The Bizarre Bazaar of Araby - Book Report/Review Example

? The bizarre bazaar of “Araby” The Irish James Joyce impresses his readers by uniqueness of his creative works. In the short story “Araby” Joyce impresses us by the simplicity of narration and intriguing development of the plot of the short story. A young boy, who is a narrator of the story lives in Dublin and falls in love with his sister’s friend. There is an exotic bazaar in the country and he wants to buy a present to his beloved girl. The name of the bazaar is “Araby” and a little boy goes there, but cannot afford buying anything. Therefore, there is an interesting interrelated coexistence of themes of reality and fantasy. There are more negative and pessimistic tones in the short story “Araby”. The importance of “Araby” can be explained in the following way: Joyce wrote his “Dubliners” from the perspective of a refugee. Therefore, there is a comparison between a young narrator, who is just an outsider from a fancy world of the bazaar and the writer, who is an outsider of the Dublin society. We can also claim that this short story reflects the author’s dualistic vision of the world and his ability to discuss different concepts and apply them for people of different age. There is a gradual development of events in “Araby”: at first the boy does not even know, if the bazaar is real or not; then he has no illusion and in the end he just gets disappointed. The sister of the boy and the bazaar are two illusive elements. Further on, when the boy comes to “Araby” there is nothing that he was expecting for. After all, he feels depressed, because he is unable to buy a gift for his sister’s friend. Moreover, Joyce intrigues his readers by a vivid and rich symbolism. Religious themes prevail in Joyce’s works. This can be explained by the fact that Joyce belonged to the Irish. In the story "Araby" religious symbols can be found everywhere. For example, in the beginning of the story, the garden is described as: " The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree and a few struggling bushes under one of which I found the late tenant's rusty bicycle-pump" (Joyce, p. 373). Thus, we may suppose that the roots of love motifs of Joyce can be found in the religious background of the story. He draws parallels between a sin and love in the Bible and the boy’s love to sister’s friend. Another kind of love, affection to his sister is also developed with the help of religious comparisons and contrasts: he says that he even cried, when he looked at his sister. His love went from his heart up to his eyes and filled in his eyes with tears (Joyce, p. 179). These words concern Mangan’s sister and it can be seen that the boy and worships this girl. Therefore, we can see parallels between the boy’s intentions to worship his sister and the role of prayer for Catholics. Therefore, youth love is positioned by Joyce in the context of religion. When a young narrator talks about his love for the girls, it is “something of the nature of a mystic, religious experience. The use of the very word confused hints of the fact that romantic love and religious love are mixed up in his mind” (Joyce, p. 95). Therefore, we can see that the narrator is captured in his own autonomous world. On the one hand, we can interpret such kind of love representation as the most pure and sincere love. A sister’s friend was not an object of a sexual desire for the main character. She was a girl of his mystical obsession and his invented motifs of purity. Thus, love is the first illusion of the boy. The second illusion for the boy is bazaar: “The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me" (Joyce, p. 375). Therefore, the author makes an attempt to develop a concept of “Araby” on the basis of sounds’ analysis. It is relevant to consider Araby as the place of three-stage development of the main character: from illusion to disillusionment and despair. The boy is enchanted by the bazaar and he cannot put up his mind and focus on his lessons. When the boy comes to the bazaar and it is closed, he sees that he is unable to buy a gift for his sister. A moment of epiphany is present in this story. The narrator realizes that the life is harsh. Moreover, he cannot make up his mind and analyze his inner thoughts and emotions development. There is an evident negative connotation in “Araby”. In accordance with Florence L. Walzl: “His [the narrator] inability to buy even a trinket for the girl and his perception of the inanity of the flirtation he has just witnessed climax in an epiphanic vision, not of light, but of darkness” (Joyce, p. 175). Therefore, there is a dark connotation of epiphany. In other words, a process of disillusionment is presented by the author as the destructive factor for the youth. A final depression of the boy was described by him as a total darkness. There are evident negative motifs in the final of the story. Thus, the boy says: “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, p. 377). Therefore, a pessimistic mood of this short story can be described as disillusionment in youth, love, religion, virtue and charity. There is a strong need for a boy to preserve these parts of his inner world, but he fails. Moreover, we may suppose that childhood ends, when basic concepts of faith, love, youth and charity are gone. A dark epiphany of the young narrator, a plenty of religious symbols throughout the story criticize Church. On the other hand, the author might have shown a constant opposition between the western and the eastern worlds. The short story by James Joyce introduces the readers the world of youth, naive, first love and faith. The boy’s wanderings across the bazaar can be metaphorically compared to the boy’s wanderings in his childhood. A process of growing up has always been considered as a complicated process. Still, there is a need to preserve basic feelings and emotions, such as love, friendship and faith. There are no limits for these feelings in the life of any human being. There is no need to let these feelings go in the process of growing up. Moreover, the short story “Araby” is a masterful reflection of Joyce’s ability to compare and contrast different phenomena in a metaphoric way. Different interpretations can be used concerning this story. For example, it can be seen as opposition between the western or eastern world visions; or as opposition between fantasy and reality, between childhood, youth and adulthood etc. Therefore, James Joyce reached the main goal of any writer: he made his readers think and interpret the story’s events from different perspectives. Works Cited 1. Joyce, James. "Araby." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 4th Compact ed. New York. Pearson Longman, 2005, pp. 372-377 2. Walzl, Florence L. "Dubliners." A Companion to Joyce's Studies. Ed. Zack Bowen and James Carens. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984, pp. 175-176. Read More