Baseless Hopes
It’s human nature to long for life to be different than it currently is, and many handle that by building up those differences into something strange and desirable to fix the life they see as monotonous. But oftentimes, these things disappoint those who were looking for them when eventually they’re found, after their baseless hopes are shown to have been incorrect and reality sets in once more. This theme is examined in James Joyce’s “Araby”, when a boy finds the opportunity, through a person he loves but hardly knows, to maybe experience something different than the bland days that came before. Through the use of setting, characterization, and imagery, “Araby” exemplifies the realistic effects of high hopes without basis and …show more content…
Very early in the story, Mangan’s sister is shown to be the focal point of the narrator’s life - seeing her is what he looks forward to, and she is constantly on his mind: “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance… Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.” (841). As the main character’s focus, she also becomes the readers’, a figure of high hopes and desire without any real basis and with hardly any information about her – she is never even given a name, and has only few lines of dialogue, in a way that gives her an almost mysterious air by the mixture of such few facts about her and the narrator’s fascination with her. As the one to inform the narrator about the bazaar Araby, she also adds to the idea that the story will culminate in something that brings more color into the life of the main character and, in turn, becomes another disappointment, possibly even greater than the bazaar being unsatisfactory – while the bazaar was simply a chance at an interesting difference, the girl was the reason all his hopes rode on it, and when that hope didn’t come to fruition, it could be reflected back on the character who gave him the hopes in the first place. In addition to Mangan’s sister, other more minor …show more content…
The setting, imagery, and characters all tie in to create this point by showing a bland, but still holding some happiness, scenery at the beginning, portraying Mangan’s sister as someone greater than others only to have her suggestion become disappointing, and the empty, desolate bazaar that crushes all the hopes of the main character. It also can serve as a warning to avoid the kinds f false hopes that the main character holds, because of the disappointment that could
It’s human nature to long for life to be different than it currently is, and many handle that by building up those differences into something strange and desirable to fix the life they see as monotonous. But oftentimes, these things disappoint those who were looking for them when eventually they’re found, after their baseless hopes are shown to have been incorrect and reality sets in once more. This theme is examined in James Joyce’s “Araby”, when a boy finds the opportunity, through a person he loves but hardly knows, to maybe experience something different than the bland days that came before. Through the use of setting, characterization, and imagery, “Araby” exemplifies the realistic effects of high hopes without basis and …show more content…
Very early in the story, Mangan’s sister is shown to be the focal point of the narrator’s life - seeing her is what he looks forward to, and she is constantly on his mind: “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance… Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.” (841). As the main character’s focus, she also becomes the readers’, a figure of high hopes and desire without any real basis and with hardly any information about her – she is never even given a name, and has only few lines of dialogue, in a way that gives her an almost mysterious air by the mixture of such few facts about her and the narrator’s fascination with her. As the one to inform the narrator about the bazaar Araby, she also adds to the idea that the story will culminate in something that brings more color into the life of the main character and, in turn, becomes another disappointment, possibly even greater than the bazaar being unsatisfactory – while the bazaar was simply a chance at an interesting difference, the girl was the reason all his hopes rode on it, and when that hope didn’t come to fruition, it could be reflected back on the character who gave him the hopes in the first place. In addition to Mangan’s sister, other more minor …show more content…
The setting, imagery, and characters all tie in to create this point by showing a bland, but still holding some happiness, scenery at the beginning, portraying Mangan’s sister as someone greater than others only to have her suggestion become disappointing, and the empty, desolate bazaar that crushes all the hopes of the main character. It also can serve as a warning to avoid the kinds f false hopes that the main character holds, because of the disappointment that could