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Significance of The Titile Araby

          A title is one of the important aspects of any literary work. A good title should hint at the general tone of the story or any other literary work and at the same time, it should carry a deeper meaning. For example in Pride and Prejudice, the two main characters are both guilty of pride and prejudice and must learn the errors of their ways before they can live happily ever after. At the same time the title Pride and Prejudice at once ignites the question in our mind- who is proud in the novel and who is prejudiced? We try to break into the minds of the characters to look for the answer. Thus the novel becomes psychologically interesting too thanks to the title.
          James Joyce's title Araby is significant both literally and figuratively. Araby is romantic term given to the middle eastern area. Now to a teenager of any Western country, Araby or middle east is a far off land that cannot be reached. Anything that cannot be reached or seen becomes an ideal. Maybe in reality the place is not that much of an attraction, but as long as it  remains untouched, it stays an ideal, a dream-land- an utopia.

          Superficially in the story, Araby is a bazaar. The boy-hero wants to gift something from Araby to his teenage love. Just like Araby the love that the boy has for Mangan's sister is an ideal love- it has not been contaminated with the harshness of reality. His ideal love needs to be bolstered upon a tangent, physical thing- in this case the prospective gift from Araby- in order for the love to become real and to not stay ideal.
Jump To Conclusion

          It  has been mentioned earlier  that a title must also showcase the general tone of the novel while hinting at the deeper meaning. Araby reminds us of a land that remains mysterious, untouched and something to be desired for. The girl is all these things to the boy. HE fels ecstatic when he gets a glimpse of her. He becomes disoriented when he first talks to her and speaks in  mono-syllables- "At last she spoke to me." But if Araby is a mysterious, far-off kind of thing, how can the boy's ideal love be able to take the form of normal, earthly love? And it doesnt. So, from the very beginning of the novel, the title is hinting at this debacle.
          The bazaar episode opens with  a negative sentence. The big jars look like oriental guards. Earthly vases appear as guards or Cereberus. Is it the dream-fair or the Hades of Roman mythology? Instead of concentrating on the wares, he overhears a piece of conversation and the short sentence- "O there's a fib", mow comes as a comment on the entire pursuit- the meaning of fib being a lie. He feels so  disgusted with the spectacle of drab reality that he fails to buy something for the girl. Now it is time for the darkness to descend and the boy treads on his trampled dream of ideal love and beauty. The Holy Grail or high idealism, unlike in case of Sir Gawain, remain s ever far-off and still to be run after- "Fled is the music."

Conclusion

          The boy's ideal love does not become a reality. It remains ideal, far-off, just like the concept of Araby. The title is thus worthy of appreciation.



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By Sk Marifur Rahaman
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http://facebook.com/rahaman123
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