Analysis of Araby by James Joyce

1. In what ways is North Richmond Street blind?
North Ricmond streer was considered blind in the story because of the emptiness and nothingness that the street has, it is full of negativism. Yes, there are people in this street, but they just stare at each other, there is less communication. And also, I think it is considered as blind because it is not relying on what is real.

2. How does the narrator regard Mangan’s sister? Does she do or say anything to justify his attitude toward her?
The narrator adores Mangan’s sister so much. He says that she was the boy’s first love. On this line: “Her figure defined by the light from the half-opened door…. Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door,” we can justify that thae boy is treating this girl like a saint. On the story, it can be said that the boy had still a confusion at first about love and religion. But, he pay more attention for love that’s why at the end, disappointments happened.

3. How does Joyce contrast the beautiful and romantic with the ugly and banal? Which is closer to the truth? For Joyce, beautiful and romantic is a way better than the ugly and banal. Most people believe that it is more attractive and worthy to look on the physical appearances. Like what the boy looks with Mangan’s sister. He adores her beauty not knowing her other side. This can justify that beautiful and romantic is closer to the truth.

4. Why does the narrator wait for his uncle in the room where the priest died? How does that setting emphasize his emotions?
Because this room where the priest died makes him fell so blessed. His feelings affects his view towards the girl that she loves. He thought that this girl is different from anybody, that’s why she trated her like a saint, but in contrast, this girl is really different from what she thinks.

5. How does Joyce contrast light and dark in “Araby’? What sort of feelings does this contrast evoke?
Joyce used the idea of the dark by telling us how different life does the boy has. His surroundings especially the North Richmond Street may show darkness in the story. All the negativism and disappointments on this story is the darker side. While the light here is, when the boy loved Mangan’s sister. He loved her without any hesitations. But unluckily, everything has changed. Still though, the girl once served as inspiration for this boy.

6.How is language used to emphasize the contrast between the narrator’s day-to-day life in the exotic promise of the bazaar? Mostly, the language used in this story was so ironic. The most good proof here is the bazaar and the stall. Bazaar has many stalls like life that has many choices. It’s up for the people on what choices they will make. The scenario when the boy saw Mangan’s sister fits this thing. He made a choice after what he saw about the girl and abandoned his love for her.

7. Identify words and phrases in the story that are associated with religion. What purpose do these reference to religion serve? “When the narrator accompanies his aunt to the market, he imagines carrying a “chalice safely through a throng of foes.” During the holy mass of the catholics, this chalice has a wine which serves a blood of christ. “Apple tree that stands at the center of his ruined garden” This is related to the story of Adam and Eve in the holy Bible who disobeyed the command of God.

8. Is the narrrator a creature “driven and derided by vanity”? Why? Yes, because of what happened in the Bazaar. The disappoinment that he feels when he saw the girl who she thought a different one from any other girls. He was awakened to the fact that he was just dreaming that girl and that fact causes his anger.

9.What words, phrases, and figures of speech express the boy’s extreme idealism and romantic view of the world? In what way does such language express the stories major theme? “Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.” “All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves “

“Her figure defined by the light from the half-opened door” “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires. “ These figures help us to understand the relationships of the characters to different things. Like for example, religion. These helped to make the flow of the story be more figurative and more interesting.

The Poem The Orchard and the story Araby is somehow similar because of the bitterness happened in loving someone. In the orchard, the girl is the one who is bitter but in the Araby, it was the boy who became disappointed at the end with the one he loved.

The both characters of these works made choices or options in their life that brought them different outcomes. In The Orchard, the girl chose to lie to the boy but at the end she was still hurt. While at the Araby, the boy chose to forget his love after what he saw at the Bazaar with the girl.