Introduction
Epiphany is a state which gives an insight to understand the character in the best possible manner. The story is epiphany which shows the hero’s self realization, failure and disillusionment. The theme of the story Araby reveals the hero’s psychological state from the way of love to despair and bitter realities and shows boy’s findings about the difference between real and imagined life around him.. The intellectual and religious aspects of the past are evident from old books and bicycle pump. Under such strange circumstances boy experienced the dream and delusion of first love and later the ironic reality of nothing being able to achieve it. In these oriental myths Christian, romantic symbolism and writer has explained the epiphany in the story. The Araby appeared to him as an eastern enchantment.
Dream versus Reality: Setting and Atmosphere in James Joyce’s “Araby
The story explains the spiritual paralysis of Dublin in 1900. The story explains the in human attitude of the society and dark realities against innocent desires of the hero. The North Richmond Street is described as a blind, dead street having muddy lanes and composed houses. The irony was not because of generation gap but the gap in soul, empathy and lack of care of the loved ones. The uncle’s failure to reach home on time and his indifference towards boy’s anguish and impatience behavior, the boy’s stay in the house with useless things shows every ones narrow mindedness and inability to adapt He higher vales shows the atmosphere of stagnation and loneliness. The symbolic presence of dead priest and his belongings shows the deep isolation of present from past.
The Central Symbol of the Church in Joyce’s “Araby”
The impression of the Irish church on the people of Ireland is symbolized in the story. The boy attached his holiness with the church and his experiences made him believe the waste of his determination. All these symbols show the sensitivity of boy towards the lack of spiritual beauty. The priest figure also indicates moral decay and materialism. Imagined all the loveliness and idealistic dreams associated with the presence of church. The bazaar became a center of beauty which he can never find in his church. His aunt and uncle were unable to think beyond the strict rules of church and to understand his emotional needs. The jars can also be symbolized as the mysticism of the church.
The Lonely Quest of James Joyce Araby
The lonely quest of Araby is signified by the confused emotions of the boy. There is a contrast between his feelings and his sudden knowledge about love and the material world around it. His loneliness in significant from playing in the dark corners and gardens, he looked up to the priest figure, central apple tree. In this immense darkness he found the love of girl as a beam of light. His desire to give her a gift was a hope to brighten his self with the light of love and care. The lonely journey to Araby opened up the reality that all significant and holy quests should be covered alone.. The dark hall made clear to him that the quest has ended.
The Ironic Narrator of James Joyce’s “Araby”
The narrator of the story appeared to reader as a mature and experienced person. This man of wisdom is narrating his wishes, failures and youthful experiences. This mature narrator deeply explains the foolish desires of boyhood. The diction and language explains the conscious state of mind of the narrator about beauty, people and. The narrator highlights the love of the beloved as ideal and embodiment of holy adoration. The narrator seems as a lonely figure in the journey of life. The people around him were also unable to identify his loneliness and emptiness.
From Innocence to Knowledge: Character in James Joyce’s “Araby”
It is the story of a boy’s quest for the happiness and brightness of life through the innocence of childhood love. The failed quest made him aware of his inner self and introduced hi to the early manhood. The story reveals the boy’s transitions from innocent foolish feelings to the acceptance of anguish realities on ones life. His realization of being helpless and dependent enabled him to face the facts and think objectively like a mature man. When he gained knowledge by loosing the innocence he realized the difference between the imagined and real world.
In Araby we have noticed the constant uneasiness, movement and change in the emotional and physical condition of the hero. His behavior narrated that he has missed something and his life was incomplete. It is the boy’s quest to find ideal which had given him self awareness and a step in manhood. The symbolic images made him sensitive to the decay of city life and romance. There was an element of religious stagnation which had narrowed the horizon and made him innocent and ignorant. He was alone lost in the imaginations and unable to comprehend the practical aspects of life. The care, love and support from his uncle and aunt were not enough for him. The boy didn’t develop a good taste in his studies Knowledge and wisdom could have easily filled the gaps in his personality He certainly didn’t get enough chance and guidelines to digress his energies towards studies in school. Indeed he was more interested in the directionless street activities and happenings in his uncle’s place.
The hero was a highly sensitive and emotional person who used to watch Mangan’s sister from far and later started liking her passionately. The loved he looked for in his relationship with the girl had something beyond sexual desires. He emerged as a confused soul who had amalgamated the imagery of love and religious adorations.
There is clearly a wide gulf between hopes and their fulfillments when considering the case of ordinary income groups and poor people. His dependency on other people and his young age was also a significant factor behind his uncertainty in getting his beloved for himself. The convergence of the two Christian and Oriental myths created a world of mystical illusions and idealistic beauty. He possessed a highly imaginative mind and blindly interprets world in his own delusions. There was an ample need to wake him up from living in the false imaginations and get acquainted to God and himself. He was running after a lonely idealism and a mere futile quest which can only lead him to disillusionment.
The entire struggle and happiness which enabled him to do something for his love turned into an anger and disappointment. He reached in the dark and gloomy atmosphere of Araby, where his vibrant nature, his passion and determination vanished through his self realizations and findings. He suddenly realized that he is running after shadows in the matter of love. He was in constant conflict with his inner self and the outside world because of his poverty and dependency. His sweet efforts to bring gift for the beloved is the example of satisfying social standards of gifting things to loved ones. Buying gift from Araby became a symbol of passion and romantic associations with his sweetheart. Certainly he couldn’t buy a dazzling present for Mangan’s sister and was unable to enjoy the charm deeply because of his poverty. He realized all his feelings and desires have got no place in this world except in his own imaginations. He realized the self deception and betrayal of his soul and feels his deep rooted vanity.
He came to know the fact that he is disqualified from standards of love since he was unable to meet the initial requirements of love making. This disappointment of not being able to do anything for his love realized him the hurdles and hardships of life in achieve the difficult dreams. This knowledge took away innocence from his pure feelings and left with him bitter realities of tough life. His emotions ended with the passionate resolution of defeat at the hands of this materialistic world and material desires.
This romantic story turned into an irony with the self realization of the boy. He considered his innocent feelings as the ultimate achievement of life and eternal goal of the lifetime. The entire episode of Araby gave him an insight of the sacrifice and importance of social status in life. He was lastly disappointed with his inabilities and his dependencies over others.
Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger. (Joyce, James, 1882-1941).
Reference
Joyce, James. (1914) Araby.