You are now conversant with Ernest Hemingway's meme of the "literary iceberg" -- that a lot of what goes into a story should be unexpressed. Comments on "In Praise of Concision" reveal that different readers have different ideas of what an appropriate level of seclusion is. I want you to read this very spare short story with that idea in mind: too much, or just right? (I don't think anyone would say that more should be pared from the story, but that's always an option, too.)
Have we been told enough about the narrator? He sometimes behaves in a strange, stalkerish manner. Is this behavior age appropriate? How old is he, anyway?
He apparently lives with his aunt and uncle -- no explanation of why -- and on the big night in question, the uncle comes home late. Way late. Where has he been? Besides having the effect of delaying the narrator on his journey, what else is this episode doing here. (Remember, in any short story, but especially in "The Dubliners", there are no extraneous details.)
And then the ending. Very spare, very puzzling. What has happened? How has the narrator changes? Why has he changed?
Does James Joyce give us enough to go on. Does he frustratingly leave too much hidden?
You will find a slightly annotated version of the story over at Edmodo. (Sorry for the inconvenience.) It's short. I'd recommend printing it out, and then attacking it with pen in hand.
The first thing I noticed when reading this story was the author's vocabulary. Some of the words used made the story much more vivid. One example I really liked was, "Through one of the broken panes I heard the rain impinge upon the earth, the fine incessant needles of water playing in the sodden beds." That phrase painted a vivid picture in my mind of the rhythmic rain pelting the outdoors as the main character stood in the back drawing-room. Authors always choose their words for specific reasons, and I believe this passage is the perfect example of how the words chosen create a stronger story.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned above by Mr. MacArthur, the narrator changes over the course of the short story. At first he is crazily in love with this girl, almost in a childish way. He practically dotes over her. He notices everything about her, especially the way the light curves over her neck and lights up her hair. Yet, he never really said more than a few words in passing to her. So from what I gathered, he barely knows anything about this woman aside from her appearance. I found it sort of funny that he said, "what innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening!" The narrator is caught up in his "love" for this woman he barely knows. He is telling the reader how his mind is taken over by thoughts of her just because they had a short conversation. I think I'd call that lust rather than love. The narrator will do anything to go to the bazaar, because it will give him reason to talk to his "true love" again. At the end of the story, when he realizes he has failed in his attempt to find her something before the bazaar closes, he changes.
"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
I feel like this quote sums up the narrator's change in the end. He realizes how crazy he was with obsessing over someone he barely knew. He says he is a creature that turned his life to vanity. This makes me think about people in our world today. Everyone says "don't judge a book by its cover," yet isn't that exactly what we do? Maybe some people don't, but many do. Looks shouldn't matter, yet the narrator was in love with a women because of her looks. He barely knew her. I found this to be a very good message to relate to. The change that the narrator undergoes seemed sort of abrupt, but it definitely got this message across to the reader. I actually liked his change; it made him seem more realistic.
Vocabulary: yes, Joyce is a very careful writer. He knows the language and he knows how to use it. In a short story generally, every word counts.
DeleteHow old do you think the narrator is? Because I would use the word "girl" rather than "woman" to describe his love interest. And yet, the way he describes her in the light -- and I have no doubt that this epiphanic moment actually happened to the young Joyce and was the seedling of the story -- seems like a fairly mature observation.
And lust? Joyce examines lust in "Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man" (that's a novel, and should be italicized -- but I can't), but this yearning has innocence and purity.
I thought that this read was incredibly straightforward.
ReplyDeleteEach scene is articulated to be saying exactly what they mean.The idea that there may be a deeper meaning threw me off, and I ended up looking for insight that wasn't there.
I'd say this story was very Goldie Locks; it really left out the unimportant and irrelevant details that would make it more personal. A name? Age? Location? Unnecessary. The ambiguity allowed the story to become universal, allowed the characters to become only outlets for the expression of an emotion, a situation, that could plague anyone.
I woulddn't even say there's much of a message or theme to this, actually. Just an honest replication of emotion. A young boy, plagued by the restlessness and racing thoughts of superficial admiration, realizes his admiration was created on a falsity- the thought of someone.The thought of anyone, really. At the end, the boy becomes angry at himself for his obsessive behavior and willingness to disregard everything to please this unnamed female enigma, (for example, his school work, friends, money, empathy for his Uncle's long day at work and forgetfulness).
Although, this is established through symbolic experiences. One in particular was the boy's disappointment with the bazaar. Eager and ready to leave the second his uncle arrived home, the boy became obsessive with the expectatoin of Araby.Sort of how he was obsessed witht he idea of the girl. I noticed he stated
"Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand" about the girl and
"The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence," about the bazaar.
That's when I knew they were parallels and it followed through until the end of the story. When the boy finally arrives at the Araby, he his unhappy about the reality of the fair. It's nearly closed and the only open vendor, unwelcoming. I cannot say definitely that the boy is aware that the fair, the anticipated, talked-up event, the eventual let-down, is the same as his superficial love. Although, i'd like to think so, considering his anger at the end, and also because of this quote:
" I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem the more real."
I mean, it can so easily be made to say " I lingered before her, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her seem the more real."
As if he knows he doesn't really appreciate this girl, and only obsesses with her because he is yearning for that interest, or for anything in general.
I mean, and then followed by "I heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the light was out. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark."
He would have had to realize it somewhere that the bazaar and the girl were on the same plane, otherwise that image wouldn;t have stayed with him. He's no longer blinded by the light of the bazaar or the girl.
(Although, I still question why he calls himself vain.)
"I thought that this read was incredibly straightforward." Again, yes. A master craftsman, at work. (And this is at the outset of his career.)
Delete"I wouldn't even say there's much of a message or theme to this, actually. Just an honest replication of emotion." Many short stories follow this mold these days -- not a major event, but a "slice of life". But there's definitely a theme, woven throughout the story and coming in big at the end.
Excellent response, by the way.
As I started reading, I had kind of low expectations for this piece. Many of the readings have been long and slow for me. However, after reading half a page, I knew that this story was different. I found myself reading faster and re-reading sections later because I actually enjoyed it and had wanted to see how this story ended. I wanted to truly grasp the meaning of this story.
ReplyDeleteI found this story to be very interesting. As Martha commented, the author did sometimes use words and phrases that were generally long and drawn out. I think that some of these sentences could have been condensed into shorter, snappier ones, but also think that if this was done the story would lose the haunting imagery and the meaning behind it.
