Araby A Modernist Perspective Essay Research Paper

Araby A Modernist Perspective Essay, Research Paper In ‘Araby’, the narrator is a young boy whose life up to this point has been simple and happy. The monotony of his life nurtures his childhood happiness and innocence, and from this state the boy is introduced to Joyce’s version of reality that has been lurking before his eyes his entire life. Through hours spent at play on North Richmond Street outside his house our narrator is conditioned into a blissful state, and a hidden crush on his friend’s sister extends this bliss into ecstasy. Our narrator begins by describing the setting in which he lives. In order to correlate the setting and Joyce’s subtextual meaning, it will be described later in the essay. Being a modernist writer, Joyce writes with a pessimistic

undertone that modernists see as the inevitable end for everyone. In ‘Araby’, he uses a young child still caught in the state of childhood innocence to show a modernist’s version of the “coming of age.” This “coming of age” is the point in everyone’s life, child or adult, when we realize that we face substantial pain and emptiness ahead. The narrator begins the story by describing the times after supper when he and his friends would play on the streets. These nights were very gratifying for the whole group, and when the narrator’s uncle used to drive up the street, they would all hide until he was safely housed. Or at times, Mangan’s sister would come out to call him in for tea, and they would all hide until she either went in or until Mangan gave in and went

inside. It was with Mangan’s sister whom the narrator finds himself in love. He never had any real words with her, but everyday he would watch until she came out her front door across the street. The young boy would then hurry out the door after her and remain behind until they arrived at the point where they diverged, where the boy would hurry past but say nothing. This went on for months until one night while outside Mangan’s front stoop she came out and asked if he was going to Araby, a traveling bazaar that was supposed to be extraordinary. The narrator, caught in aberration, forgot how he had answered. Mangan’s sister then said that she would not be able to go due to a retreat in her convent, but the young boy promised that he would go and bring something back for her.

For the next week, our narrator was lost in excitement. The moment at which he would give her the gift held such promise in his imagination. In school and out, his concentration diminished behind thoughts of her. He stated that, “Her image accompanied me in places most hostile to romance.”(23) His body was overcome: “My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom.”(23) When the day came for him to go, he told his uncle in the morning to remember to be home in time. But as the evening arrived and the absence of his uncle stretched further into night, he grew irritated. Finally, at eight o’clock, the uncle arrived, claiming to have forgotten. The boy took the money from his uncle and left

for the train station. He arrived at the makeshift stop assembled for the bazaar. He walked into the bazaar and continued down the long corridor of shops. The boy soon realized that the shops were all closed except for a few scattered about. The nearest was a booth selling porcelain vases where the young woman who ran the booth stood talking to two men. After the boy began to browse, she came up and asked if he wanted to buy anything, and he replied negatively. She then went back to her conversation, checking back on him every few moments over her shoulder. He left after a couple minutes and walked out onto the main pathway. Down toward the end he heard a voice yell that the light was out and stared into the darkness that consumed the upper half of the bazaar where he was