Araby Figurative Language Essay

Joyce uses diction to support the overall tone of “Araby,” through his use of words and phrases such as “had grown somber. . .” (Joyce 400) and “musty. . .” (Joyce 400). The verbiage he uses constructs a dull and increasingly gloomy image as if darkness is enclosing the town being depicted. Word choices like “waste. . .” (Joyce 400) and “useless. . .” (Joyce 400) convey the stagnant environment that encases the lifeless neighborhood the boy lives in. Joyce communicates the dreariness that cloaks Dublin by using dreadful adjectives to describe the setting. The young boy’s short lived “confused adoration” (Joyce 401) for his friend’s sister, is depicted using feminine words in association with her, such as “petticoat. . .” (Joyce 401) and “soft. . .” (Joyce 400). When the speaker is professing Mangan’s sister’s control over him, he proclaims, “[m]y body [is] like a harp and her words and gestures [are] like fingers running upon the wires” (Joyce 401). The boy reveals his ignorance by incorrectly calling harp strings, “wires. . .” (Joyce 401). This simple error portrays his confusion about his own feelings and the reasoning behind them. The author uses diction to support the tone of the short story, “Araby,” through his choice of words that reveal both the glum atmosphere of the setting and the naive affection being displayed by the speaker.

These universal patterns include symbols, characters, and ideas. “Araby” by James Joyce provides a reader with the archetype of the narrator's coming of age story. James Joyce uses the narrator’s loss of childhood

James Joyce, the author of both “Araby” and “The Dead,” exploits a sense of imagery throughout both short stories. “Araby” and “The Dead” both share and differ from each other in the ways the imagery is shown. The vivid imagery in “Araby” is applied to express feelings and expressions from one character to another. The main character, an unnamed boy, has an undying admiration for Mangan’s sister. James Joyce describes the boy’s obsession with Mangan’s sister in vast imagery. “The Dead” also includes many senses of imagery, but shows kinesthetic imagery rather than vivid imagery. Kinesthetic imagery is an imagery that is portrayed through the movement and physical tension. In “The Dead,” Gabriel, the main character, dislikes the country of Ireland he lives in, so he flees. Throughout this, Gabriel describes how Ireland is boring and cold, displaying kinesthetic imagery. “The Dead” and “Araby” both include vivid imagery, kinesthetic imagery, and auditory imagery.

Araby, a short story written by James Joyce, tells us of a young boy and his love. Through Joyce’s diction there were many underlying messages in the story, some of which we discussed in class. Some questions that we discussed were: what did the empty train represent? Why did the Narrator not buy anything for Mangan’s sister? What was the theme? And if the story rid itself of all religious allusions would it have the same effect? Some of the questions asked were talked about during the reading and analyzing of the story such as, the empty train offers a foreshadowing of an event coming or it reflects his upbringing—both of which I agree because the Narrator expected a grand place, only to be met with disappointment. As for the theme, students

In Joyce's "Araby", we see a variety of symbolism. The boy who serves as the main character of the story introduces religious symbolism and imagery all throughout the story. The narrator who I assume to boy, references many abstract and tangible things from a religious perspective. For this writing assignment, I will identify four specific places in the text that is associated with religion, explain why I have this chose to be in reference to religion and lastly I will explain what the religious imagery reveals as far the boy’s character.

Joyce’s brilliant use of diction and imagery help lead the speaker to self-discovery and aids in crafting the tone of the story. The diction Joyce uses in “Araby,” assists in helping the reader to know just how ignorant and blinded the speaker

James Joyce's use of religious imagery and religious symbols in "Araby" is compelling. That the story is concerned somehow with religion is obvious, but the particulars are vague, and its message becomes all the more interesting when Joyce begins to mingle romantic attraction with divine love. "Araby" is a story about both wordly love and religious devotion, and its weird mix of symbols and images details the relationship--sometimes peaceful, sometimes tumultuos--between the two. In this essay, I will examine a few key moments in the story and argue that Joyce's narrator is ultimately unable to resolve the differences between them.

The protagonist has an infatuation with Mangan’s sister, and this is described in multiple areas of the story. He talks about how the sister’s dress swung as she moved her body and how the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side (James Par.3) which describes the physical attraction he has to her body. Later in the story he describes his body as a harp and her words as alike fingertips running upon the wires (Joyce Par. 5) which provides insight to how he feels about her emotionally. This provides the

In the opening paragraphs of James Joyce's 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 narrator's 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 character.

Joyce's short story "Araby" is filled with symbolic images of a church. It opens and closes with strong symbols, and in the body of the story, the images are shaped by the young), Irish narrator's impressions of the effect the Church of Ireland has upon the people of Ire-land. The boy is fiercely determined to invest in someone within this Church the holiness he feels should be the natural state of all within it, but a succession of experiences forces him to see that his determination is in vain. At the climax of the story, when he realizes that his dreams of holiness and love are inconsistent with the actual world, his anger and anguish are directed, not toward the Church,

In her story, "Araby," James Joyce concentrates on character rather than on plot to reveal the ironies inherent in self-deception. On one level "Araby" is a story of initiation, of a boy’s quest for the ideal. The quest ends in failure but results in an inner awareness and a first step into manhood. On another level the story consists of a grown man's remembered experience, for the story is told in retrospect by a man who looks back to a particular moment of intense meaning and insight. As such, the boy's experience is not restricted to youth's encounter with first love. Rather, it is a portrayal of a continuing problem all through life: the incompatibility of the ideal, of the dream

"Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door...At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read." This shows the extent to which the narrator desires to be with Mangan's sister.

In "Araby" by James Joyce, the narrator uses vivid imagery in order to express feelings and situations. The story evolves around a boy's adoration of a girl he refers to as "Mangan's sister" and his promise to her that he shall buy her a present if he goes to the Araby bazaar. Joyce uses visual images of darkness and light as well as the exotic in order to suggest how the boy narrator attempts to achieve the inaccessible. Accordingly, Joyce is expressing the theme of the boys exaggerated desire through the images which are exotic. The theme of "Araby" is a boy's desire to what he cannot achieve.

The author throughout the story persists on painting the setting of the story to be dark or even unseeing, dirty and miserable. Joyce

Expectations and reality consistently oppose one another for numerous situations in one’s lifetime. Humans tend to desire something and act to obtain it. Although, what is expected may not always occur thus the result is mostly disappointment but, a lesson is usually learnt. This is explicitly presented in the short story “Araby”, by James Joyce, which is a short story released in 1914 as a collection comprised of 15 stories named Dubliners. Through the first-person point of view of a boy, the story emphasizes a prime example of how reality does not agree with expectations. This unnamed boy transitions from a playful individual to a person in love with the sister of his closest friend.