Comparing Araby And Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

Dreams are a place in one’s mind where there is freedom to believe, say, or do what ever one chooses. Whether it be a place where one can compose a fantasy to escape reality or a place to establish a new real life. Dreams or illusions can often be perceived incorrectly and thought to be part of real life until one is awaken from the fantasy and runs straight into the harsh reality of one’s own life. The idea that dreams and illusions remove the characters from their actuality to a fantasy can be noticed in the stories Araby by James Joyce and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates. Within these two short stories, both authors portray the theme that what is imagined in ones head can be shattered by a harsh reality through

the use of symbolism connecting to senses and the symbolism of religious images.
Each of the two short stories have a similar theme regarding fantasy versus reality, however, each author uses contrasting symbols to covey the theme.

In Araby, the narrator’s infatuation with Mangan’s sister symbolizes the light in his dark life. “She was waiting for us, her figure defined by the light from the half opened door… I stood by the railing looking at her. Her dress swung as if she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair teased from side to side…the light from the lamp opposite our door caught white curve of her neck, lit up her hair”(Joyce 4). The narrator is hiding while gazing at her from his window, compelled by her appearance to continue watching her. He illustrates her as if she is the only light in the street, therefore she is the only light in his dark life. The way the narrator describes Mangan’s sister comprises her to seem like she has an encompassed radiance around her and that theres only darkness behind her. Therefore revealing that she in the narrators mind symbolizes the light in his dark life, because he finds goodness and joy out of fantasizing about her. The narrator also idolizes Mangan’s sister by imagining how much she means to him then, however, through the narrators revelation of his true reality the theme is portrayed. In reality Mangan's sister has no undetermined love with the narrator. Once the narrator realizes his impending fate of not having a romantic

relationship with this girl, his dreams are crushed.

Thus the theme, that one’s imagination can be destroyed by a harsh reality, is created. She symbolizes the color in his fantasy while his reality is dark: he is a young boy stuck in a black and white picture of 1920 Ireland. Fantasizing over his love for and with Mangan’s sister is his escape from reality, imagining himself giving her a gift from the bazaar which in return will win him her heart. However, this fantasy is destroyed when he is unable to purchase her a gift from the bazaar, hence showing how his fantasy of her being the light in his life is shattered by reality. Connie, the main character of Where Are You Going, Where Have Your Been also escapes reality through her fantasies except rather than a human acting as a trigger, music is what takes her to her fantasies. Listening to music symbolizes Connie’s passage between fantasy and reality. “ The joy had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music…But all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music and the humid night air of July. Connie’s mother kept dragging her back to the

daylight” (Oates ]278). Connie is hanging out with a boy, but it’s not the boy that is giving her joy, it is the music, which symbolizes the passage between reality and fantasy. This passage between worlds is enhanced by the authors Joyce Carol Oates intentional message that the fantasy of the boys are created by the music, while the reality is symbolized by Connie’s mother dragging her back to daylight: signifying reality. The symbolism of Mangan’s sister in Araby and music in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been symbolizes a passage between reality and fantasy and acts as a literal trigger for the fantasies. Joyce Carol Oates more effectively expresses her story compared to James Joyce because she makes the symbolism of the music clear and specific so audiences can understand. However, the authors convey this idea differently. In Araby his fantasy is good because it brings him joy while his reality is viewed as evil because its darkness is dangerous. Joyce Carol Oates approaches her story differently the fantasy instead, is conveyed as evil because it can easily get her in trouble, while her reality is portrayed as good since its safe and healthy. By intertwining the idea of good versus evil the authors were able to capture ones imagination being crushed by reality from a different perspective whether the dream is beneficial to the character or not. The similarities of the two contrasting symbols, creating a bridge between fantasy and reality, portray the same theme in the stories: that what is imagined in ones head can be shattered by a harsh reality.