I did get a little confused about the money. I would not have been able to put it in perspective with the help of the footnotes. I was thankful they were included to help me better understand the story.
I liked the ending line: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” When I first read this I was confused and didn’t think that this line could possibly be the ending to the story. Then, on a second rereading of the story, it made more sense to me. This is the boy’s changing point. It is an eye-opener to him as he realizes that he has been foolish and naive. He has thought of the girl continuously and has struggled so much to get to the bazaar to buy her a gift, and it was all for nothing. At that point he understands that he was trying to get a gift for a girl that he hardly knows, in rushed circumstances since the bazaar was almost closed, without enough money to buy something truly worthwhile. His frustration and anger over his useless actions to prove his “love” are finally clear to him.
The interchange between the two young dandies and the salesgirl seems innocuous -- but is key to the theme.
DeleteI loved the way that Joyce's writing seemed so straightforward and brisk, yet the true message was something that I discovered myself as the story went on. His metaphors were vivid and lovely. I especially enjoyed the metaphor "Her dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side." The beginning of the story seems almost mysterious, and the writing truly lent itself to making the entire story of the boy loving a girl he hardly knew all the more vivid. I most enjoyed the scene when the boy goes into the Bazaar at night to find the girl a gift, because the description of the market itself seems like a metaphor to how the boy is feeling.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly didn't turned out the way he had envisioned.
DeleteI would say that this story gives the reader just enough information to go on. I like how it leaves out a lot of irrelevan details, and yet there is so much imagrey and emotion protrayed in the story. The line that perfectly demonstrates this is "But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." It really shows how much this kid adores this woman even though he doesn't really talk to her.
ReplyDeleteI found the last sentence of the story very confused. I was surprised how the story ended abruptly in the Araby staring into the darkness. But I think that line makes the reader think, it certainly made me wonder why the author ended it this way.It was a little difficult to accept because I am so used to stories where the hero beats the odds and wins the girl. But, I like how it ended because you get this feeling that he completely failed in his quest to buy her something at the Araby.
I found this kids lust for his friend's sister quite adorable actually. I don't know if it is because I imagine this kid as like an eleven year old boy crushing on a twenty something year old woman, but I find it amusing to say the least. James Joyce does a really great job expressing this kids thoughts and how he can't function in his everyday life because he thinks about this girl on a daily basis. I think this whole concept is one that everyone can relate to, which is why all the little details don't have to be said out loud. The more relatable a piece of literature is, the more enjoyable it is to read.
"But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." Yes, isn't that wonderful. But that's how he feels: his soul is stirred by her slightest look or action.
Delete"I found this kids lust for his friend's sister quite adorable actually. I don't know if it is because I imagine this kid as like an eleven year old boy crushing on a twenty something year old woman, but I find it amusing to say the least." I don't think "lust", by definition, can ever be adorable. "Longing", sure. I place them closer than 11 and 20. Where exactly, do you all think?
I came into this, after reading Mr. Mac’s description above, thinking that I’d be confused about the story. And, as it turns out, I am. But it didn’t seem that way when I was reading. I became engrossed in this town. I could see the dark streets as the neighborhood kids hid in the shadows, using only the light from the houses to illuminate their games. I sympathized with the character when he described his feelings toward Mangan’s sister and how shy he was to put himself out there. I could even see his aunt and uncle discussing “The Arab’s Farewell to his Steed” as he finished his dinner. But once he actually entered the bazaar, I began to lose my grip on the story. I understand that he came to the realization that his love for this girl was purely vain and that there wasn’t really any substance behind this trip. But I didn’t understand what provoked that change. Why did he suddenly come to this? Was it the dark stalls that stood unmanned or the fact that he had placed so much hope into this one night and then nothing could come of it? Perhaps if we knew more about this character or his past, we could make this judgment.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the fact that it took me to the end of the story to come to this realization is where its beauty lies. I had been engrossed in this tale of puppy-dog love, yet I knew nothing about the main character and knew as little about Mangan’s sister as he did. In fact, I know more about the priest that used to live in his house than I know about him.
If Joyce revealed more about this character and his fairytale lover, it would become just another story of young love. The boy who falls in love with the girl from afar and slowly pursues her up to this climactic event where he realizes his true love for her.
But that’s not this story. Here, holes are left purposely to leave us, the readers, with our own thoughts about this enigmatic character. His age is a mystery. Is he young or old? Does he understand the trials of love already, or is this his first? He lives with his aunt and uncle. Is it a result of a bad marriage that left him without a home, and that’s why he clings to this hope at love, or something else?
There are so many questions that occur to the reader, but that’s not a difference between good literature and great literature. What makes this different is that (at least I was) the reader is oblivious to these questions until you reflect upon the story. He paints such a beautiful picture that you forget to ask what he’s painting.
"He paints such a beautiful picture that you forget to ask what he’s painting." Well put.
Delete"But I didn’t understand what provoked that change. Why did he suddenly come to this?" Partly due to the uncle, and the narrator's late arrival to the bazaar. But it's that little scene between the salesgirl and the two gents that's key to his sudden insight.
I agree with Rebecca that the author, Joyce, used the right amount of information. He used a lot of visual description but I feel like it wasn’t too much. It helped us to feel and see exactly how the boy did and it really made us see things like he saw them in his life. There were also a lot of things that Joyce left out. He kind of left them up to us to decide what happened or didn’t feel was important. In a way those things that Joyce didn’t really explain were things that the boy in the story wouldn’t have really paid attention to. Joyce never explains where the uncle was or why he was late, but for the boy he didn’t care about that he just cared that the uncle was late and that that was causing him to not be able to go to the bazaar. When the uncle finally came home he felt bad and said the line “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. I liked this line when he said it, I couldn’t quite figure out exactly why the uncle had said it then but I still found myself reading it over and over again. At first I thought he was talking about the boy, but the more I read it I realized he was talking about himself. He was referring that all the work he does has caused him to be this dull and forgetful man. In this same quote, however, it still related to the boy too. The uncle wants the boy to go out and go to the bazaar and have fun so he doesn’t end up like Jack and himself. The boy still gets to be a boy and have fun and crush on the older girl. I found his little crush cute throughout the story. He was so naïve but wanted to win over this girl and was determined to get her to notice him. What happened in the end, was again left for us to determine.
ReplyDeleteWhere was the uncle? At the pub (on this most important of all nights for the boy).
Delete"At nine o'clock I heard my uncle's latchkey in the halldoor. I heard him talking to himself and heard the hallstand rocking when it had received the weight of his overcoat. I could interpret these signs." [He's a little drunk.]
