Arabay by James Joyce Essay - 1487 Words

Select Literary Elements of â€Å"Araby† In â€Å"Araby† by James Joyce, the author uses several literary elements to convey the multitude of deep meanings within the short story. Three of the most prominent and commonly used by Joyce are the elements of how the themes were developed, the unbounded use of symbolism, and the effectiveness of a particular point of view. Through these three elements Joyce was able to publish his world famous story and allow his literary piece to be understood and criticized by many generations. The first and most obvious theme that Joyce develops throughout the story is the staunch devotion to religion, especially Catholicism. Growing up in the mostly Catholic city of Dublin, the narrator was born with a deep†¦show more content†¦He even practically prostate worshipped this young girl by lying on the floor each morning while waiting for her door to open. The sister’s immaculate image follows the narrator everywhere, eve n in the darkest of places such as the sinful public square. For example, when the narrator goes to the market on Saturday evenings, his constant vision of the sister allows him to act as a religious hero bearing a chalice through a den of robbers. This constant envisioning of the sister will end up causing confusion between the narrator and his faith because he is seeing an ordinary girl as pure and infallible (Barnhisel). The theme of religion is brought to mainstream prominence toward the end of the story when the narrator realizes his need for self-improvement. In the end of the story, the narrator feels a severe emotional reaction of anguish and anger when he goes back empty handed from Araby. Despite his emotions, he does make a major moral judgment by admitting that he based his endeavor for the girl solely on vanity. This moral realization was caused by his oppressive Catholic upbringing as a child. After this initial realization, the narrator also looks back and s ees that he was in vain chasing romance and happiness (Coulthard). Besides mostly being dominated by a religious theme, Joyce also develops a theme of nonreligious elements as well. First off, the narrator views Magnan’s sister as pure, but he expresses his hidden and nonreligious thoughts of