James Joyces Dubliners Setting and Theme in Ara Essay Example For Students

James Joyces Dubliners Setting and Theme in Ara Essay by Joyce Dubliners Araby EssaysHow the Setting Reinforces the Theme and Characters in Araby The setting in Araby reinforces the theme and the characters by using imagery of light and darkness. The experiences of the boy in James Joyces 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 boys 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 Mangans 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 Joyces 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 boys 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 Mangans sister, the boys infatuation. The protagonist is infatuated with his neighbors sister and he imagines that he will heroically bring her something back from the bazaar. Joyce refers to bright light when discussing Mangans 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 boys 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 dont work out as expected.