What impression of Dublin and its people does James Joyce give in his story 'Araby'

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Thomas Rutland        Poetry 2005-06        ‘Araby’ Coursework

What impression of Dublin and its people does James Joyce give in his story ‘Araby’

‘Dubliners’ is a book written by controversial Irish writer James Joyce, Dubliners was published in 1914 although the various stories in it were actually written between 1904 and 1907. James Joyce despised his homeland and every thing about it; he rejected Christianity, his family and Ireland, his country. In 1904, James left Ireland to live in Switzerland where he began to write Dubliners. James also rejected Irish literature and subsequently his favourite writers were Chekov, a Russian writer, Ibsen, a Norwegian writer and Zola, a French writer. James’ hero was Charles Parnell, who was an Irish politician; James liked the idea of Home rule for the Irish but sadly, for him Parnell did not achieve Home rule.

All of the streets mentioned in ‘Araby’ are real streets in Dublin. James Joyce begins ‘Araby’ by saying that North Richmond Street is ‘blind’, when you enter a cal de sac there’s no escape, your trapped in, James Joyce implies that there’s no vision on all of Dublin’s streets and that there’s no escape from them. The Christian Brother’s School mention in ‘Araby’ is a school for poor children, ‘set the boys free’, James says that the children are imprisoned in the school; again Dublins people are trapped in. All of Dublin’s streets are made to sound dirty and derelict. The empty house was neglected and not cared for, there is a damp atmosphere inside of the house and there is rubbish all over the house. James Joyce only makes negative comments about Dublin and implies that the city have no culture or love of literature, we see this because it the empty house there are three books found. The first one is a religious novel, ‘The Abbot’, the second book; ‘The Devout Communicant’ is on how to receive Holy Communion well and the third book, ‘The Memoirs of Vidocq’ is about the life story of a thief. James suggests that the Church is only after your money. The Garden in the house represents the Garden of Eden, which is the source of sin and evil. ‘Rusty bicycle-pump’, a pump is used to pump the tyres in a car and because the pump is rusty the car wheels can’t be pumped up, and you can’t go anywhere, again James puts forward that there’s just no escape form Dublin. Alternatively, James might have meant the pump represented Satan in the form of a snake, as the pump is long and cylindrical like a snake. In addition, he may have suggested that the ‘rusty pump’ symbolizes the heart pump, and as the pump is rusty, the heart is not functioning properly and there is n love or life in Dublin. The priest who lived in the now deserted house only gave away his possessions when he was dead, so he was not so ‘charitable’ while he was alive; again, James signifies that the Church is only after your money.

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‘Araby’ is set in the winter when it is cold, dark, dull, gloomy and this had a depressing effect, ‘the houses had grown sombre’, James says that the feeble street lamps can hardly light anything up. Every thing that James says about Dublin is pessimistic, ‘the cold air stung us’, Dublin is such a terrible city that even the air is violent, James always talks of the dark muddy lanes in Dublin, he think the roads in Dublin are not ft to be called roads. ‘Rough tribes’ is how James describes those living in the cottages, he suggests that Dublin’s ...

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