The setting in "Araby" reinforces the theme and the characters by using imagery of light
and darkness. The experiences of the boy in James Joyce's "Araby" illustrate how people
often expect more than ordinary reality can provide and then feel disillusioned and
disappointed. The author uses dark and obscure references to make the boy's reality of
living in the gloomy town of Araby more vivid. He uses dark and gloomy references to
create the mood or atmosphere, then changes to bright light references when discussing
Mangan's sister. The story expresses its theme through the setting, the characterization
of the boy and his point of view as the narrator.
Darkness is used throughout the story as the prevailing theme. James Joyce's story
begins at dusk and continues through the evening during the winter, in Araby Ireland. He
chooses this gloomy setting to be the home of a young boy who is infatuated with his
neighbors sister. The boy is young and naive and he leads a dull and boring life. Joyce
uses darkness to make the boy's reality more believable through more vivid, precise
descriptions.
Bright light is used to create a fairy tale world of dreams and illusions. James Joyce
uses the bright light when describing Mangan's sister, the boy's infatuation. The
protagonist is infatuated with his neighbor's sister and he imagines that he will
heroically bring her something back from the bazaar. Joyce refers to bright light when
discussing Mangan's sister in order to give her a heavenly presence. Light is used to
create a joyful atmosphere.
The ending of the story is filled with images of darkness and light. James Joyce uses
the lights of the bazaar to illustrate the boy's confrontation with reality. The bazaar
lights are almost all off because the bazaar is almost closed. This is significant
because the boy wants the bazaar to be bright and open, but it is dark and closed. This
is when the boy finally realizes that life is not what he had dreamt it to be. He finds
himself angry at life and disillusioned.
James Joyce uses the setting to symbolize a key concept of the story. The dark
disillusion the boy experiences is all part of growing up. The boy is no longer young and
naive, he has grown up and become disillusioned with life. "Araby" shows how we all get
ideas about how things will be and then feel disappointed with ourselves when things
don't work out as expected.
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