Epiphany in Araby of James Joyces Dubliners Essay

Araby: An Epiphany The story, Araby in James Joyces Dubliners presents a flat, rather spatial portrait. The visual and symbolic details embedded in the story, are highly concentrated, and the story culminates in an epiphany. An epiphany is a moment when the essence of a character is revealed , when all the forces that bear on his life converge, and the reader can, in that instant, understand him. Araby is centered on an epiphany, and is concerned with a failure or deception, which results in realization and disillusionment. The meaning is revealed in a young boys psychic journey from love to despair and disappointment, and the theme is found in the boys discovery of the discrepancy between the real and the ideal in†¦show more content†¦The boy, in themidst of such decay and spiritual paralysis, experiences the confusedidealism and dreams of first love and his awakening becomes incom-patible with and in ironic contrast to the staid world about him. Every morning before school the boy lies on the floor in thefront parlor peeking out through a crack in the blind of the door,watching and waiting for the girl next door to emerge from her houseand walk to school. He is shy and still boyish. He follows her, walkssilently past, not daring to speak, overcome with a confused sense ofsensual desire and religious adoration. In his mind she is both a saintto be worshipped and a woman to be desired. His eyes are often fullof tears, and one evening he goes to the back room where the priesthad died. Clasping the palms of his hands together, he murmurs, 0love! 0 love! in a prayer not to God, but to the concept of love andperhaps even to the girl, his love. Walking with his aunt to shop onSaturday evenings he imagines that the girls image accompanies him,and that he protects her in places the most hostile to romance. Inthe mixed symbolism of the Christian and the Romantic or Orientalmyths Joyce reveals the epiphany in the story: The se noises con-verged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore mychalice safely through a throng of foes. He isShow MoreRelated Epiphanies in Joyces Dubliners and Chaucers Canterbury Tales1179 Words   |  5 PagesJames Joyce’s Dubliners is a compilation of stories that all rely on character epiphanies in order to develop each story. These epiphanies change the tone of each story because each yields a negative change or reaction. In both â€Å"Araby† and â€Å"The Dead†, the characters realize or learn something about the world around them, which makes them second guess either themselves or the reason behind their actions. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales contains at least one tale that relies on an epiphany to helpRead MoreMiss1743 Words   |  7 PagesDubliners Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. 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The story revolves around a single, dramatic incident which typifies the characters’ reactions. Length varies from 1,000 to about 5,000 words.† With these characteristics in mind, then we are going to examine James Joyce’s short story Araby   inRead MoreEssay on James Joyces Araby - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man2088 Words   |  9 PagesJames Joyces Dubliners - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Joseph Campbell was one of many theorists who have seen basic common denominators in the myths of the worlds great religions, Christianity among them, and have demonstrated how elements of myth have found their way into non-religious stories. Action heroes, in this respect, are not unlike saints. Biblical stories are, quite simply, the mythos of the Catholic religion, with saints being the heroes in such stories. 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Joyces reasons for rejecting the Catholic Church are unknown, but in many scenes his attitude towards religious hypocrisy becomes clearer. The introduction to Araby sets the religious tones, which flow through a neighborhood, dark and full of desire. TheRead MoreEssay on James Joyces Araby - Setting in Araby1597 Words   |  7 PagesSetting in James Joyces Araby  Ã‚   In the opening paragraphs of James Joyces short story, Araby, the setting takes center stage to the narrator. Joyce tends carefully to the exquisite detail of personifying his setting, so that the narrators emotions may be enhanced. To create a genuine sense of mood, and reality, Joyce uses many techniques such as first person narration, style of prose, imagery, and most of all setting. The setting of a short story is vital to the development of characterRead More James Joyce Essay1100 Words   |  5 Pages In selecting James Joyces Ulysses as the best novel of the twentieth century, Time magazine affirmed Joyces lasting legacy in the realm of English literature. James Joyce (1882-1941), the twentieth century Irish novelist, short story writer and poet is a major literary figure of the twentieth-century. Regarded as quot;the most international of writers in English ¡K[with] a global reputation (Attridge, pix), Joyces stature in literature stems from his experimentation with English prose. Influenced