James Joyce Araby

James Joyce, the author of the short story “Araby,” emphasizes the symbolic blindness and ignorance of the faithful masses of fellow Irishmen and depicts his personal religious and adolescent epiphany through the usage of first person point of view, vivid imagery, and constant allusions to the Roman Catholic Church.

The usage of a first person narration allows the reader to see things the way the narrator saw them when he was an unsuspecting youth. Made apparent through his adult observations of adolescent “foolish blood,” his reminiscent narration is all but overtaken by the recollection of his naпve boyish thoughts, placing the reader alongside the preteen youth instead of the disillusioned mature voice of an adult Joyce. (Joyce 1)

As readers are absorbed in the innocence and naпvetй of the young Joyce, the feelings of incredible intensity build to his eventual realization that the object of his affection, Mangan’s sister, is blind to him, as the Church is of the poor Irish masses. “Araby” takes place around the turn of the century in Dublin, Ireland. At this time in history, there was great distress between the British Protestant church and the traditionally Catholic Church of Ireland, as there had been for centuries. (Embassy) James Joyce held an immense dislike for the Roman Catholic Church and the strains it put forth, however these were not feelings that could be shared openly. ( Barger) Instead Joyce wrote about them in a symbolic fashion, using his writing as a tool to speak out. The opening paragraph of this story immerses readers in the darkness and ignorance of the Irish streets. He states, “...it was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free,” suggesting that their religion had imprisoned them. (Joyce, 1) The former tenant of the boy’s house, a charitable priest, had died inside and “left his money to institutions and his furniture to his sister,” a symbolic reference to the fall of Roman Catholicism; his house being the country of Ireland, the priest being the religion. (Joyce, 1) It is also interesting to note that the priest passed on with a lot of money- contradictory to the vows of the cloth, further illuminating the naivetй of the narrator before his enlightenment to the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the church. Joyce again references religion and the Church with his obvious allusion to the Garden of Eden’s “central apple tree” in “the wild garden behind the house,” a parallel to the well-known fall from grace the boy will soon experience. In addition, nearly all the boy’s thoughts of his silent admiration can be identified as religious references, many of them sexual desires stifled by religion. (Joyce 1) Mangan’s sister represents not only the Church, but also the Virgin Mary. Even if she had wanted to attend the bazaar with the young man, her convent and subsequent religious commitments prevented her from doing so. (Joyce 2) More specifically, when the uncle has not yet returned to take the boy to the bazaar, the aunt suggests that he “put off the bazaar for this night of Our Lord,” Saturday, the service which is dedicated to veneration of Virgin Mary- what he is doing by going to Araby for the girl. (Joyce 3) There are multiple times when he refers to his infatuation in religious terms, such as her name coming to him in prayer, or her words playing him as if he were a harp. (Joyce 2) Due to strong religious obligations, sexuality was greatly repressed during the time of this story, as it still is today. This idea was vividly sketched in the paragraph which states “All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring O love! O love! many times.” (Joyce 2) This passage illustrates the boy’s struggle with religion and sexuality with the unmistakable sexual undertones. A more vivid example of the overlapping religious and sexual themes occurs when the girl and the narrator actually speak. Her obligations to her convent, and therefore her religion, override her more sexual