Joel Lee ENC 2301
S# 7649957
1-25-96
Essay #1
The setting in "Araby" reinforces the
theme and the characters by using imagery of light and darkness. The experiences of the boy in James Joyce's
"Araby" illustrate how people often expect more than ordinary reality
can provide and then feel disillusioned and disappointed. The author uses dark and obscure references to
make the boy's reality of living in the gloomy town of Araby more vivid. He uses dark and gloomy references to create
the mood or atmosphere, then changes to bright light references when discussing
Mangan's sister. The story expresses its
theme through the setting, the characterization of the boy and his point of
view as the narrator.
Darkness is used throughout the story as the
prevailing theme. James Joyce's story
begins at dusk and continues through the evening during the winter, in Araby
Ireland. He chooses this gloomy setting
to be the home of a young boy who is infatuated with his neighbors sister. The boy is young and naive and he leads a
dull and boring life. Joyce uses
darkness to make the boy's reality more believable through more vivid, precise
descriptions.
Bright light is used to create a fairy tale
world of dreams and illusions. James
Joyce uses the bright light when describing Mangan's sister, the boy's
infatuation. The protagonist is
infatuated with his neighbor's sister and he imagines that he will heroically
bring her something back from the bazaar.
Joyce refers to bright light when discussing Mangan's sister in order to
give her a heavenly presence. Light is
used to create a joyful atmosphere.
The ending of the story is filled with images
of darkness and light. James Joyce uses
the lights of the bazaar to illustrate the boy's confrontation with
reality. The bazaar lights are almost
all off because the bazaar is almost closed.
This is significant because the boy wants the bazaar to be bright and
open, but it is dark and closed. This is
when the boy finally realizes that life is not what he had dreamt it to
be. He finds himself angry at life and
disillusioned.
James Joyce uses the setting to symbolize a key
concept of the story. The dark
disillusion the boy experiences is all part of growing up. The boy is no longer
young and naive, he has grown up and become disillusioned with life. "Araby" shows how we all get ideas
about how things will be and then feel disappointed with ourselves when things
don't work out as expected.
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