Narration and point of view have a large impact on any piece of literature. The way a story is narrated can change the way a reader perceives a story. The short stories “Araby” and “Cathedral” are narrated with different styles. The way these stories are narrated provides guidance for the reader to interpret the meaning of the story. The first story read was "Araby" which is about a partially introverted boy wandering in the direction of adulthood. There is little in the way of guidance from his family or community. It is told from the first-person point of view or first person narrative. The story is a convincing representation of the voice of an observant, impressionable, naïve young boy. At the same time, through the deft use of language, symbol, and allusion, a world of feeling beyond the boy’s experience is conveyed to the attentive reader. “Araby” is told from the point of view of a young boy on the verge of adolescence. Because is written this way, the story is relatable to almost any male audience. The style of narration is called first person point of view or first person story. Because this story is about the boy's confused feelings and newly appearing curiosities of teenage years, the first person point of view allows the reader to see how the young boy (narrator) thinks and feels. This allows the reader to create a closer connection to the character in the book. Since this is a first person narration, the reader is in-the-know about the narrator's sudden, intelligent idea at the end of the story. If this had been third person narration, the narrator would have had to physically describe the boy's reactions and only a third person all-knowing narrator would be informed about his thoughts. With first person narratio... ... middle of paper ... ...e it makes Robert seem (different from what's usually expected), even alien, because the narrator has no idea of what a blind man can and cannot do. Likewise, once Robert becomes more human for the narrator, he takes shape for us as well. At the end of the story, when Robert guides the narrator in drawing the cathedral with his eyes closed, the narrator enjoys the strangeness of the experience, and his shock and confusion makes this amazing (out of this world) moment more emotional. It is an amazing and interesting moment, but the narrator's simple description of it makes it a human moment as well. The style of writing in both of these pieces have a big impact on the perspective of the audience. In one story it is written in a style that allows the reader to establish a closer connection with the character while in the other story it adds more emotion to the story.
The whole book is written as a first person narrative except for one short part that Rahim Khan is narrating. The book is told in first person by the main character Amir. The example shows that the story is told in first person because the author uses the word “I” and explains what Amir is thinking in his own mind which can only be done in first person narrative.
Galchen creates the character of her narrator to be very similar to that of the young narrator in “Araby” in a modern setting. In their youth, each narrator becomes infatuated and obsessed with someone who does not realize. The narrator of “Araby” falls in love with his friend Mangan’s sister, as seen in that he states that “when she came out on the doorstep [his] heart leaped” (123). He forms an obsession with her, as evidenced by the fact that he “had never spoken to her . . . and yet her name was like a summons to all [his] foolish blood” and in that “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance” (123).
Joyce, James. “Araby”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 427 - 431.
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
In James Joyce’s short story, Araby, the author utilizes a first-person narrative to accurately relay the narrator’s sense of isolation in his society. The story begins with this theme already heavily hinted, as the narrator describes his house as “detached from its neighbours in a square ground” (Joyce). The street the narrator returns home to is described as blind, void of children playing or the friendly eyes of neighbors. Even the surrounding houses take on the personas of their inhabitants, “[gazing] at one another with brown imperturbable faces” (Joyce).
When Robert asked if the narrator was religious, he confirmed that he was not “I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it’s hard. You know what I am saying?” (Carver, XXX) It is then that Robert asked the narrator if he could draw a cathedral for him. With the guidance of Roberts hand and encouragement “terrific, you’re doing fine”, he begins. It starts off as a simple box, but the more the narrator draws, the more it begins to look like his own house. The reader can start to sense there is a change beginning to take place “Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you bub? Well, it’s a strange life, we all know that. Go on now. Keep it up” (Carver, XXX). He was so overcome with emotion, that when he wife awoke and asked what was going on, he was not able to answer her. He continued to draw, with the encouragement of Robert. At the end of the drawing he was truly amazed at what he drew. When Robert asked him if he seen what he drew, he said “It’s really something”. (Carver, XXX) For the first time, the narrator was able to see with his eyes still closed, what he had in live, as if he had a coming to Christ moment, with him sitting in his cathedral, which was used to be closer to God. It was a freeing moment “But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything”. (Carver,
Snart, Jason. "In Aid Of Teaching James Joyce's "Araby." Eureka Studies In Teaching Short Fiction 9.2 (2009): 89-101. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
The story “Araby” opens with a description of North Richmond Street. This gives reader the first view of the young boy's world. The Richmond Street “was a quiet street except.....the boys free” (Joyce 345). The young boy in “Araby” lives with his aunt a...
Since the story was written in the third person objective, it is easier for the reader to remain objective while analyzing the story. If we one were to hear the story from on of the character’s point of view, the retelling of the story would be clouded with various em...
Although “Araby” is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce’s uses the boy in “Araby” to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.
The short story “Araby” by James Joyce is told by what seems to be the first person point of view of a boy who lives just north of Dublin. As events unfold the boy struggles with dreams versus reality. From the descriptions of his street and neighbors who live close by, the reader gets an image of what the boy’s life is like. His love interest also plays an important role in his quest from boyhood to manhood. The final trip to the bazaar is what pushes him over the edge into a foreshadowed realization. The reader gets the impression that the narrator is the boy looking back on his epiphany as a matured man. The narrator of “Araby” looses his innocence because of the place he lives, his love interest, and his trip to the bazaar.
The visual and emblematic details established throughout the story are highly concentrated, with Araby culminating, largely, in the epiphany of the young unnamed narrator. To Joyce, an epiphany occurs at the instant when the essence of a character is revealed, when all the forces that endure and influence his life converge, and when we can, in that moment, comprehend and appreciate him. As follows, Araby is a story of an epiphany that is centered on a principal deception or failure, a fundamental imperfection that results in an ultimate realization of life, spirit, and disillusionment. The significance is exposed in the boy’s intellectual and emotional journey from first love to first dejection,
Araby is about escaping into the world of fantasy. The narrator is infatuated with his friend's sister; he hides in the shadows, peering secluded from a distance trying to spy her "brown figure"(Joyce 38). She is the light in his fantasy, someone who will lift him out of darkness. I see many parallels to my life as a boy growing up in the inner city of Jersey City. We looked for escape also, a trip uptown to Lincoln Park, or take a train ride to New York City where we would gaze at the beauties on 7th Ave.
In many cultures, childhood is considered a carefree time, with none of the worries and constraints of the “real world.” In “Araby,” Joyce presents a story in which the central themes are frustration, the longing for adventure and escape, and the awakening and confusing passion experienced by a boy on the brink of adulthood. The author uses a single narrator, a somber setting, and symbolism, in a minimalist style, to remind the reader of the struggles and disappointments we all face, even during a time that is supposed to be carefree.