In many short stories, the main characters make a startling discovery about themselves. This happens in the short story, “Araby,” which tells the story of a young boy and his infatuation with his friend’s sister. The story is told by the boy’s older self, who makes a discovery about himself that leaves him utterly devastated. In the short story, “Araby,” the speaker comes to the realization that his first love was based on vanity and displays this revelation to the reader by using a bleak and disappointed tone. Throughout the story, “Araby,” the speaker looks back on his childhood crush and discovers, at the end, that his infatuation was based on vanity. As the speaker describes his feelings for Mangan’s sister, readers are given a glimpse…
The short stories “Araby” by James Joyce and “How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro have strikingly different tones established by the two authors. The stories both consist of a narrator with a love interest, however the authors’ use of diction, imagery, and setting create a difference in tone of the two stories. In “Araby,” Joyce begins the story in a setting with a very dark, gloomy tone. Joyce accomplishes this by mentioning how the priest, the former tenant of the house, had died in the…
figurative imagery. The tone of apprehensive is supported by the author’s use of connotation. The author writes that “my eyes burned” (115). Burned connotes the failure searing failure the protagonist encountered when he realized his dreams were not realistic (115). Burned conveys the failure the protagonist felt which supports the tone of apprehensive (115). The author uses the word blind end when describing the street at which the protagonists lives at (110). This suggests a connotation of…
Unlike the 20th century, the 21st century strongly encourages the act of perusing the desire for something or someone. During a person’s early childhood, the child’s thoughts and feelings are not yet formed to be able to separate what is good and bad. Children’s minds can often be focused on what they might desire, rather than what is practically needed in their lives. In the short stories of “Araby” and “Winter Dreams”, they both describe young boys wishing for someone they are not able to…
The short story, Araby written by James Joyce, is about a young boy who develops a liking for a young girl who happens to be his friend, Mangan’s sister. The author begins the story by introducing the main character and his secret liking for the girl, who barely talks to him. Fortunately, one day, the girl talks to him about not being able to make it to Araby, a splendid bazaar. The boy decides to travel to the bazaar, just to buy the girl something. The young boy faces many obstacles, like…
for years to come. Important and memorable moments in one’s life will have an impact on individuals, depending on the magnitude of the event. Particularly, in the short story “Araby” by James Joyce and the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes presents the theme of innocence in childhood and difficulties of life as adults. In “Araby,” a young boy discovers how blind and innocent he was because of his false beliefs. On the other hand, in “Mother to Son”, a mother describes the difficulties and…
The short story, “Araby” by James Joyce illustrates a young boys’ unfortunate experience with first love. Throughout “Araby”, Joyce uses many terms which invoke sexual and religious connotations in order to portray the setting and illustrate the boy’s sexual affection for the girl. In addition, religion is a large part of the boy’s way of life but as sexual needs come into play, the boy realizes that his religious form of affection is much different from the normal way of life. Thus, showing him…
of the pastoral genre represents an inherently personal treatment of loss of innocence, the poem’s undercurrent reflects the imposition of traditional and outdated Irish Catholic values within the poet’s 1960’s context. As in Blackberry Picking, the young protagonist of Joyce’s Araby, is initiated into knowledge through personal loss of innocence, however, the short story is differently framed within the context of Modernist nihilism at the turn of the century. Joyce’s treatment of personal loss…