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maureen. i think you pulled out some of the very bestest lines and some of my favorites. i am going to re-read your posting and also re-read araby again tonite, and then will think more about it and reply more fully later. on the question of the term 'araby', no this is not a commonly used term in ireland. i think that the word araby is the title of the 'fair' that is taking place in the town, the theme of that fair being 'eastern' or an arabian theme; there are ref's to that effect at the end of the story too. my personal feeling tho on joyce's choice for naming the fair 'araby' (and the story) was that, remember when the boy encounters his drunken uncle who had promised to let him go but who has forgotten all about it (he stumbles while hanging his coat, a clue that joyce is implying he is drunk). anyway his aunt says, 'oh maybe you'll have to give your night at the fair up for this *night of Our Lord*'; later the uncle asks our boy if he read the book 'an *arab's* *farewell* to his steed', (isn't that it)? i think this book title and the uncle's mention of it is important as a symbol; it seems to me that joyce is relating the uncle's debunking of the boy's plans to this title -- steeds and horses often being used as sexual symbols in lit, no? (symbolizing male sexuality in particular) and in that regard, when i think about the title of the book and the resolution to the story, it makes some sense to me. isn't it funny how, about such a little story there is so very much to talk about? we could probably easily spend a month on araby alone!! :-) Manish. For an ignorant person like me, this was the 'best' portion of the story, and yes it did remind me of Roy, the way 'things'(small:)) took the burden of creating the right mood. And I say ignorant because I totally missed the reference to Mary as someone pointed out, or the parellel drawn to the genesis by Maureen, but maybe because I haven't had much exposure to Joyce's work. Is that the case? That you need to come back to the story once you get to know Joyce better, so as to get more out of it??..(I think so)..as for now I found it to be very personal, and yes the way the voice of the narrator(the boy) is so down outright is interesting, as I found in more of his stories, the sincerity, and the openness with which the feelings were conveyed, something which made me like 'The Dead' very much...but that later when we come to it... As for Araby, yes that reference to the east was something that I thought I would ask rightaway...because the word is not english, in fact it is Arabian(or Urdu or Farsi or Hindi:)). The ending sentence of the story was, as it seemed to me, the summation of all that he wanted to talk of. From the stories that I have read(in Dubliners) it has seemed to me that Joyce has the way of writing the whole story as an introduction to the last line/paragraph where he, in the same true-to-the-self style, detaches himself from the narrative and brings the whole 'matter' to the final feelings(whereas the 'world' of the story is made to continue, as if the story was an episode from something longer). But...a long way to go, still to early to judge:)) |
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