looked upon: love. Not only love, but the twists and turns in which love takes its course; in most cases, the course to nowhere. The feeling of “failing at love” is one that every person will experience within their lifetime. Modern Literature faces this bitter truth head-on, straying away from the once bountiful “love, passion, and romance” during the Romantic Era, and focusing more on the other side of the glass. This theme of “failure at love” is unquestionably made evident in both James Joyce's “Araby” and David Lawrence's “Odour of Chrysanthemums.” Love, which is supposedly this powerful, unexplainable force, appears in both stories to be as fleeting as a cold experienced during the wintertime. Hence the controversial questions which arise; that is whether or not love, real love that is, is even experienced by the characters in the stories at all; and what could cause a marvelous and mighty thing, such as love, to be distorted into something artificial or eradicated to the point where it dwindles into nothing? Deeper analyzation and comparison of the two writings reveal an answer, dare it be said, a warning. Love, although an incredible and phenomenal experience when genuine, can be imitated very easily . A mask so dexterously created, it can fit any shape or form and appear real when a person is in a state of desperation and yearning. And in cases where it is real, it is fragile as glass. These two stories are perfect examples of how the framework of a person's life, their environment, upbringing - the effect of isolation - can not only create a forgery of love but can also completely destroy it.

“Araby” isn't only a story about a boy'...

... middle of paper ...

...t known love is why it wasn't possible of fulfilling his desire to obtain it. He knew he would never escape the tedious delays of Dublin and attain love. Isolation can also be blamed with the failure of love in “Odour of Chrysanthemums.” Elizabeth is isolated in her home as she waits helplessly for Walter, and she is further isolated when she seeks help in finding him and thus becomes the subject of gossip among the other wives. Although we know nothing of Walter beyond what Elizabeth and her mother-in-law reveal, we can assume that Walter felt isolated in his marriage as well, unknown and unseen by Elizabeth. In death, he has achieved the ultimate isolation, and widowed, Elizabeth is now even further isolated than she was before. Isolation is a silent but devastating virus that chokes the happiness out of relationships and thus resulting in a mass failure of love.

Show More
Related

  • Saving Sourdi Summary

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    Love, partnership and commitment have been the subjects of a multitude of novels, plays poems, movies and great works of art. Throughout these works, the image of love and commitment in love have taken many different forms. Today, we easily recognize symbols of commitment in love to be items such as hearts, wedding bands, roses, etc. However, in literature, especially, more abstract and creative symbols of commitment to a loved one are often present. Additionally, the symbols of devotion that exist in literature do not always involve romantic love as opposed to many movies, painting and sculptures. For example, in the short story, “Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai, symbols of loyalty to a loved one manifest between two sisters. In opposition to symbols of loyalty existing in a platonic manner as it does in “Saving Sourdi,” Peter Meinke’s “The Cranes,” provides symbols of commitment in an amorous relationship.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Wild Berry Blue And James Joyce's Araby

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although Rivka Galchen’s “Wild Berry Blue” and James Joyce’s “Araby” have some differences, there even more similarities. The narrators, their journeys, and their conclusions at the end of their journeys are analogous. Both attempt to win over the object of their affection through a gift, and yet thorough the purchase of that gift they realize their folly in love. As Joyce wrote “Araby” in 1914, yet Galchen did not write “Wild Berry Blue” until nearly 100 years later, Galchen may have written “Wild Berry Blue” as a modern retelling of Joyce’s classic short story.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried and Araby

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    The idea of love is very complex and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Both “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “Araby” by James Joyce portray the lives of two individuals who are in love. “The Things They Carried” is about a young lieutenant named Jimmy Cross during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Cross was incapable of focusing on the war because of his constant thoughts of the girl he loved, Martha. “Araby” is about a boy who is infatuated with a girl he has never had a conversation with. Although both protagonists in “The Things They Carried” and “Araby” eventually realize that the girls they loved didn’t feel the same way about them, Lieutenant Cross tried to move on by destroying everything he had that reminded him of Martha, while the boy in “Araby” was left disappointed.

    Read More

  • Love and Destruction in City of Boones by Cassandra Clare

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling novel City of Bones, once wrote, “To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be the one destroyed”. As an author of a series of young adult books, Clare wishes to send a message to adolescent readers regarding the destruction that young, passionate love can lead to. A similar theme is explored in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where two adolescents from feuding families fall in love with one another. When they first see each other on the night of the Capulet party, they quickly fall in love and are soon married by Romeo’s friend and mentor, Friar Lawrence. Their love, being full of passion in its quick course, faces many trials such as Romeo’s banishment from their hometown of Verona, as well as Juliet being forced to marry Paris, kinsman of the Prince. The affection they feel for one another, being all consuming, often leads them to want to sacrifice everything for each other, including their own lives. Their self-destructive, rushed love ends with their deaths, occurring just a multiple days after they first met. In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, many characters such as Friar Lawrence, Romeo, and Juliet illustrate that young, passionate love is a powerful force that leads to destruction.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Epiphany In James Joyce's Araby

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    In James Joyce’s “Araby” a young boy living in a dark and grave world develops an obsessive adoration with an older girl who lives in his neighborhood and his devotion towards her ultimately forces him to make a promise to her he is incapable of keeping, resulting in a life changing epiphany.

