Araby

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1. 
   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   James Joyce is famous for creating characters who undergo an epiphany—a sudden moment of insight—and the narrator of "Araby" is one of his best examples At the end of the story, the boy overhears a trite conversation between an English girl working at the bazaar and two young men, and he suddenly realizes that he has been confusing things. It dawns on him that the bazaar, which he thought would be so exotic and exciting, is really only a commercialized place to buy things. Furthermore, he now realizes that Mangan's sister is just a girl who will not care whether he fulfills his promise to buy her something at the bazaar. His conversation with Mangan's sister, during which he promised he would buy her something, was really only small talk—as meaningless as the one between the English girl and her companions. He leaves Araby feeling ashamed and upset. This epiphany signals a change in the narrator—from an innocent, idealistic boy to an adolescent dealing with the harsh realities of life.

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   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Thursday August 28, 2008 at 9:19 PM
   
   

2. 
   alicia887 Student
   College - Sophomore

   One can also look at the epiphany from a religious standpoint. Mangan's sister can be viewed as an angelic or Virgin Mary figure in the story. Think back to the interaction between her and the narrator in the eighth paragraph. Light is falling from above to illuminate her head neck and shoulder in a halo-like fashion. She also attends a catholic school, wears a long, brown dress, and the boy 'prays' to her in his exclamations of "O, Love, O Love" (though my english professor reckons he is actually trying to prevent himself from masturbating which I can kind of see...). One would think Joyce is sending a positive religious message but this happens before the epiphany or change which means his state of mind will be completely altered by the end. Right? So what is his view of religion at the end? "I saw myself a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." Vanity could signify the boy's relization of the naivety in believing the Church was not corrupt. He was driven by a foolish idea and felt as though the Church had ridiculed him. He also saw himself as a 'creature' which is signifies the devil but could also means he feels seperated from those around him and alienated by the Church. Other religious symbols in the story: The apple tree, the bike pump (which resembles a snake in the grass), the salver, and the free masons.

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   Posted by alicia887 on Monday September 22, 2008 at 7:21 PM
   
   

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