Monday 10 September 2012


                                          Araby

                                              James Joyce

                                         
                                           

                                                              Question # 1
                                                        What was Araby?

               This story presents the development of a little boy’s mental tangles that he himself is not able to understand and unknot. He is in his early adolescence and experiences the tender feelings of love and fondness. The center of his affection is his friend Mangan’s sister. When they play in the street at evenings she often comes out to call her brother to tea. The hero notes each and every movement of that girl and is very confused about his feelings for her. His emotions are so intense that he forgets the difference between reality and his imagination. In his thoughts he is very close to that girl but in reality he doesn’t even have courage to talk to her. One day that girl talks to him and mentions about a bazaar called Araby. This is for the first time that the most important person of his life has addressed him so the syllables of word “Araby” ring day and night in his ears. His heart just moves with the rhythm of this enchanting word. Basically Araby is a church and a bazaar is adjacent to it. It’s a sort of an annual exhibition. The boy tries his utmost to reach there and bring a gift for his girl. In this way he transforms “Araby” into the token of his innocent love.

                                                            Question # 2
                         Discuss the feelings of the hero for Mangan’s sister?

                      The protagonist of the short story is a little boy of thirteen or fourteen years. In this age usually the kids are trying to find themselves, they are in the process of knowing themselves. The gender feelings are new for the kids of this age. They quickly grow physically as well as mentally. Their physical growth makes them conscious about the opposite sex. These are novel feelings for them so they keep these feelings as something very sacred. So the hero of the story is also going through this entire situation, he is conscious about his friend’s sister who often comes at her doorstep in the evening to call her brother. The hero observes her presence and can distinctly rebuild her image when alone. The boy is living with his relatives and anything about his parents is not mentioned. This further deepens his feelings as he already feels himself alone. The whole atmosphere of the story is gloomy and sad. Dark evenings, rain and moist streets in the winter season signify the helplessness of a kid and his depressing state of life. So the presence of the girl is a sort of escape for him. She has become madness for him, he thinks about her all the time. He remains engrossed in her thoughts in his classroom, even his teacher tells him to be attentive in the classroom. He goes to market with his aunt and even there he carries her memory in his heart and thinks himself to be a hero of some legendary tale who picks up his cup of wine and successfully passes through the throngs of foes. He feels the pangs of love-pain that wring his heart badly. He feels sad and cries without any reason, murmuring: O love! O love! Many times. Everyday in the morning he waits for her and as soon she comes out of her home to go to school he chases her and then to make his presence felt he crosses her. Day after day his sentiments grow deeper and deeper. Her image, clad in brown dress lit up by the lamplight, haunts him making him feel miserable.
              Then one day she speaks to him and talks about a splendid bazaar called Araby. The hero is completely stupefied and doesn’t remember his reply to her queries. Then he promises her that if he goes to Araby he will bring something for her. After that day his already confused state further accentuates and the word Araby spreads all around his existence and he forgets all the other things.  One can guess how important Araby has become for the boy. His beloved has mentioned it …… so it was an order for him. He takes permission of his uncle and is ready to go on Saturday. But all his expectations dash to ground when everything goes against him. Like a little grain of sand at seashore, the boy is exposed against the harsh and bitter realities of life, alone, weak and helpless. He is subjected to the extreme dejection when he comes face to face with the world of reality and sees the difference of imagination and actuality. Anguish and feeling of inadequacy trample his whole being and he comes back empty-hearted and empty-handed.

                                                               Question # 3
                               What happened when he decided to go to Araby?

                                 The day when he was to go to the bazaar, he was very excited and went from room to room singing. He was full of expectations and was building castles in the air. He wanted to go to Araby and buy a gift for his dearly loved lady. She had casually mentioned the name Araby but it had become the symbol of his love. Throughout that day, he was anxiously looking forward to go there. He was impatiently waiting for his uncle to get the money. Generally his uncle came home near five but unluckily at that day he got very late. He came home at eight o’clock in the night because he had forgotten about the boy’s visit to bazaar. The boy took the money and hurriedly headed toward the station and took a seat in a third-class carriage of a deserted train. This was a special train for Araby. It passed through gas-lit streets and river, and then stopped at an improvised wooden platform. He saw a large building that displayed the magical name; ARABY. He didn’t have sixpence so he had to give a shilling as entry fee to a weary-looking man. He found himself in a big hall with a gallery at half its height. Nearly all the stalls were closed and the most part of the hall was in darkness. A gloomy silence prevailed around. Some people were counting their money on a stall. He was so baffled and disappointed that he had almost forgotten the purpose of his journey. He went to a stall of porcelain vases and flowered tea sets; a young girl was standing there talking to two young men. The young lady asked him if he wanted to buy something, her tone was not at all encouraging. He looked at the great jars and then at the meager sum of money that he had in his pocket and murmured, “No, thank you”……... The girl went back to the boys and started talking. He stayed before her stall for some time and then he turned dejectedly and walked down the middle of the bazaar. He let the coins fall in his pocket, and then he heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the light was out and the upper part of the hall went in complete darkness. He looked up into the gloom and felt like a worthless creature that was mortified and humiliated by the reality. His self-concept and his vanity were dishonoured and his eyes were burning with anger and pain.

                The story juxtaposes the world of reality and that of imagination, a man considers himself and his feelings as something very important but the actual facts of life crush him, and his expectations are reduced to nothing. The little boy was treated brutally by the forces of reality. His personality, his beloved and his feelings for her were rendered meaningless and worthless. He was disgraced and his desires were mocked at by the world.
                 
                                                                        Question # 4
The story presents a perpetual conflict between the forces of reality and that of emotions. Discuss.

                   James Joyce is a renowned author who has a mastery over presenting the emotional tangles of a character. He always exhibits a command over delineating the thought-process of young people, “A portrait of the Artist as a Young man” is one such novel in which he has employed the same expertise in subjecting a young mind to psychoanalysis.
           This story too is an intellectual study of a young man’s dreams and the objective reality. Man cherishes many desires and ambitions, he wants to get everything that he likes but the reality frustrates him always and he often is disconcerted and miserable. There are a few people in the world who get all that they want but generally the world of reality poses all type of hurdles in the way of achievement of one’s desires. The bloody claws of real world crush the protagonist of the short story; his imagination collides with the objective world leaving him desperate and desolate. He runs after the shadows and lives in the world of his own fantasy. An adolescent who has just crossed the boundaries of childhood can’t accept the non-existence of the fairyland where “Cinderella” or “Snowwhite” live. That’s why he is unable to judge the force of reality and blindly runs after his miscalculated desire. The conflicting powers snatch the innocence and purity of his feelings of love and replace them with the desolate sense of failure and dejection.
           Conclusively it is the legitimate power of the feelings that creates a reality significant enough to give meaning to the irreality. It depicts a psychological correctness that is convincing to the protagonist as well as to the reader but at the same time it asserts the supreme existence of the world of reality and truth.



6 comments:

  1. someone tell me plzzz araby as a symbolism

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  6. The main role of hero has been raining after shadows. Can somebody explain this statement?

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