Karry-Ann Viaene

Mrs.Hayward

English 11

28 April 2017

Literary Analysis of “Araby”

James Joyce is regarded as one of the many influential and important authors of the 20th

century. He is well-known for writing by using complexity and explicit content. Specifically, in

his short story “Araby,” he uses imagery to tell the story of a boy falling in love with a girl based

on vanity. Through light and dark expressions, Joyce figuratively displays the mood of

characters and settings.

Particularly, Joyce first states , “Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the

rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless newspapers.” This

line displays a clear image of darkness through expressions with the use of words such as

“musty” and “enclosed.” These terms show that the author is alone in a concealed place. Again,

he continues to show another straight-forward setting, “When we met in the street the houses had

grown somber. The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it

the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our

bodies glowed.” Utilizing the expressions “somber” and “feeble” aids Joyce to envision the

gloom of the background in this story, revealing the weakness of the writer along with the grey

tone of the piece.

Moving forward in the story Joyce begins to exhibit signs of light expressions. “Her image

accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance.” And more importantly, “The light
from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested

there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell over one side of her dress and caught the

white border of a petticoat, just visible as she stood at ease.” These lines indicate the amount of

fondness that is felt towards Mangan’s sister, alongside of the light assertion she brings to the

author in the story. Nonetheless, Joyce continues to depict light expressions continuously

through Mangan’s sister, surfacing the everlasting vanity.

Near the end of the piece, The author provides strict evidence to pinpoint the dependence on

vanity. “I looked over at the dark house where she lived. I may have stood there for an hour,

seeing nothing but the brown-clad figure cast by my imagination, touched discreetly by the

lamplight at the curved neck, at the hand upon the railings and at the border below the dress.”

This implies the misconjecture of lust felt for Mangan’s sister. Continuously contemplating his

feelings for her. Admiring a young lady at the bar leads him to envision the appalling drive for

vanity. “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and

my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” This line represents the deep and dark feeling the

author gets as he realized he only liked her for her looks.

Joyce figuratively displays the mood of characters and settings by the usage of imagery while

also utilizing light and dark expressions to tell a story about a boy and a girl falling in love

through vanity. Falling in love with a girl for her looks will only bring you darkness.