The first time I read this, I was completely disappointed. When I read a short story, or any story, I prefer when it has a distinct beginning, middle, and end. So when I realized that this story lacked all of the above, I was frustrated. In my opinion, what's the point of writing something that the reader probably won't understand, because you failed to provide context? But then that got me thinking. What if this is just an excerpt to a book never written? Maybe James Joyce had this entire story in his head, this wonderful, interesting, thoughtful, engaging, complete story, all thought out, and he just didn't want to share it? What if he just decided that THIS particular part of his story was what needed to be shared. If that's what he felt, then he does not owe the reader any more than he provided. If that was the case, then I guess he did not need to present us with the context, background, stats, specifics, etc. Maybe to him, it was enough.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people respond this way to "Dubliners" [italics]. But this is common to short stories nowadays (partially thanks to Joyce). What we call "a slice of life". And life is not so neat as a short story: we don't always get nice beginnings, middles, and ends. (Although the story definitely has an end -- but not exactly tied up with a ribbon).
DeleteI went straight to Edmodo without looking at Mr. MacArthur’s comments on the sblog. This turned out to be a big mistake; I was pretty lost after a seemingly abrupt ending to a story of whose meaning I was highly unsure. I did like, after a first read-over, however, the creative and vivid imagery James Joyce is able to conjure up in the story. I agree with Garrett that the backstreets and shadows were sharp in my mind while reading about the boys’ neighborhood antics. My personal favorite description in the story was of the light that “caught” the girl’s neck and “rested” on her hair before “falling” onto her hand. I thought that this way of describing the light was particularly creative by James Joyce, and put into words the fluidity of the light vividly for the reader in a way that it hadn’t been thought of much before.
ReplyDeleteAfter I finished reading the story, I went onto the sblog and read Mr. MacArthur’s comments on it. They helped me understand the story a little better by making me realize I wasn’t asking myself the right questions while reading. With such a brisk style of writing where so much is left to the reader to take from the limited details provided, it is all-important to be asking the right questions. Before Mr. MacArthur mentioned the question of why the narrator is living with his aunt and uncle, for example, I hadn’t really noticed it, which seemed like a pretty obvious detail to miss after he mentioned it. I get now that with so few details, each one is highly important to the story and has to be used in order to formulate the right questions to be asking yourself while reading.
As for the narrator, I got the sense he was between 13-15 and thought his obsessive qualities weren’t that weird, I more got the sense that things were changing as he was growing up and in that phase of his life and he was just confused. As for the ending, I think that maybe the frivolousness of the conversation he overheard among the young people at the stall made him realize that what he was doing that seemed so important to him at the time was also somewhat meaningless and vain, as he put it.
"My personal favorite description in the story was of the light that “caught” the girl’s neck and “rested” on her hair before “falling” onto her hand. I thought that this way of describing the light was particularly creative by James Joyce, and put into words the fluidity of the light vividly for the reader in a way that it hadn’t been thought of much before." And, I would say, it's a very sensuous detail. Something that one would only notice if you were intensely aware of that other individual.
Delete"As for the ending, I think that maybe the frivolousness of the conversation he overheard among the young people at the stall made him realize that what he was doing that seemed so important to him at the time was also somewhat meaningless and vain, as he put it." Well done! Love has been this spiritual, mystic experience for him -- and now he finds out that it's really -- just that.
I feel like Joyce could’ve written more about the character, even just a name would’ve been helpful. Joyce wrote about smaller details rather than the larger sum of the boy’s life—such as why he was living with his aunt and uncle or even a description of himself. The first sentence starts off with “North Richmond Street.” Joyce can tell us the name of the street but not the boy’s name? I appreciate the mysteriousness of his character, but I think to fully appreciate him, we need his name.
ReplyDeleteI really like how Joyce stresses his main characters obsession with Mangan’s sister. He uses a lot of metaphors and similes to describe her such as, “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wire.” I get the feeling that he wishes to know what love is, but has never experienced it. I wish we knew the age of him and Mangan’s sister because if she is older than he is, it might be a boy crush. If they are the same age, it would be his secret obsession with her.
“Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” Like Martha, when I had first read the ending, I was confused. It didn’t make sense to leave it off like that without a reason. I think Joyce, even with not saying enough, wants us to interpret this ourselves. The boy thought too highly of her looks. He didn’t even know her, let alone, know what love was because he just based it off of how she looked. He’s angry at himself because he doesn’t know this girl and yet that didn’t stop him from obsessing about her. She could be the worst person to have a conversation with and he wouldn’t know because he saw her just for one thing. This proves that beauty won’t get you everywhere in life, and I think that he is going to reevaluate how he judges people. We should all step back and stop judging people on their looks because you may be surprised at what you find.
I would say 13 and 16. (He and she). And, yes, maybe Mangan's sister (she never get's a name, either, is just as silly and flighty as the salesgirl.
DeleteThis story interests me because it forces you to figure things out for yourself. It doesn't just come out and declare itself, it flirts with it and beats around the bush until you either figure it out or make up your own idea about what it is. This is particularly interesting because it is an incredibly simple story. Its a basic case of boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy goes to bazaar for girl, boy hates himself. As far as concision and lack of background goes, I think this was interestingly done. There is very very little background on any of the characters and there is no description whatsoever unless it is pertinent to the girl. I'm assuming he did this on purpose, and if he did, the effect was profound. It puts the reader very effectively into the mindset of a young boy with his first crush. This boy takes it to an extreme of course, with some light stalking, but all is fair in love and war I suppose. The author took the exclusion of anything non-mangan's sister related to an appropriately extreme level to match. In the scene where his uncle is late and he will therefore be late to the bazaar, the author excludes all details not directly related to the fact that the narrator will be late to the all important bazaar. The reader has to use context clues to pick up that the uncle was a bit drunk, which you would think might be important. The narrator doesn't care though because of his extreme obsession. Overall I think this story was a very well executed example of a (slightly creepy) boyhood romance and the inevitable realization of how stupid boyhood romances are.
ReplyDelete"Slightly creepy". Well, he is a thirteen-year-old boy, after all.
DeleteI found that I really enjoyed how James Joyce was not over-descriptive and wrote enough to capture the reader's interest and inform the reader, but not so much that it bored the reader. I was actually surprised that I enjoyed the story because after reading Mr. MacArthur's comment above, I thought the story might be like the poems in "Praise of Concision" that left too much out.
