Araby

Araby – James Joyce

The descriptive and vivid personification of the houses on North Richmond Street are one of the striking details that help the setting come to life. Which means, that the setting is so intensely present in the story that it is almost another participant in the action. The house on a “blind street”(61) represents the way many things of life were not seen by the protagonist.As well as the “dark muddy lanes”(61) and the “dark dripping gardens where odors arose from the ashpits”(61) help set the tone of a hopeless outcome and a gloomy atmosphere. The setting, in this case, makes the reader foreshadow the ambient and the tone that the story will take. The quiet and “blind” street is directly intersecting with the main character of the story. Using this, as a means bywhich the author underscores the importance of time/space in human growth and change. With that said, the way the main character responds or adjusts to the setting can reveal strength or weakness. The boy moves from the darkness to light, from innocence to experience. The main character shows its evolution from the light of youthful hope into the darkness of adult resolution, as he sees himself “asa creature driven and derived by vanity” (64) and is overwhelmed by “anger and anguish” at the point of the climax where he realizes that he was being caught up in a dream.
The way the main character idealizes her as a saint, an angel, as a divine creature, reflects the devoted yet confused adoration he feels towards her. Moreover, involving her name in religious prayers, “O love! O love!” (62)gives his devotion a quasi-religious quality. Often, he also makes reference to objects such as the chalice, which is a striking image that has a strong religious meaning…being used for purification of the soul. This chalice he imagines it as a very important tool, which assists in helping him “…bore his chalice safely through a throng of foes.” (62) He feels a strong attach to religion as hefeels safer, with something to believe in that supports him and helps him get through his biggest enemies. This way, he also found himself repeating her name in strange prayers that he would not even recognize. He feels secure and fulfilled when he is near her “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance”, just as religion should complete people’s soul and fill them with loveand satisfaction.
The boy is not able to share his feelings with anyone because he feels isolated from the external world, in a world of paralysis in which he has entered because of the enchantment of pure love, adoration, and infatuation. He can no longer concentrate on anything else, but just thinks about the girl with an extreme of adoration. Found himself in a situation in which he does noteven know how to reveal her his true feelings, he evidently does not share his feelings to anyone else. This could fall into a stereotypical classification of a growing-up boy who experiences his first love, and does it alone without sharing any kind of feelings with anyone.
The uncle plays the role of a traitor, when he does not show up the day the boy wanted to go to this important thing ofhis, the “Araby” bazaar. Considering the fact that the main character had told him and reminded him at least two times before the day of the event. So the uncle primarily assists in the formation of the “betrayal” as an important motif for this story. Given that the uncle was just another situation/person in which the boy had imposed all his trust, and which failed him too. On the other hand, theuncle serves as a primary introduction to reality. Nothing goes as planned in real life, and the author gives the first taste of disappointment to the story via the actions of the uncle. He becomes one of the obstacles that the author puts in an adult’s world, and the boy begins to encounter problems that are to occur in manhood.
It is not a coincidence that the climactic high point of the story...