Symbolism In Araby

SYMBOLISM IN ARABY

Araby Themes And Symbols

Symbolism is a great literary device. The art of implying something profound while writing or potraying something superficial is a skill that should be looked up to with respect. What Baudelaire introduced, was perfected by the writers like James Joyce and Virginia Wolf. They focused on human mind instead of giving emphasis on the story-line or characters. But potraying human mind with the help of language or words is a difficult task. Our mind, like a fluid, is always influx. Thus words became more and more inadequate to shed light on a thing that is ceaselessly changing. A symbol has no fixed meaning- it evokes a meaning. Hence the symbolic technique is adopted by such modern reconders of mind like Joyce. Joyce’s Araby, taken from Dubliners is no exception.


(This Note Pertains To - Araby Meaning, Read On)

Araby is, as we can say, coming of age story. It is all about the boy hero’s displacement from the world of innocence to the world of experience. It is about fading away of romantic idealism round love and beauty when the boy hero encouters the real world.

The word Araby itself is highly symbolical. It reminds us of Arabian Nights in which, the princess tried to escape death by telling stories--- she prolonged the expectations of being alive. Similarly in Araby, the boy hero’s expectations mounted up, but later he was hurled back to reality.

Although the symbolist movement took shape in the form of of a movement against realism, Joyce does not ignore realism altogether. Joyce as a realist potrays the harsh, drab and dirty atmosphere of suburban Dublin with its alleys, gutters, narrow lanes, odorous stables where the boy hero enjoyed his daily run with his playmates and listened to the tinkling of harness bells which, symbolically combined with the title Araby, evokes a sense of romance and adventure.

The description of North Richmond Street with words and phrases like “detached”, “brown imperturbable faces” suggests a sombre atmosphere of the place. The wild garden behind the house of the boy hero has central apple tree. It signifies the tree of knowledge-- considering the theme of the story is the fall of a boy from innocence to experience.

The ‘dark muddy lanes behind the houses,’ the odour from the ashpits and the music emanating from the buckled harness of the horse from the dark stables conjure up a strange ambience which is suddenly animated by the appearance of Mangan’s sister who attracts the collective attention of the boys. But the collective ‘we’ is soon changed to an intensely subjective ‘I’ as the boy intently watches her ‘figure defined by the light from the half opened door’. The narrator “stood by the railings looking at her” This description at once puts before us the image of a worshipper standing infront of the deity. Her half-lit figure implies that she is Madonna for the boy hero. The chalice symbol mentioned earlier in the story also showcases the boy as a committed priest or crusader carrying the emblem of faith with religious devotion. But with this spiritual form of love, Joyce mixes deeply sensuous desires-- “ The light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck” or “...my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” are sufficient eough to show the boy’s spirirtual awakening.

In this world the boy is the only traveller and his uncle and aunt cannot share this dream. The elders are already lost souls in the mean mundane and circulatory movement of day to day life. So the aunt remains engrossed in the gossip of the pawn broker’s widow, while the uncle comes home late altogether forgetful of the boy’s journey to Araby. It begins in a deserted third class compartment through ruined houses, but still then at distance, the river-watertwinkles and the fair-ground is lighted with coloured lamps, symboically...

The bazaar episode opens with a negative sentence and this indicates the general tone of the boy’s experience. 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? The boy forgets his ideal of romantic love and listens to the sound of the coins falling on the salver. Instead of concentrating on the wares, he overhears a piece of conversation and the short sentence-- “O there’s a... fib” now comes as a comment on the entire pursuit--- the meaning of fib being a lie. The boy drops coins in his pockets and they make noise---Earlier he was hearing the sound of coins but now he hmself is making noise with coins which is highly symbolical. 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 remains ever far off and still to run after-- “Fled is the music”

In Memory of Sir Subhashish Bhattacharya, Vivekananda College

Brought to you by--- Marifur Rahaman

Sources--- 1. Narrative and Narration by Jayati Gupta

2. Sir Shubhashish Bhattacharya’s notes