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of the "literary iceburg" can be applied to this story because even though Joyce is telling us what we need to know to make sense of things, there seems to be a larger story underneath. For example, when the narrator repeats to his uncle that he will be going to the bazaar, Joyce let us know, without saying it, that the narrator's uncle forgetting these things and coming home late is probably a recurring event in the narrator's life. Another example of this is at the very end when the narrator is looking into the darkness. Joyce cuts the story off there, but we can see that the narrator is disappointed and will not be buying anything for his cruch after all.
I really like the last line of the story, " Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." I looked up the word derided after I read it and it means ridiculed. I thought it was interesting that Joyce used such conflicting words in this sentence, but it was successful. "Driven and derided by vanity" and "anguish and anger" are examples of this. Though, anguish and anger are not exactly opposite words, it is odd to see them together and the combination of the words helps the reader to understand the emotional distresss of the narrator on a deeper level. "Driven and derided" are opposite words and Joyce uses this combination of words to show that the very thing that pushes the narrator to do what he does is the same thing that tears him down and mocks him.
The narrator changes in the story because at first he seems focused only on the girl's looks. It is obvious he has quite the crush on the girl. By the end of the story, the narrator realizes that vanity is what caused him to go out to the bazaar and that it mocked him because it caused him such emotional turmoil in the end.
I thought the story ended a bit suddenly, but I liked the way Joyce ended it. Joyce leaves the reader with the perfect amount of suspense. Even though the last line made me wonder what happened with the narrator, it also gave me a satisfying sense of closure. I enjoyed Joyce's writing style and how he doesn't camoflauge the story with giant words to make it seem longer or "smarter." I also liked the way Joyce appealed to the reader's own experiences and emotions to fill in the parts of the story that he did not write. I think all of these things is what makes the story, in my opinion, successful.
"Driven and derided" are opposite words and Joyce uses this combination of words to show that the very thing that pushes the narrator to do what he does is the same thing that tears him down and mocks him.
DeleteVery nice observation.
Although this story left out some background information, I could still follow along and understand what the main character was feeling. It is basically about a kid who falls in love with his friend’s older sister and has his first crush. The author provided a clear and vivid description of the streets and bazaar and I was able to visualize myself running around the alleys with his friends and having fun. The author spends the most time describing the boy’s crush and some of the “light stalking” (as Sam said) he does when she isn’t looking. I didn’t think it was creepy at all because he is just 13 or 15 years old and has his first crush. I thought that this crush held his attention for a while and even stressed him out a little bit like when he said, “My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom.” He cared so much for the girl that he really wanted to go to the bazaar just to see her. After getting his uncle’s permission, he goes to the bazaar and as he looks into the darkness, he sees himself as “a creature driven and derided by vanity” and his eyes burn. Like everyone else, I did not know what this meant or what it was referring to. I thought about this phrase for a while and had a guess that he saw the devil inside of him because he was filled with lust and did not have the courage to talk with her. However, I thought that this was a little extreme because he was just a little boy with a crush and meant no harm. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this short story because it piqued my interest and kept me on my toes, wondering what was going to happen next.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I just think it's a story about a kid who has his frist crush and isn't exceptionally good at handling it. I read in Phoebe's lectio that it's possible the character was 12 years old, and I mean, how many 12 year old do you know who are good at handling having a crush on someone? Of course he wants to do anything to impress her, so he goes to the bazaar, but it turns out that wasn't the right thing to do. Lesson learned, that's life.
Delete*twelve year olds
DeleteThis is maybe not your typical twelve-year-old: “My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom.”
DeleteI found this to be an interesting piece of literature and one that seemingly grew on me the more I read it. I came to appreciate James Joyce’s writing the deeper I read into the story and I think a large part of that was due to the imagery.
ReplyDeleteThe use of imagery is impressive and was used in a way that made the reader feel as if they were in the scene with the characters. That was accomplished here through lines like, “The space of sky above us was the color of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns.” or “ We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the curses of laborers, the shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks, the nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you about O'Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our native land.” I personally look for imagery in stories because I feel it is a key element in helping create not only the story but the tone and atmosphere. Those details like the color of the flowers make a difference and James Joyce realizes that.
I agree with what Sam said about this being a relatively simple story because there really isn’t too much of a plot to it. There isn’t a multitude of characters, or twists and turns at every corner but a rather simple story. A simple plot type of story may have been done many times and people are always trying different twists to them. James Joyce though does it pretty basic but does through in some plot twists now and then with the underlying problem of the uncle, etc… I believe it takes a skilled author to take such a simple plot and make it feel like it is so much more.
Joyce left Ireland when he was a young man because he felt it was inhospitable to an artist like himself. He returned once, briefly, then never came back. At the same time, he was obsessed by Dublin, and would often walk down the streets -- store by pub by church -- in his memory.
DeleteJoyce gave us very little detail, and in my opinion I wish he gave us more. The boy had no name, age, and we had to infer his personality based upon his actions. In my head as I pictured the short story, the narrator was about 12 or 13. He was in between childhood, and his more mature years. He had a crush, and I can remember at my age having a few of those. He enjoyed playing outside, meaning he was curious or adventurous. He lived with his aunt and uncle because his parents died, and his uncle was sad so he turned to alcohol. Yes, when an author gives you little detail or background information understanding a story can be difficult. I feel that’s why using your imagination for Dubliners writing pieces is key.
ReplyDeleteThe boy was in a stage of puppy love, young, innocent love from hearing her voice, watching her dresses sway, or watching her toss her long hair. The narrator is clearly in love with what he sees, and many boys younger tend to fall for appearances rather than personality. As he ventures out into the world he sees life is not always as it seems. In a sense the outside world matures him. But how did he change? And for what reasons? “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” I did not understand what made him so angry. All the woman at the bazaar did was asked him if he wanted to buy anything. Was it because Mangan’s sister was vain and knew she was beautiful so she used that to get the boy to buy her something?
The detail of the scenery in the short story was vivid in my mind. I could see the busy bazaar, the crazy streets where the narrator lived. The streets were filled with woman, laborers, food aromas, and singing. I just found it odd that the story had so many details, but so many unanswered questions.
-Tori
"I did not understand what made him so angry. All the woman at the bazaar did was asked him if he wanted to buy anything." As I've said on earlier posts, I think it's what he sees of the interactions between her and the two gents there -- certainly several cuts below where he's been in his young, romantic mind.
DeleteI'm not sure what exactly to think of this short story...
