Themes of Alienation and Control in James Joyces Araby Essay -- James

Alienation of Araby Although Araby is a fairly short story, origin James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very profoundly issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boys trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a alone(predicate) boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will someway alleviate his miserable life. James Joyces uses the boy in Araby to transgress a story of isolation and lack of take. These themes of alienation and control argon ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boys emotional remoteness is his lack of control over his life. The story begins as the boy describes his contiguity. right off find outings of isolation and hopelessness begin to set in. The street that the boy lives on is a dead end, right from the beginning he is trapped. In addition, he feels ignored by the houses on his street. Their brown imp erturbable faces make him feel excluded from the decent lives within them. The street becomes a representation of the boys self, uninhabited and detached, with the houses personified, and arguably more alive than the residents (Gray). Every detail of his neighborhood seems designed to inflict him with the hint of isolation. The boys house, like the street he lives on, is alter with decay. It is suffocating and musty from being long enclosed. It is difficult for him to establish every sort of connection to it. Even the history of the house feels unkind. The houses previous tenant, a priest, had died while living there. He left all his money to institutions and the piece of furniture of the house to his sister (Norton Anthology 2236). It was as if he was trying to insure the boys tiresomeness and solitude. The only thing of interest that the boy can find is a bicycle pump, which is rusty and rendered unfit to play with. Even the wild garden is gloomy and desolate, containing but a lone apple tree and a few straggling bushes. It is hardly the sort of yard that a youthfulness boy would want. Like most boys, he has no voice in choosing where he lives, yet his surroundings project a powerful moment on him. His home and neighborhood are not the only sources of the boys animosity. The persist is also unkind to the boy. Not only is it cold, but the short eld of winter make play more difficult under the feeb... ... is not at all that he imagined. It is dismal and dark and thrives on the put on motive and the eternal lure its name evokes in men. The boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a humans that does not exist except in his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and realizes his self-deception. He feels he is a creature driven and derided by self-esteem and the vanity is his own (Sample Essays). The story provides some(prenominal) sources for the boys animosity. Beginning with his home and overall environment, and arrival a ll the way to the adults that surround him. However, it is clear that all of these causes of the boys isolation have something in common, he has control over none of these factors. While many of these circumstances no one can expect to have control over, it is the culmination of all these elements that lead to the boys undeniable feeling of lack of control.Works CitedThe Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York W.W. Norton & Company. 2000Classic Notes on Dubliners. commemorate Saver. 2003. Sample Essays Analyzing James Joyces Short Story Araby. Gray, Wallace. Notes for James Joyces Araby. World good Dubliners.