Joyces Araby a Double Focus Essay - 781 Words

Boy or Man: the Double Focus On one hand Araby is a story of initiation, of a boys quest for the ideal. Although the quest ends in failure, it results in an inner awareness and the boys first step into manhood. On another hand the story consists of a grown mans remembered experience, for the story is told in retrospect by a man who reflects back to a particular moment of intense meaning and insight. James Joyces fascinating double focus: the boys first experience, and the mans reflection to the unforgotten moments of his childhood provides for the dramatic rendering of a simple story of first love told by a narrator who, with his wider adult vision, can employ the sophisticated use of irony and symbolic imagery necessary to open†¦show more content†¦In the transition to manhood, the boys ideal becomes more centralized about the importance of freedom from society and religion. This enables him to see the society in which he grew up as one in the midst of social decay and spiritual paralysis caused by the social and religious control over its individuals lives. Through the use of symbolism, the author depicts the characters motives, thoughts and actions, in a deeper form, past what may seem as the tale of a young boys first love. The use of symbolism gives us an idea of the kind of problems the narrator is facing as an adult. The narrator, reflecting back as an adult, is able to see himself as a person being torn between his religious beliefs and his feelings. Joyce starts us off with an obvious religious symbol in the first line, North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers School set the boys free (21). The street is quiet and calm except when the boys are set free from the eyes of the church and the eyes of parents. The dead priest in the second paragraph adds to the religious symbolism. The priest is an obvious symbol, but the description of the room where he died is more revealing, Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the ki tchen was littered with oldShow MoreRelatedEssay on James Joyces Araby - Setting in Araby1597 Words   |  7 PagesSetting in James Joyces Araby  Ã‚   In the opening paragraphs of James Joyces short story, Araby, the setting takes center stage to the narrator. Joyce tends carefully to the exquisite detail of personifying his setting, so that the narrators emotions may be enhanced. To create a genuine sense of mood, and reality, Joyce uses many techniques such as first person narration, style of prose, imagery, and most of all setting. The setting of a short story is vital to the development of characterRead MoreEssay on James Joyces Araby3507 Words   |  15 PagesJames Joyces Araby I doubt there are book logs that commence with a note directing a reader, specifically you, even though I get the impression from Mr. Little to whom riding between pairs of glasses suggesting that in order to gather a bounty against my beloved head I must be obliged to fathoming on how to receive topic sentences with cradling arms and craters of dimples (have to love formalities, even of those lolling head-stumps, after all, it keeps NATO all triteRead MoreDublin as City of Paralysis VS Paris as City of Darkness in Modernist Literature2049 Words   |  9 Pagestremendous changes took place. Industrial revolution brought about techonological advancement while Darwin’s Evolutionary Theories completely overthrew traditional scientific beliefs. Undergoing such an immense transition at the turn of the century, the focus of the modernist writings was shifted from realism to experimental techniques such as fragmentation and defamiliarization. Modernist writers were no longer interested in depicting the city using the Victorian way. In the following paragraphs, shortRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesinternal and psychological as well as external and physical. In order for a plot to begin, some kind of catalyst is necessary. An existing equilibrium or stasis must be broken that will generate a sequence of events, provide direction to the plot, and focus the attention of the reader. Most plots originate in some significant conflict. The conflict may be either external, when the protagonist (also referred to as the focal character) is pitted against some object outside himself, or internal, in which