ReplyDeleteI'll start by saying that I didn't feel connected to the story at all. In fact I didn't even feel very interested in it, and I blame the lack of background information for that. If I am to truly get into and analyze a story I need at least some sort of explanation of what's generally going on- this short story was lacking in explanation for me. It's a bit awkward feeling to hop into a new reading to find out that most of it demonstrates the creepy and, as Mr. MacArthur put it, stalkerish manner of a boy whose name we don't even know. The boy seems like he'd go to the ends of the Earth to impress this girl that he barely even knows, just stares at and follows when she has no clue. These behaviors would be considered the cute acts of a boy with a crush- if the boy was a little boy. But we aren't given the priviledge of knowing the boys age. Judging on the fact that he goes to the Bazaar alone via train, I'd say he is not a little boy which makes his actions feel creepy. Plus, the technical "ending" didn't resolve much for me, and left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
I enjoyed James Joyce's writing style though. He was very descriptive but not in a way that comes off as trying too hard. Some authors leave the reader in a sea of complex words which one after another begin to feel very dull and unnecessary. Joyce chooses his words carefully, picking words that one wouldn't normally use to describe something, but they strangely fit perfectly.
"Plus, the technical "ending" didn't resolve much for me, and left me with a bitter taste in my mouth." Oh, no. Try not to be bitter. It's just a story (and a short one at that).
DeleteI first read this over a few days ago and was completely confused with the entire story. Today I went to the site mentioned in one of the footnotes and went through the story again with some help from the site. I didn't understand some of the references Joyce uses, so this site provided the background information that I needed to understand the story more completely. Allusions are probably my favorite element of any writing and knowing what they are referring to is essential to understanding them.
ReplyDeleteAfter going through the story again and trying to understand Joyce's message, I felt really depressed. I guess any loss of innocence theme get me every time. A 12-year-old boy shouldn't find out that he has just been lying to himself about his feeling for Mangan's sister. His attitude towards her went from reverence to lust, yet he was still trying to convince himself that he was being good. To also find out that the romanticism of Araby doesn't really exist in his life really must have crushed him. I found out from the site that Joyce lived on North Richmond Street and was 12 the year this story took place so I wondered if the boy was him and if something like this really happened to him and this is what caused him to hate and leave the Catholic Church.
Joyce can really set a mood. His images of the streets of Dublin could make even the most cheerful feel despair. I liked how he had a dark mood to contrast the determination of the boy on his quest. Joyce is also good at creating unity through his story by using similar words or ideas. For example, he uses the word “fall” many times along with a “apple-tree” and the “wild garden” to allude to the garden of Eden and the fall of Adam and Eve, much like the loss of innocence the boy experiences.
Overall, I think Joyce is a brilliant writer. Though it might take a little more time to decipher what he is saying, it is possible and valuable.
Where are all you guys finding lust? I never see him getting to that point.
DeleteAs to Joyce and his falling out with the Catholic Church, that does involve lust -- Joyce's own, as an older teenager. But he also felt that the Church would be inimical to his interests as an author. And he was right. It's only recently that Joyce has been fully embraced by the Irish (and that may be as much for the tourist dollars he brings in as for his artistic endeavors).
I was very fond of this short story because it was so realistic. It went through a young man’s daily life, as it would go normally, without any extra “fluff” in the story to distract from the narrator’s dilemma involving Mangan’s sister. Although there aren’t many characters in the story, I don’t think there needs to be, because the point is not to show relations between the narrator and other people, but the eventual awareness the narrator has about the potential of love.
ReplyDeleteI thought the ending scene is exceptionally creative on Joyce’s part. After overhearing the conversation between the woman and the two gentlemen and noticing that she would not give him the attention that he wanted, the narrator realizes that love is not all that it is built up to be. Love is expected to be whimsical and impulsive and the narrator did not experience any of that at the bazaar. And assuming that the narrator is fairly young, love is not a sensation that he has probably experienced yet. It is only natural for a boy to feel frustrated at this point. It’s the fact that the narrator simply gives up that is so intriguing. In many young love stories, the boy always gets the girl in the end. This is a case where he sees the reality of the concept of love. Love doesn’t always work out like it does in movies and books. That is what I believe makes it so appealing to readers, because it is the opposite of what one would expect.
I noticed that the scenes in the story that involve darkness (the moment the narrator murmurs “Oh love! Oh Love!”,the bazaar late at night) are the most pivotal scenes. It is a dark and rainy night when the boy feels all of his senses at once about Mangan’s sister. Then it is late at night when goes to the bazaar and recognizes the disappointing thought of love. It makes sense for Joyce to use that type of mood to link those two scenes together, almost like foreshadowing. The mood, along with the simplicity of the story, made it that much more engaging.
"Love is expected to be whimsical and impulsive and the narrator did not experience any of that at the bazaar." And spiritual and mysterious and powerful. (Also not at the bazaar.)
Delete"I noticed that the scenes in the story that involve darkness." Good call. Joyce himself had terrible trouble with his eyes throughout his life. And in "Dubliners" [italics], there's a lot of imagery involving sight. North Richmond street is blind [a dead-end, but still], and at the end of the story the narrator's eyes burn with "with anguish and anger".
I’m pretty inconsistent when it comes to what I like in stories. Sometimes I want a solid background so I feel more connected to the characters. Other times I like this obscure style of writing that invokes a lot of thought. When it comes to writing with the iceberg strategy, it has to really be done right to have a positive effect. Just enough information is vital, too little leaves the story essentially rendered useless and too much is no fun. There’s no thinking involved with way too much information, and figuring out what happens or deciding for yourself how certain aspect of the story come to be or how it ends can be half the fun. With all that said, I liked how this story was done. The provided information was slim…very slim. You never even know the name of the boy or the sister, but you don’t need to. You really don’t need to know anything about these people for the story to get its point across. It’s a little love story, well kind of- up until the end at least. It’s a story about human nature and as long as the message is received by the reader, nothing else is super important. Names are irrelevant. I think because the author wants the reader to be able to apply this story to their own life, he makes it universal without names. Its like how an Amish doll doesn’t have a face because they want it to be universal so all the little girls can imagine whatever face they want on it (or something along those lines). I think having the bare bones for a background works in this situation. All that needs to be said is said. In another story, chances are you will need more of a background, but for this one, it’s just right.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ethan in that a good story does not always need names or background details. It's a short story, not a novel or book of any kind. Names are nice, but we don't need them all the time. I originally thought it was strange how little background information we got in this story, and how it was so "to the point", yet there was such extensive imagery. I figured, well why spend so long describing the house and the neighborhood but you don't even tell us the narrators name or where he comes from? But really, that's just a silly thought in the first place. I love imagery and there is very good imagery in this story, and what am I going to do with narrators first name? I don't need to know it, I don't particular want to know it, I was just caught up in the stereotypical story line... where 88% of the iceberg is showing and everything is relatively simple to understand. Nope I think this story is "just right"!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this story. It is difficult to imagine that the same person who wrote this wrote "Ulysses." Especially the excerpt Mr. MacArthur read during class.
