A Psychoanalytic Deconstruction of James Joyce's Araby - Term Paper Example

Your Full Your 28 November A Psychoanalytic Deconstruction of James Joyce’s Araby In order to understand what psychoanalytic deconstruction entails, it would be best to describe Freudian psychoanalysis. As is evident from the term, Freudian psychoanalysis is a psychological tool developed by Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician. It is a widely used method of examining the psychological motivations and operations of individuals. As per Moore and Fine, psychoanalysis mainly consists of three parts: 1. A process to examine the mind and the way it works i.e. the way a person thinks, 2. An organized set of theories regarding human behavior, and 3. A mode of treating any psychological and/or emotional diseases. There are quite a number of theories with regard to psychoanalysis, which in turn means that there are just as many ways of treating the psychological and emotional diseases. However, there is no need to go into detail regarding the details thereof. This paper attempts only to scrutinize a short story by James Joyce, Araby, and do a psychoanalytic deconstruction of the character(s) therein, only so far as to examine how their mind worked and how they thought. Moreover, if there is an indication of any psychological and/or emotional disorder, illness or abnormality, with regard to the characters, this paper aims to only point that out through discussion of the story. Araby, the short story by James Joyce, narrates the life, and some events therein, of a character that is not named throughout the story. The story is written in the first person narrative; hence, we have the sense of the boy telling us about his life and the noteworthy events that happen in it. The protagonist lives on North Richmond Street, and is a carefree and playful boy. Although the lives of the people in the neighborhood are not very exciting, the children, the protagonist being one of them, create their own adventures through play. The boy seemingly has fallen in love with his friend’s elder sister with whom he has never spoken. However, one day she asks him if he is going to the Araby bazaar, while lamenting the fact that she cannot go even though she wants to. The young boy, in a clear attempt to try and win her over, offers to go to the bazaar himself and get her something from there. On the day he has to go the bazaar, his uncle comes home late, and, as he has to borrow money from his uncle in order to be able to go to the bazaar, in turn he is late too. The bazaar is all but closed when he gets there and he ends up coming home without having bought anything for the girl. The sense of desolation and disillusionment this event brings with it is left to the reader’s imagination, with the boy only summing it up thus; “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). This story describes the human tendency to expect more from life than what reality has to offer, and the disillusionment that results because of that. Moreover, it offers, in essence, a brief look into the sexual awakening of young boys, as it relates the sexual attraction the protagonist feels for his friend’s elder sister. The way the protagonist describes his life makes it quite clear that he lives with his uncle and auntie. However, he does not dwell upon whether his parents are living or not. There is no explanation as to why he lives with his relatives instead of his parents. The story starts with the boy briefly describing the plain and dull street he lives in, a street that has plain and dull houses. Then he goes on to describe the room of a dead tenant of theirs, a priest, and how he found certain books there. Later on, in despair or perhaps too full of lust, the protagonist is to return to this room to proclaim his love for the friend’s sister. To go to a room full of memories of death to proclaim one’s love is quite macabre. However, through this way the protagonist is trying to come to terms with the impossibility of his love coming to fruition. Though he really seems to be in love with the girl, he knows how futile it is and how it will never be returned, and this he unintentionally implies by going to the dead tenant’s room in order to confess his love. In a room full of death there is no one who will listen to him, nor is there hope for the realization of his dreams – just as the tenant’s life came to an end in that room, so will his love come to end. The nature of the boy’s attraction to the friend’s sister is sexual, that much is clear by the way he describes her: “Her dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side” (Joyce). The sensual way he describes the effect her words and mannerisms had on him all too clearly reveals the sexual attraction he feels for her – “my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (Joyce). The boy, however, cannot express it openly as he, himself, is not all too aware of the sexual nature of his attraction. He is only aware of the way he gets tongue tied in front of the girl, and how he cannot get the courage to speak to her. This, in turn, explains why he is so keen on pleasing the girl. When she asks him if he is going to the Araby bazaar, he is too confused and excited to reply, and when he does, he simply does not remember what words he used. Though he becomes composed enough later to tell her that not only will he be going to the bazaar, but since she is not going herself, he will also get her something from there – a small memento of sorts. This is the boy’s way of playing the lover, where the lover wants his loved one to have a token to be fondly reminded of the lover. Thus, unknowingly, the boy sees himself to be the lover of the girl, and wants to please her as well as have her think of him. The sexual awakening of the boy is a very deep running theme of the story, and it is very well documented by the behavior and thoughts of the young boy throughout the narration of the story. In essence, it is a coming of age sort of story, with its final theme of disillusionment that comes with the realization of the futility of following hopeless dreams, it is a very well woven tale. The attraction of the young protagonist to the girl and, perhaps also, the final disappointment, are deep psychological motifs that have been woven by James Joyce into a very small story. Throughout the story the psychological motivations of the young boy are made very clear – the love, or lust, that he feels for his friend’s sister – whereas the disappointing end is brought upon the reader very suddenly, though indeed that can also be a psychological theme of the story, and, thus, the boy’s personality. Works Cited Joyce, James. Araby. 1914. Fiction: The EServer Collection. The EServer’s Fiction Collection. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. Moore, Burness, and Bernard Fine, eds. A glossary of Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts. New York: American Psychoanalytic Association, 1968. Print. Read More