James Joyces Araby - Setting and Atmosphere in Araby :: Joyce Dubliners Araby Essays

Setting and Atmosphere in Araby Each of the stories in Dubliners consists of a enactment in which Dublin contributes to the dehumanizing experience of modem life. The son in the apologue Araby is intensely subject to the citys dark, hopeless conformity, and his tragic yearning toward the exotic in the face of drab, pitiful reality forms the center of the story. On its simplest take aim, Araby is a story about a boys first love. On a deeper level, however, it is a story about the world in which he abides a world inimical to ideals and dreams. This deeper level is introduced and developed in several scenes the opening description of the boys passageway, his house, his relationship to his aunt and uncle, the information about the non-Christian priest and his belongings, the boys two trips-his walks through Dublin shopping and his sequent ride to Araby. North Richmond Street is described metaphorically and presents the reader with his first cypher of the boys world. The street i s blind it is a dead end, yet its inhabitants argon smugly complacent the houses reflect the attitudes of their inhabitants. The houses are imperturbable in the quiet, the cold, the dark muddy lanes and dark go down gardens. The first use of situational irony is introduced here, because anyone who is aware, who is not spiritually blinded or asleep, would feel oppressed and endangered by North Richmond Street. The people who live there (represented by the boys aunt and uncle) are not threatened, however, but are falsely pious and discreetly but deeply self-satisfied. Their prejudice is dramatized by the aunts hopes that Araby, the bazaar the boy wants to visit, is not14some Freemason affair, and by old Mrs. Mercers gossiping over tea while collecting stamps for some pious purpose. The background or world of blindness extends from a general view of the street and its inhabitants to the boys personal relation-ships. It is not a generation gap but a gap in the spirit, in empathy and co nscious caring, that results in the uncles failure to move into home in time for the boy to go to the bazaar while it is still open. The uncle has no disbelieve been to the local pub, negligent and indifferent to the boys anguish and impatience. The boy waits well into the evening in the imperturbable house with its musty smell and old, useless objects that fill the rooms. pack Joyces Araby - Setting and Atmosphere in Araby Joyce Dubliners Araby EssaysSetting and Atmosphere in Araby Each of the stories in Dubliners consists of a portrait in which Dublin contributes to the dehumanizing experience of modem life. The boy in the story Araby is intensely subject to the citys dark, hopeless conformity, and his tragic yearning toward the exotic in the face of drab, ugly reality forms the center of the story. On its simplest level, Araby is a story about a boys first love. On a deeper level, however, it is a story about the world in which he lives a world inimical to ideals and dreams . This deeper level is introduced and developed in several scenes the opening description of the boys street, his house, his relationship to his aunt and uncle, the information about the priest and his belongings, the boys two trips-his walks through Dublin shopping and his subsequent ride to Araby. North Richmond Street is described metaphorically and presents the reader with his first view of the boys world. The street is blind it is a dead end, yet its inhabitants are smugly complacent the houses reflect the attitudes of their inhabitants. The houses are imperturbable in the quiet, the cold, the dark muddy lanes and dark dripping gardens. The first use of situational irony is introduced here, because anyone who is aware, who is not spiritually blinded or asleep, would feel oppressed and endangered by North Richmond Street. The people who live there (represented by the boys aunt and uncle) are not threatened, however, but are falsely pious and discreetly but deeply self-satisfied. Their prejudice is dramatized by the aunts hopes that Araby, the bazaar the boy wants to visit, is not14some Freemason affair, and by old Mrs. Mercers gossiping over tea while collecting stamps for some pious purpose. The background or world of blindness extends from a general view of the street and its inhabitants to the boys personal relation-ships. It is not a generation gap but a gap in the spirit, in empathy and conscious caring, that results in the uncles failure to arrive home in time for the boy to go to the bazaar while it is still open. The uncle has no doubt been to the local pub, negligent and indifferent to the boys anguish and impatience. The boy waits well into the evening in the imperturbable house with its musty smell and old, useless objects that fill the rooms.