ReplyDeleteThe only possible way that he could have possibly penned both is that he knew how to write exactly what he wanted to. I think Joyce must have had natural talent, The way an artist can recreate visualizations in his head, Joyce could write his imagination. (I doubt he was aware of this though.)
Joyce put just the right amount of information into this story. It wasn't too long, too descriptive, too anything. A lot of writers have trouble with that as we've gone over in class.
The narrator's embarrassment at the end of the story is something a lot of people have gone through, I'm sure: knowing your actions were in vain and that they were foolish to begin with. Its not an embarrassment caused by folly in front of others, its embarrassment caused by personal failure. And the narrator's personal failure isn't that he is too late to get his crush anything at the bazaar, its the fact that he went to the lengths he did for something that ultimately was disappointing.
"The narrator's embarrassment at the end of the story is something a lot of people have gone through, I'm sure: knowing your actions were in vain and that they were foolish to begin with. Its not an embarrassment caused by folly in front of others, its embarrassment caused by personal failure." That's not a bad explanation, by any means. But I think we have to consider the conversation at the end, which is put there for a reason.
DeleteAnd not all of "Ulysses" [italics] is as dense as the excerpt. In fact, there's about every kind of writing you could want in there.
Although this story lacked certain important details, I felt that these minor things did not affect the overall outcome of the story. I thought Joyce painted a picture through his imagery so the details were not as essential. Most of all I felt the Joyce used the raw emotion the narrator to appeal to the reader so not as many details were necessary. When Joyce describes the boy's passion for this girl as he stares out the window and waits for her to leave just so he can watch her, you start to relate to him and want things to work out for him. I think the reader does not worry as much about specific details, like where the uncle is and why he is late, because they are more concerned for the success of the boy. The reader is simply excited that the boy will finally get to go to the bazaar.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story I did wonder what the characters names were and wonder about their backgrounds, but not to a point where it affected my feelings about the piece. In a strange way knowing less about the characters made it easier to relate to them. These people didn't have names so it was just this boy and that girl and that family. It could have been anyone. This made it easier to put your self in their place.
The ending was definitely different than I expected. If Joyce were to add anymore information, he should have put it at the end. I was definitely left hanging without a remote clue of what happened or how it should end. Just as you were truly starting to relate to the boy he ends the story.
I’m definitely a fan of the simplicity here. The story lacks most identifying features, making it relatable to nearly any person who reads it. While reading about the kids in the street, I was imagining the average, “story book” street with kids running all over and playing with their friends. The name, location, age, and other identifying bits really aren’t necessary. This story wasn’t written to recount anything to anyone in vivid detail, it’s written vaguely enough that anyone reading it can morph it into whatever they think it should be. Everyone knows what it’s like growing up, playing in the street with their friends. The line that caught me was:
ReplyDelete“The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed.”
It reminds me of winter days from when I was little. My friends and I would collect at one of our houses, dig out the center of the huge piles of snow on our driveways to use as forts, and we’d have the most intense snow ball fights ever. At least, it seemed like the most intense ones at the time. We played and played until night time. By that point we were exhausted, and freezing, but we felt great. It was always so much fun. Parents would be calling all over the neighborhood to find out whose house we had moved on to, and by the end of the night we were each made to return home. Every time, we’d return frozen and glowing. Maybe I’m entirely missing what James Joyce was thinking about when he wrote this, but I think that’s fine. This way, so much is left to the imagination and our own experiences that the story becomes anyone’s. Anyone who reads it is able to fill in what’s not there with their own thoughts and memories.
I very much enjoyed reading this story. Its details are vague, but not so much so that you don’t know what’s supposed to be going on. Enough is supplied that you know what’s happening, and the details of it are left up to you to decide. It’s a nice change of pace. It’s a story that requires reader involvement, but not in the usual “I have to try really hard to figure out what’s going on here” way. Reading this is more of a “Read and mentally fill in the rest of your story with your life.”
“The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed.” One of my favorites, too.
DeleteI don’t really understand what the message of this story was, I but I find myself strangely liking it. The voice style of the narrator is the type that I enjoy reading, so that made me immediately partial to it. I also really love the imagery; “combed the horse or shook music from the buckled harness”, “fine incessant needles of water playing in the sodden beds”, and “caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there” were all beautiful and really creative, which I love to find in writing. But anyway, for me, it was too little information for me to understand a deeper meaning. I’m a very literal person, so it’s not only difficult for me to pick up on sarcasm, but I also have problems trying to make sense of a story that essentially stops in the middle (which this one kind of did). So I did really like the story, but I personally don’t have enough information to make sense out of it.
ReplyDeleteUnless they end with death, don't they all sort of stop in the middle?
DeleteTo be perfectly honest, I am having a little trouble with responding to this short story. I have figured out that there is a very deep underlying meaning to this story, but just not what exactly it is. So I'll start off with some of the questions presented above.
ReplyDeleteHave we been told enough about the narrator? He sometimes behaves in a strange, stalkerish manner. Is this behavior age appropriate?
When I began reading this is wanted to know more about the character, but honestly I don't think it is necessary information. At the end, the character has gone through some sort of life-changing thing (not sure I 100% get it, but I know it's there) and I think it would have the same effect if the reader was given more information, so then why give the information if it is unnecessary for the author to get his point across. At first, I though the boy was being a stalker and totally creeping on that girl, but then I realized everybody does stuff like that when they like a person. Come on, everyone has stalked the person they like, just now we do it on Facebook and twitter, but that's just as creepy as following someone.
He apparently lives with his aunt and uncle -- no explanation of why -- and on the big night in question, the uncle comes home late. Way late. Where has he been?
Again, I think this information is unnecessary. The boy goes through a change in the story, not his aunt and uncle. I don't think the story's meaning would be any different if the uncle got stuck in traffic or was visiting a friend.
