ENG 1120 Lecture 3: araby analysis
Document Summary
Coming of age story and sexual maturation. The first-person narration shows that perhaps the narrator might be a grown man recapping on this story which he experienced as a child. Joyce gives us a character with a romantic outlook. Ego: island of consciousness dominated by id (pleasures and passions, i want ) and superego (rules and regulations) There is a social, philosophical, physical, economic, etc. context. She is going on a retreat with her school (run by a convent), which suggests this society is very religious. The boy experiences an epiphany and despair follows. On the literal level, not much happens. He hopes that by buying the girl something, he will be one step closer to winning her heart: he gets there too late because his uncle was drinking. There is a suggestion of constraint or imprisonment of the boys by their education system. Imperturbable can refer to being watchful and not communal, judgemental, self-satisfied (description of the neighbourhood)