Every author has his or her own distinctive manner of writing. In the two short stories, “Araby” by James Joyce and “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, unique writing styles are showcased while relaying similar story lines. Both stories tell the narrative of men who fall for a woman and through a series of hopeful interpretations of interactions with the woman; they end up disappointed and alone. Although both stories have parallel themes of unrequited love, the way in which the authors use certain literary techniques to portray this theme differ greatly from each other. In both “Maladies” and “Araby” the main characters are taken through a series of emotional maladies while trying to peruse the girls they love. …show more content…
Therefore, a theme in both stories is interpretation; not only for the reader but the narrator’s interpretation of their love-intrests’ feelings. In “Araby” readers are meant to interpret moments such as when the narrator is describing his neighborhood, “the other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces” (14 & 17). Both stories have an underlying theme, which centers on interpretation and its power. Lahiri leaves the reader interpreting the feelings of the characters since there are no explicit references to any emotions. Readers are meant to interpret the different feelings when Mr. Kapasi talks about Mrs. Das. “She did not behave in a romantic way toward her husband, and yet she had used the word [romantic] to describe him” (31). The reader is meant to interpret the emotions Mr. Kapasi is experiencing with a subjective viewpoint since the author gives no explicit references to emotions. On the other hand, Joyce composes his story primarily of the narrator’s interpretation of the events that he has gone through as a young man. The narrator laments: “my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.” The narrator brings n his own interpretation into the scene with the use of descriptive language, which leaves the reader little to translate on their own. In “Araby” one must translate metaphors and feelings into settings
In the story, “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, irony plays a broad role in enhancing the impact of the story to make it more interesting. The title, “Lamb to the Slaughter” (p10) shows irony because the title indicates how when lambs are born, they are innocent and follow whatever their owner tells them to do and are slaughtered. Mrs. Maloney would be the Lamb whose heart is slaughtered by the news of her husband leaving her, but then she fights back and kills him with a leg of lamb which is ironic. Also, when she kills her husband whom, “She loved to luxuriate in the presence of” (p11), the irony of killing the man she loved was almost laughable. After Patrick is murdered, Mary puts on a little show for the grocer and then she returns
“Araby,” is a story of emotional passion carefully articulated by the author, James Joyce, to mark the end of childhood and the start of adolescence. It is told from the perspective of a young boy who is filled with lust for his friend, Mangan’s, sister. He lives in a cheerless town on a street hosting simply complacent families who own brown faced houses that stare vacantly into one another. The boy temporarily detaches himself from this gloomy atmosphere and dwells on the keeper of his affection. Only when he journeys to a festival titled Araby, does he realize that his attempt at winning the heart of Mangan’s sister has been done in an act of vanity. Joyce takes advantage of literary elements such as diction and imagery to convey an at times dreary and foolishly optimistic tone.
Joyce’s “Araby” and Bambara’s “Lesson” pose surprising similarities to each other. Despite the narrators’ strikingly clear differences, such as time period, ethnicity, social class, and gender the characters have important similarities. Both narrators are at crucial developmental stages in their lives, are faced with severe adversities, and have a point of clarity that affects their future.
In the short stories, “Paul’s Case” by Willa Carter and “Araby” by James Joyce, both the protagonists are infatuated with the idea of escaping the conventional routines in their daily lives. Their main goal is to obtain a more romantic, extravagant, glamourized life. For Paul, his dream of a glamorized life lies in distant New York. For the unnamed protagonist in “Araby”, he hopes to find his in Araby with the neighbor girl who he barely knows. They believe that by achieving this escape, they’ll find the pleasure and satisfaction they’ve been hoping for. Both the protagonists dream to find a romance in a world hostile to romance by escaping the reality that they live in.
"Araby" tells the story of an adolescent boy's initiation into adulthood. The story is narrated by a mature man reflecting upon his adolescence and the events that forced him to face the disillusioning realities of adulthood. The minor characters play a pivotal role in this initiation process. The boy observes the hypocrisy of adults in the priest and Mrs. Mercer; and his vain, self-centered uncle introduces him to another disillusioning aspect of adulthood. The boy's infatuation with the girl ultimately ends in disillusionment, and Joyce uses the specific example of the boy's disillusionment with love as a metaphor for disillusionment with life itself. From the beginning, the boy
Despite their differences in social status, Gabriel and the boy are similar in their emotional makeup. The narrator of “Araby” is a sensitive boy whose romantic notions are easily aroused and
John Updike's “A & P” and James Joyce's “Araby” are very similar. The theme of the two stories is about a young man who is interested in figuring out the difference between reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head and of the mistaken thoughts each has about their world, the girls, and themselves. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character has built up unrealistic expectations of women. Both characters have focused upon one girl in which they place all their affection. Both Sammy and the boy suffer rejection in the end. Both stories also dive into the unstable mind of a young man who is faced with one of life's most difficult lessons. The lesson learned is that things are not
On its simplest level, "Araby" is a story about a boy's first love. On a deeper level, it is a story about the world he lives in that is full of ideals and dreams. "Araby" is a story of initiation, of a boy's quest for
John Updike's A & P and James Joyce's Araby share many of the same literary traits. The primary focus of the two stories revolves around a young man who is compelled to decipher the difference between cruel reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head. That the man does, indeed, discover the difference is what sets him off into emotional collapse. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character, who is also the protagonist, has built up incredible, yet unrealistic, expectations of women, having focused upon one in particular towards which he places all his unrequited affection. The expectation these men hold when finally "face
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
Throughout James Joyce’s “Dubliners” there are four major themes that are all very connected these are regret, realization, self hatred and Moral paralysis, witch is represented with the actual physical paralysis of Father Flynn in “The Sisters”. In this paper I intend to explore the different paths and contours of these themes in the four stories where I think they are most prevalent ,and which I most enjoyed “Araby”, “Eveline”, “The Boarding House”, and “A Little Cloud”.
Although "Araby" is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce's uses the boy in "Araby" to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.
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.
“They wept together, for the things they now knew.”(104) The last sentence of the first story in Interpreter of Maladies, reveals the cruelty of the elapsed romance in a marriage. In the two collections, A Temporary Matter and The Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates that a marriage can be either uplifting or discouraging depends on the mindset held by the couple and the strength of human bonding. Lahiri emphasizes the significance of mindset and human bondings through the ending of the two stories. The endings of the two stories are polar opposite : In A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shobha weeps for the termination of their relationship; The Third and Final Continent, by contrast, the protagonist(MIT) enjoys a fairytale-like
Before coming into the seminar program, I had no idea what to expect. Being reserved and shy at times, I did not know how to approach the class. However, with an open and welcoming environment, topics were much more approachable and easier to talk about. Overall, I believe the seminar program will continually shape the way I think about the readings and real world scenarios. There was a big distinction when reading some of these books after reading them in high school: the discussions were well thought out and more in depth. I have found that over the course of the semester, I have grown in several ways. The readings had different impacts on the way I was critically analyzing, and how I was able to talk about them. On a holistic level, I