Though I feel that I don't really understand the ending, I do understand that the boy is very upset. I think this could be because his expectations for the night were very high, and then they were crushed because he didn't get the girl a gift. I'm not sure if this is a stretch but maybe there's some symbolism in the lights at the bazaar? When he first gets there, the lights are almost out. He is already late, but there's still a little hope to get something. But then as he's leaving, the upper part of the hall is completely dark. Now all his hope and expectations for the night are gone. Not sure if it's too much of a stretch, but that's all I got for that mysterious ending.
"I'm not sure if this is a stretch but maybe there's some symbolism in the lights at the bazaar? When he first gets there, the lights are almost out. He is already late, but there's still a little hope to get something. But then as he's leaving, the upper part of the hall is completely dark." You're right. Light, dark, vision, all important in "Dubliners" [italics].
DeleteAraby follows exactly with “In Praise of Concision,” with leaving out irrelevant details. We have clues of the time period, but are never informed of where this takes place, or of names. This makes the story more effective in that anyone can be the girl or the guy. By putting in a lot of those details, it breaks down the barriers that distinguish who, exactly, the characters can be. This way, they are universally relatable.
ReplyDeleteWhile a lack of details serves the purpose for making the characters relatable, it troubles me when I try to come up with a message. I understand the superficial message to not judge people based on appearance, but I am not quite satisfied with just that. I am looking for the deeper message from this “literary iceberg.”
I am also left with some questions. I wonder if the priest’s death in their house was somehow tied into it? I also question the significance of the ending.
However, something I really liked about this story was how realistic it can actually be. Upon the first read through it, it seemed like a desperate guy crazy about this girl he doesn’t really know and has only talked to a couple times. But after thinking about it for a little while, I realized this scenario occurs rather frequently in society. We do not know the age of the character, but I assume he his close to our age.
“I had never spoken to her except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.” and “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.”
I loved these two quotations because they creatively inform us of how obsessed the guy is and how this lady flows through his every thought. If he doesn’t know her, he has every opportunity to build her up to be something so magnificent, so beautiful, so amazing, in his mind and she may fail to meet such expectations. That is where the problem lies with not knowing her, and I believe he discovered that at the end.
After I finished reading this story, I completely understood the connection with "In Praise of Concision." "Araby" is a very short, sweet, and to the point story. That being said, it seemed as though it was concise to a fault in some sections of the story and also too specific in other parts.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the story, I believed that the death of the priest in the back drawing room would be crucial to the story. I thought that the priest would be a main character or some important person to the plot. Instead, though, he was only mentioned once more and even then, it didn't seem that it was necessary for him to mentioned. My question is, who is the priest? why is he needed in the story? Possibly, James Joyce was trying to get the reader more conncected to the story by giving them the knowledge that the main character has. It seems to me that it is just a room, and the priest is just a priest but I can tell that that is not the case. So with that detail of the story, I think that Joyce could have been a bit more descriptive as it is very difficult to understand the "under the surface" meaning of the priest.
On the other hand, I appreciated that Joyce left out many unnecessary details. A name for the main character would have been nice as we were given a name for the pretty girl that he looks at- Mangan. We don't need to know his name, though. It makes the reader feel as though we are inside of the main character's head. It gives us a connection to the story and that is one of the main components that I look for in a great story. We were given addequate description of Mangan so we understand that he really likes her and really would like to please her. That's all we need to know. Boy likes girl. How much simpler can it get? We then get details into the boy's mission to get a souvenier from the Araby bazzaar in order to make the girl happy. It is sweet and a great story line to follow.
In additon, there were no real large and unnecessary words used by Joyce. It was simple, and easy to understand. I appreciate that he realizes a good story doesn't require the reader to have a dictionary by their side while reading the story.
The part of the story that I got angry about was the ending. I didn't understand it! I realize that there must be an underlying meaning that I can't catch and that really frustrated me. I tried to think why the hall went dark and why the main character was anguished and angry at the end. I wish the author wasn't so concise with that part. Simplicity is great but when the reader can't understand what is happening, what's the point of being simple? Besides the ending, I enjoyed the story and appreciated James Joyce's decision to keep his story concise and brief; even though it made some parts confusing.
"My question is, who is the priest? why is he needed in the story?" Excellent question. The rule of thumb is that you don't put anything into a story that doesn't have a function. So what is the function of the priest?
DeleteI'm not sure, to be honest. But in Ireland the priesthood is never far off. Especially as relates to matters of love (and lust). And then their is a pure, spiritual dimension to the love that the narrator bears for Mangan's sister. Does it add an element of foreboding to the whole story?
Why do I feel so confused after reading this?! What the heck happened? Basically, what I got out of this is that there is a little boy who has a little crush on his friend’s sister and so he wants to go buy her something at the fair but he ends up going and leaving empty handed. Why couldn’t he just buy something from the stall that was left open? I really don’t understand.
ReplyDeleteTo start, I think the boy must be really young. The fact that he creepily watches his friend’s sister seems like a childish thing to do. (Also, very creepy. Little boys should not be stalking girls like that.) Plus, James Joyce wrote that, “If my uncle was seen turning the corner, we hid in the shadow until we had seen him safely housed. Or if Mangan's sister came out on the doorstep to call her brother in to his tea, we watched her from our shadow peer up and down the street.” He has to be young. What kind of teen/ grown boy would hide from his uncle just walking down the street... or what kind of older boy would spy on friend’s older sister while hiding in the shadows? I would say he has to be around 9-11 years old. I am probably totally off on that one, but a boy much younger would not think to do such things.
To answer the question, “Have we been told enough about the narrator?” I think not. Obviously Joyce’s intentions were not for us to know much about narrator, otherwise he would have given us more background information. Maybe some sort of pertinent information to help us understand why he acts the way he does, and why he thinks what he thinks. We have no idea who his real parents are/ what happened to them. I didn’t even realize that he lives with his aunt and uncle until I got to the end of the short story. (It’s not quite that important, but it really makes the reader wonder....)
It seemed pretty sketchy when the uncle came home late. The narrator noted that he heard, “him talking to himself and heard the hallstand rocking when it had received the weight of his overcoat.” He even said that he could “interpret these signs.” Interpret them into... what exactly?Joyce never shares what happens or what the little boy is thinking. Did something bad happen? Is the uncle involved in some sort of shady business? Who knows. While I was reading, I thought that a new problem would occur when the uncle came home so disheveled with his thoughts... but it ended up not being such an important detail of the story. Maybe it had something to do with the boys real parents? Maybe something to do with work? I honestly can’t even infer what happened because I do not know enough about the uncle as a character.
