Where does the beginning come from in every story and what influences the authors to include details and write the way they do? How do they know what to write about when for some the words just do not come? Life experiences, history, family history and events around them in the time are four of some of the biggest reasons authors put their thoughts and feelings on paper. What affected James Joyces’ writing most were the events going around him in Europe during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. However, his own experiences had an impact in his style and writing material. Joyce was born in 1882 in Dublin Ireland and lived through reformations, wars, and trails until he died in Zürich in 1941. He was a man much in to politics and was much interested how a country was being led. In the year 1914, James wrote 15 short stories known as Dubliners, which also includes the short story “Araby” (Thomas). “Araby” is a short story in which he writes describing a young lad’s curiosity and naïve experience with love and in which he describes his personal life as a boy . Ireland was not always free and independent as it is now. England had control of Ireland since it took control in 1798 (Allison). This had a big effect in the life of James for all his childhood their country was under the control of a foreign hand. When Joyce first published his short stories, there were uprisings in the countries around since that same year, World War 1 started. Because of the turmoil in the countries about, Joyce had fit these events in with his pieces of fiction. Culture, where and how a person is raised, affects a person no matter how much they dislike the way they are being taught the ways of life. However, moving to different places as a child and coun... ... middle of paper ... ...o see two wars, multitudes of countries and, in a way, was oppressed by a foreign power. Works Cited "A Brief Biography of James Joyce." Joyce. The James Joyce Centre, 2011. Web. 14 Jan 2011. Allison, Fiona. "The Irish War of Independence 1919-1921." suite101.com. suite101, 11 Jan 2010. Web. 16 Jan 2011. Connor, Steven. James Joyce. Plymouth: Northcote House publishers, 1996. Print Joyce, James. “Araby.” Literature: The Human Experience. Abcarian, Richard et al.,. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 92-96 Kiberd, Declan. Ulysess and Us. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print O’Brien, Edna. James Joyce. New York: Viking Penguin, 1999. Print Peterson, Richard F. James Joyce, Revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. Print Thomas, Steve. "Dubliners by James Joyce." ebooks@Adelaide. The University of Adelaide, 23 Aug 2010. Web. 20 Jan 2011
Campbell, Joseph. Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: On the Art of James Joyce. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.
James Joyce author of Dubliners, is a book which examines the everyday life of people who live in Dublin. In this intimate portrayal of Dubliners, Joyce writes short stories about the individuals in Irish society. In Dubliners many characters feel the pressure of society, and show their desires to escape. In the stories “Eveline”, “Counterparts” and “The Dead”, the themes of individuals v. society and journey through escape are present. In each story there is a powerful person present that controls a particular person or situation. In Dublin jobs are very important, since they control the social standing in their society. Dublin itself is a major issue to the characters in Dubliners; they wrestle with the ideas of being able to escape.
Stone, Harry. "Araby" and the Writings of James Joyce. N.p.: n.p., n.d. EBSCO. Web. .
Hunter, Cheryl. "The Coming Of Age Archetype In James Joyce's "Araby.." Eureka Studies In Teaching Short Fiction 7.2 (2007): 102-104. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
James Joyce created a collection of short stories in Dubliners describing the time and place he grew up in. At the time it was written, Joyce intends to portray to the people of Dublin the problems with the Irish lifestyles. Many of these stories share a reoccurring theme of a character’s desire to escape his or her responsibilities in regards to his relationship with his, job, money situation, and social status; this theme is most prevalent in After the Race, Counterparts, and The Dead.
Written in 1914, James Joyce’s “Araby” is the tragic tale of a young boy’s first hopeless infatuation with a neighborhood girl. The young boy lives in a dark and unforgiving world.
Dubliner by James Joyce is full of epiphanies that characters experience about the lives they live. All of the stories in Dubliners share the common themes of realization, and awareness. As the stories progress “The Sisters” and “the Dead” show the real way of life in Dublin in the early 20th century. These stories were not only showing the truth in the characters lives, but the true problems of Dublin in the 20th century. These themes are echoed throughout both “The Sisters” and “The Dead” and result in the main characters becoming more aware of their mortality and surroundings.
In “Araby”, James Joyce details the transition of a young Irish boy into his adolescence. Looking for love and excitement, the narrator becomes obsessed with pleasing his best friend’s sister, eventually ending up at a special festival to buy her a present. Disappointed by the bad- natured shopkeepers and its closing down, he reaches a frustrating epiphany about the fine line between reality and his wistful dreams. Through the use of fanciful imagery and detached characterization, Joyce demonstrates how romance belongs to the realm of the young, not the old, and that it is doomed to fail in a word flawed by materialism and a lack of beauty.
Fairhall, James. James Joyce and the Question of History. Cambridge University Press. New York, New York: 1993.
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Portable James Joyce. Harry Levin, ed. Penguin. 1976, New York. Ulysses. Vintage, New York. 1961.
James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882 in Rathgar, Republic of Ireland. He was an Irish novelist and poet. James Joyce is considered one of the most influential writers in the early 20th century. James Sullivan said, “James Joyce is a preeminent modernist writer and a great innovator (Magill's 1347). He wrote many novels and short stories, but some of his most famous are in a collection of short stories call Dubliners. In Dubliners there are many well-known stories such as “The Dead”, “The Sisters”, “Clay”, and “The Encounter.” There are many different aspects of his writing that make him one of the most influential writers. Some of those aspects are his themes, characterizations, and plots of his stories. One example is how most of his stories from Dubliners are dreadful and dark. The recurring themes throughout Dubliners are institutions,economic failure and the corruption of values, and finally paralysis.
James Joyce's fragment of a novel, Stephen Hero, leaves the reader little room to interpret the text for themselves. The work lacks the narrative distance that Joyce achieves in his later works. Dubliners, a work Joyce was writing concurrently, seemingly employs a drastically different voice. A voice which leaves the reader room to make judgments of their own. Yet it is curious that Joyce could produce these two works at the same time, one that controls the reader so directly, telling not showing , while the other, Dubliners, seems to give the reader the power of final interpretation over the characters it portrays.
Ehrlich, Heyward. “’Araby’ in Context: The “Splendid Bazaar”, Irish Orientalism, and James Clarence Mangan.” James Joyce Quarterly 35.2 (1998) 309-331. Web.
Peake, C.H. James Joyce: The Citizen and The Artist. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1977. 56-109.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Portable James Joyce. Ed. Harry Levin. New York: Penguin, 1976.