    Read More

  • Unable to Permanently Escape Reality in Paul´s Case by Willa Carter and Araby by James Joyce

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short stories, “Paul’s Case” by Willa Carter and “Araby” by James Joyce, both the protagonists are infatuated with the idea of escaping the conventional routines in their daily lives. Their main goal is to obtain a more romantic, extravagant, glamourized life. For Paul, his dream of a glamorized life lies in distant New York. For the unnamed protagonist in “Araby”, he hopes to find his in Araby with the neighbor girl who he barely knows. They believe that by achieving this escape, they’ll find the pleasure and satisfaction they’ve been hoping for. Both the protagonists dream to find a romance in a world hostile to romance by escaping the reality that they live in.

    Read More

  • The Decline of Chivalry Explored in Araby and A&P

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romantic gestures have been seen as a useful motive to win hearts of women for centuries. However, as society constantly changes, the effectiveness of these chivalrous acts has diminished. In James Joyce’s “Araby” and John Updike’s “A&P”, this theory is explored, both telling the story of a boy whose efforts to impress the girl of their desires fail. As said by Well’s in his critical analysis of these stories, “Both the protagonists have come to realize that romantic gestures—in fact, that the whole chivalric view [sic] --- are, in modern times, counterproductive”. These stories, despite the differences between the two characters, clearly show that the character’s world is changing, with chivalry becoming more obsolete.

    Read More

  • Influences of Love: A Comparison of William Shakespeare and Max Martin

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some may say love is just an emotion while others may say it is a living and breathing creature. Songs and poems have been written about love for hundreds and thousands of years. Love has been around since the beginning of time, whether someone believes in the Big Bang or Adam and Eve. Without love, there wouldn’t be a world like it is known today. But with love, comes pain with it. Both William Shakespeare and Max Martin know and knew this. Both ingenious poets wrote love songs of pain and suffering as well as blossoming, newfound love. The eccentric ideal is both writers were born centuries apart. How could both know that love and pain work hand in hand when they were born 407 years apart? Love must never change then. Love survives and stays its original self through the hundreds and thousands of years it has been thriving. Though centuries apart, William Shakespeare and Max Martin share the same view on love whether i...

    Read More

  • Comparing Updike's A&P and Joyce's Araby

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Updike's A & P and James Joyce's Araby share many of the same literary traits. The primary focus of the two stories revolves around a young man who is compelled to decipher the difference between cruel reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head. That the man does, indeed, discover the difference is what sets him off into emotional collapse. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character, who is also the protagonist, has built up incredible, yet unrealistic, expectations of women, having focused upon one in particular towards which he places all his unrequited affection. The expectation these men hold when finally "face to face with their object of worship" (Wells, 1993, p. 127) is what sends the final and crushing blow of reality: The rejection they suffer is far too great for them to bear.

    Read More

  • Arby

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Joyce's use of religious imagery and religious symbols in "Araby" is compelling. That the story is concerned somehow with religion is obvious, but the particulars are vague, and its message becomes all the more interesting when Joyce begins to mingle romantic attraction with divine love. "Araby" is a story about both wordly love and religious devotion, and its weird mix of symbols and images details the relationship--sometimes peaceful, sometimes tumultuos--between the two. In this essay, I will examine a few key moments in the story and argue that Joyce's narrator is ultimately unable to resolve the differences between them.

    Read More

  • Unrequited Love

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    The study takes into account the numerous negative effects both on the "Would be Lover," and the "Rejector"(p.377). The negative effects on the "Would be Lover" include, Heartbreak, Anger, and Humiliation, whereas the effects on the "Rejector" also include Anger but also Guilt and Scriptlessness. Unrequited love deals with a social relationship between two people many if not all of the eight overarching themes in social psychology are observable in the behavior of the couples.

    Read More

  • A & P Araby Analysis

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Joyce’s “Araby” and the story of “A & P” by John Updike have many characteristic similarities as well as literary traits. These stories focus on a young man trying to learn the difference between the romantic fantasies that play in their mind and the bitterness that reality can bring to a young man. In both stories a young man has built an unrealistic expectation of women only to meet the tragic despair of being rejected by the object of their boyish fantasy. In both of these stories the authors choose to show that life is not always what it may always appear.

    Read More

  • Themes of Alienation and Control in James Joyce's Araby

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although “Araby” is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce’s uses the boy in “Araby” to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.

    Read More

  • Love in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.

    Read More

  • A Lover’s Love: The Emotions and Conflicts of a Love Affair in Boccaccio’s The Decameron and in Virgil’s The Aeneid

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love defies the test of time and endures when all things suggest its demise. Against odds, lovers meet, and in line with fate, lovers fall apart. The levels of love, and the numerous reactions to those relationships, help determine if and when the relationship will end. Though factors tear two people apart, the love does not always die. These ideas appear time and again, such as in Boccaccio’s The Decameron (the fourth day, first tale) or Virgil’s The Aeneid. Ideals of love and admiration also appear in Sappho’s poetry. Love ties people together, both literally and figuratively. These three works show that complexities of opinion and circumstance threaten to tear lovers apart, but love may still endure in the most unlikely ways.

    Read More

More about Failure of Love

Open Document