James Joyces Dubliners - Analysis of Joyces Araby :: Joyce Dubliners Araby Essays

An Analysis of James Joyces Araby James Joyces Araby may seem at early glance to be only a story just about a young boys first love. However, there is an underlying theme of his suit to escape an inimical reality by transforming a neighbor girlfriend into something larger than life, a spot of fresh in an otherwise crepuscular and somber environment.Joyces comment of North Richmond Street evokes images of a vacuous, joyless, and dead(a) environment. The house in which the young boy lives seems equally cold and gray. The narrators description depicts a close and stifling environment Air, musty from having long been enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old and unusable papers. (38) Another passage speaks of, The high cold empty unconsolable rooms in the upper part of the house, and evokes a picture of a gloomy and repressed existence.The protagonist detaches himself from this ugly atmosphere leached of vitality with dreams of Mangans sister. In rail line to his dark surroundings, he sees her as a something bright in his life, as evidenced by his description of her figure defined by the combust from the half-opened door. (38) Later, as he talks with her at the railings, the narrator relates The light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. (39) His preoccupation with first love is consuming and serves as an escape from the harsh, dirty truths of his existence. On a rainy evening, the object of his fascination spoke to the boy as he stood, hands clasped, and murmured, Oh love Oh love (39) Her address must seem about miraculous to him. When she mentions how much she would love to go to Araby, his promise to bring her something from the fair seems to imply his feeling that this might somehow bring about a reciprocation of his love. His anticipation of the trip cast an Eastern enchantment oer h im as he looks forward to his trip to what his love describes as a splendid bazaar (39), which sets him up for the disappointment that lies ahead. The boys final disappointment begins with his uncles boozy preoccupation with his own agenda, which causes him to forget about the promised trip to the bazaar and have sex home late.