Araby A Lesson in Adolescence Essay - 1167 Words

â€Å"Araby† Lesson in Adolescence In his brief but complex story Araby, James Joyce concentrates on character rather than on plot to reveal the ironies within self-deception. On one level Araby is a story of initiation, of a boys quest for the ideal. The quest ends in failure but results in an inner awareness and a first step into manhood. On another level the story consists of a grown mans remembered experience, for a man who looks back to a particular moment of intense meaning and insight tells the story in retrospect. As such, the boys experience is not restricted to youths encounter with first love. Rather, it is a portrayal of a continuing problem all through life: the incompatibility of the ideal, of the dream as one wishes†¦show more content†¦Finally the girl speaks to the boy. She asks him if he is going to Araby. He replies that if he does he will bring her a gift, and from that the moment his thoughts are upon the potential sensuality of the white border of a petticoat. (277) The boy cannot sleep or study and his school work suffers â€Å"†¦had hardly any patience with the serious work of life†¦seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . (277) The word Araby cast an Eastern enchantment (277) over him, and then on the night he is to go to the bazaar his uncle neglects to return home. Neither the aunt nor uncle understands the boys need and anguish, thus his isolation is deepened. We begin to see that the story is not so much a story of love as it is a rendition of the world in which the boy lives. The second part of the story depicts the boys inevitable disappointment and realization. In such an atmosphere of blindness(277) the aunt and uncle unaware of the boys anguish, the girl not conscious of the boys love, and the boy himself blind to the true nature of his love-the words hostile to romance (276) take on ironic overtones. These overtones deepen when the boy arrives too late at the bazaar. It is closing and the hall is in darkness.(278) He recognizes a silence like that which pervades a church after a service,(278) but the bazaar is dirty and disappointing. Two men are counting money on a salver†(278) and he listens to the fallShow MoreRelatedThe Stages of Maturation in James Joyce’s Araby John Updikes AP from the Authors Perspective902 Words   |  4 PagesWhen comparing the views of both James Joyce and John Updike on maturation from adolescence to adulthood it will be important to continually compare two of their similar works in Joyce’s â€Å"Araby† and Updike’s â€Å"AP†. James Joyce and John Updike follow similar views with the latter using Joyce as a foundation and following in similar footsteps; both authors follow a process of maturation based on the allure of love, while doing it at different stages of each of the protagonists’ lives resulting in similarRead MoreAnalysis Of James Joyce s Araby 1336 Words   |  6 Pages The Grand Epiphanies â€Å"Gazing into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.† Araby is a short story centering on an Irish adolescence boy emerging from boyhood fanaticizing into the harsh realities of everyday life in his country. It undergoes through the phases of self-discovery through a coming of age. It takes place in Dublin in 1894 when it was under British rule. 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The summary may indicate for young adult readers, however it carries important life lessons which can be relatable to the younger generation and as well as the older generation I enjoyed/disliked/agreed with/disagreed with/began to reconsider/changed my mind, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book because Paper Towns makes me feel somethingRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pageswith himself – or about where the major crisis, or turning point of the narrative actually occurs. Nor is there any special reason that the crisis should occur at or near the middle of the plot. It can, in fact, occur at any moment. In James Joyce’s â€Å"Araby† and in a number of the other companion stories in â€Å"Dubliners† the crisis – in the form of a sudden illumination that Joyce called an epiphany – occurs at the very end of the story, and the falling action and the resolution are dispensed with altogether