Araby James Joyce Analysis

Araby” by James Joyce is a story about a boy who finds himself admiring a girl in his neighborhood. He tries to impress her but gives up at the end. The story reflects the theme of growing up process which in this case, not physically but mentally. It also conveys the theme of childhood idealism that cannot exist in reality. The story uses many narrative techniques that relate to the themes in order to make the story effective for both showing the author’s message and entertaining the readers’ mind such as using irony, imagery, and symbolism. The most outstanding narrative technique which can be found the story is the use of symbolism. The story “Araby” effectively uses the technique of symbolism to capture and convey its themes of growing

One of the symbols in these two stories is using female characters to symbolize the narrators’ desire and motivation that leads them to a conclusion and give them an important lesson of life. To illustrate, in “A&P” Sammy admires the girls and they cause him to quit his job. He wants them to notice him and he thinks quitting his job will impress them but he becomes disappointed because they drive away without seeing him. Similarly, in “Araby” Mangan’s sister also symbolizes desire quite similar to the girls in “A&P”. She motivates the narrator to impress her which leads him to be disappointed. However, the use of Mangan’s sister as a symbol in “Araby” is more effective than the use of the girls in “A&P” because the narrator in “Araby” has been thinking of and admiring Mangan’s sister throughout his daily activities. It shows that she is important to him and his shyness and helplessness lead him to frustration. When he has a chance to impress her, it makes the readers feel a sense of true affection towards the character because she has been the only person he cares about. In contrast, the narrator in “A&P” has only just met the girls. He also shows interests in all of the three girls. This shows that he is looking at them sexually showing a male instinct which may be short-term rather than long-term love or affection. There other aspects that motivates Sammy as well such as the