Araby

Joyce writes in his letter to Grant Richards “My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis.” In ‘Araby’ Joyce explores Dublin as a paralytic locale and this paralysis is projected through Joyce’s symbols. How do you identify and interpret these symbols?

What Joyce says goes right along with several symbols that he uses in the story "Araby."  For example, one symbol is the boy's neighborhood.  It is a dank, dark, depressing street filled with look-a-like dwellings.  The street and its dwellings are constricting and claustrophobic in nature.  This adds to this theme of "paralysis."  Another element of "paralysis" or constriction is how the boy observes his object of desire.  He has to spy on her from the front room, for example, through a window, and he has to make sure he is not observed by his friend's sister (the object of his desire).