World Literature
Mr. Garrioch
March 6th, 2013
12v3 111064 Yoo Sun Sung
Mini Essay : The Araby
From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple, typical bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, of the protagonist. After all, when the nameless narrator arrives at Araby, he goes through significant emotional change; he loses all of his excitement and love for Mangan's sister he had before and feels anger at his incompetence. On a superficial level, "Araby" seems to focus on the maturation of the young and naive narrator, who tastes the bitter reality. However, on the other hand, "Araby" contains more than enough details to only be a story of a maturing child. James Joyce not only elaborated on the inner feelings and love of the narrator but also devoted much of the story to the description of Dublin and Araby, the two places which symbolizes the dull, insipid reality. The two cities shows sharp contrast with the shining image the narrator forms in his mind. The North Richmond Street was "blind" with houses with "brown imperturbable faces," while Mangan's sister was covered with light in the narrator's eyes. The exotic image the narrator formed of the bazaar was shattered as he saw the empty, dark stalls. The story focused more on the settings than the characters, whose names were not even revealed. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is an extended metaphor dealing with the discrepancy between the reality and the ideal, which people frequently encounter in their lives. In this sense, the "anonymous" narrator is a representative of human being, who go through dismay as one's hope, love, and desire for newness are rendered vain in front of the humdrum world.
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