James Joyce's Araby

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“Araby” is a story about a boy who endured the process of becoming an adult. During the process he became aware of having lived in fantasy and came to face with reality. In human development, what happened to the boy in this story could happen to anyone in the world, which could be a bitter memory for the boy in his life. As all human beings grow up, they are influenced by the society where they live. Maybe we have the benefit of universal human history or religion that prescribes individual ethics. In the story, the boy was not inquisitive about things that were taking place around him nor intelligent to figure out on his own even if might he have some questions in his mind. He just tries to understand those unfamiliar feelings …show more content…
Joyce probably borrowed name called Mangan from 19th-century Irish poet J. C. Mangan because Mangan himself enjoyed writing about Araby and translated several Arabian poetries. Mangan also was born in Dubiln. Joyce was captured by Romanticism. That was why he gave the name Mangan to the girl whom the boy loved as an allusion.
When the boy was wandering the market with aunt’s parcel, he heard a song called come- all-you about O 'Donovan Rossa. The song is a 19th-century Irish revolutionary song for Jeremiah O 'Donovan. He called out armed resistance against the British Empire’s violence. The song sang about heroes in Irish history. Listening to the song, the boy imagined chalice (Holy Grail), adoration on the girl, and felt some mixed feelings arising inside, which I think the girl ‘s religious illusions.
All of a sudden, when the girl addressed to the boy, he was too embarrassed to answer. Talking about Araby, she said that she wanted to go to a bazaar but she could not due to church retreat. She was not the Madonna for the boy but a normal person who wanted to have what she wants. But the boy took this moment as one of divine revelation, and promised her that he would get her something
…show more content…
Otherwise, it can be interpreted as the boundary between boy 's tradition and religion. Because the world that the boy knows and has experienced still remains closed, he cannot look at the reality that has been actually full of anguish and anger. As we can see in the last scene, the boy realized that the journey to Araby was not a sacred mission, and that was just for self-deception and vanity. His failure made him realize what life was all about. Hearing the sound of falling coins, seeing young people are flirting with each other, the boy got an idea that his staying there was useless. There was complete darkness. It means that the place was not as spiritual as he thought.
“Araby” is a story of first love that many of us had once experienced or dreamed of as we passed through the stage of puberty. Unlike others filled with worthless imaginations and exaggerations, the novel consists of precise words and reserved expressions in short; yet, it takes readers to a place of wonderland full of our own imaginations. It is not a plain story about a young lover but an exemplary case of novel that clearly shows how people in the story are affected by the social, cultural, political, and religious backdrop of the time, which is the most important function that novel does in our human

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