Then, the boy goes to the fair. And he approaches a stall.... to be honest, I had no idea what was going on in this little tidbit of the story. I couldn’t figure it out until I finished reading... and then I got even more confused as to why the narrator was leaving so angry. I understand that a little boy who has his heart set on something only for it to not happen would be upset... but Joyce writes that he is full of “anguish”. He could have easily bought something from the vendor, too. It was his fault for not showing enough interest when he entered the stall. This just proves that he must be really young because only a young boy would feel intimidated and not know what to do in that situation.
Overall, this seems like a very random subject to write a short story about.... It’s probably because I don’t fully understand it’s message. I wish I could pinpoint it because I would probably like it more if I knew what it was truly about. I enjoyed Joyce’s writing style thought. It was clear, concise and I could actually understand what he was saying. I might not have been able to understand the story’s hidden meaning but I did at least understand what was going on with the characters. I probably wouldn’t mind reading more of James Joyce’s works.
Maybe we can try another one.
DeleteI had to reread this story about three times in order to have a basic understanding of what happened. I basically understood that its a young boy with a crush. Yes, he may have been a little... sketchy in his thoughts and always watching her, but if it's his first crush than I guess it is acceptable. I got the feeling that Mangan's sister knew that the boy had a crush on her and decided to see if she could get something out of it. She seemed coy by saying that even though she couldn't go that the boy should go because it's so wonderful. He took the bait that she dangled in front of his nose when he offered to get her something. When he's at the stall at Araby, he has that light bulb moment when he has to remember why he's even there. Some pretty girl took advantage of him to get a present. Thankfully, the character comes to his senses and realizes that he was blinded by her beauty rather than in love with Mangan's sister. He was vain when he only loved her for her beauty. His realization embarrassed him and he was very angry to have fallen for her tricks.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a problem with the fact that such little background is given. I can create the picture of the character myself and fill in my own details to make the whole story more personal. James Joyce's style here was confusing at first, but overall was pretty effective. By taking out the "fluff", he made it so that the reader can focus on the content and the plot rather than the character and whether or not he is a stalker or a boy with a crush. You can make it what you want it to be when so little is offered.
"I got the feeling that Mangan's sister knew that the boy had a crush on her and decided to see if she could get something out of it." Oh, how cynical! I never got that impression. Maybe because she's presented as this image of purity in the narrator's mind.
DeleteMegan says: After reading this short story twice through I'm still not positive what the message is. When the boy was mad at the end I thought it could be because he's mad that he let himself fall to whatever his crush wanted him to do and he went to a place that had no excitement or value to him. I also thought he could be mad that there was nothing that he could get for her to make her happy, but I can understand the former scenario more. I know I would do just about anything for some people, but I think if I was nice enough to do something for them I would hope it wouldn't be a total waste of my time and energy. Even this is a very loose interpretation of this story, but I'm not too sure of the true message. The first time I read it I even stopped at the end thinking I was missing a page! But I'm sure there was something that I missed, which is why I read it again and I made the remarkable discovery that...I still don't know what it's trying to say. I believe the author may have been a little bit too vague, at least for me, but I think if we discussed the story in class we would definitely come up with a formidable meaning of the story.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I didn't find a full meaning of the story, I found the story relatable in one part in particular when the boy talks about playing with the other kids on his street. It reminded me of when the kids in my neighborhood used to get together every day after school and play football, basketball, wiffle ball, or capture the flag until it was too dark to see. I was able to visualize and physically feel this description: "The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed." I know from experience what it feels like running around in late fall playing basketball and even playing snow football. By the time you went inside your hands, ears, cheeks, and nose were all a bright scarlet; you were practically glowing. After reading this line I felt connected to the story and was able to relate it to my childhood. The story brought me back to those days playing outside after school giving me a personal connection and it was able to pull me into a story making me one of the kids the boy played with in the streets, not just someone looking on in third person.
All in all, I finished this story feeling like James Joyce forgot to write an ending. While I feel the topic and story were easy to follow, picture and relate to by comparing moments from my own life, I enjoy connecting to messages the most, not just events. I was enjoying the story as I progressed but I'm not too sure what the meaning was leaving me unsatisfied. I hope once we talk about it in class we can deduce a meaning that can affect me so I can get the emotional aspect of a connection with a story.
Mr. MacArthur's Dictionary of Words He Doesn't Like: "relatable". Try "easy to relate to". To me relatable means "something one can relate" -- a story, an incident, a feeling. Your word should be "relate-to-able". (If it's any consolation, this is one I'm sure to lose -- at least in the short term.)
Delete" I hope once we talk about it in class we can deduce a meaning that can affect me so I can get the emotional aspect of a connection with a story." I'd be glad to do that if anybody wants to. Or read some of the previous responses for hints about the ending.
Taylor says: In James Joyce's "Araby" the tone of the story is set within the first line when he says that school "set the boys free". I found this line to seem mystical in a way because usually a school does not set you free, you simply get to leave; and although that is what the author means here I felt a sense that the boys loved school just as much as they loved being outdoors. Then in the second paragraph Joyce says "Air, musty and from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms,". This line also gave me a sense of a mystical world because the air itself is given life, something we take for granted in our world is given the quality of living and that causes me, and I believe any reader, to feel that the world in the story is full of hidden life and power.
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of the third paragraph is when you can first see the attraction that the boy has for the young woman, although he has clearly not yet identified it as such. To him, as it does to many first-time lovers, the attraction itself is felt more as a phenomena or sensation than an emotional feeling. The boy describes her movements and her looks, often referring to how the light hits her, but does not seem to know very much about her otherwise. The two do not even speak for quite a while, despite the fact that they see eachother every day. The boy describes how he watches her, which leads me to believe that the love or attraction he feels may be more a fascination with her, or even a fascination with the idea of any young woman in general.
My favorite line in the piece is "Through one of the broken panes I heard the rain impinge upon the earth, the fine incessant needles of water plauin in the sodden beds." I adore this quotation because although it holds no real insight to the story or characters, Joyce does a great job at describing the rain in an intriguing way. He is able to make something as simple as rain falling upon mud seem magical, and when I read this sentence I was left writing the word "wow" next ti it in my notes. By reading this short piece, I was able to understand that James Joyce is one of those few masters of literary prose that can make you feel uplifted even with the simplest of sentences, and full of emotion by something as simple as rain or air.
That last image does fit in with the overall melancholy tone of the story, though.
Delete