Araby by James Joyce Analysis

The female character denied her identity nurtures the possibility of sexual objectification as well as patriarchal dominance. Secondly, the essay will also endeavor to analyze how the themes that are conveyed in the short story are relevant in the contemporary modern society. The unknowable and anonymous female in the short story “Araby” depicts the theme of anonymous to depict the role of woman in a patriarchal society. The author, Joyce delegates her authorial task to another speaker who unfold the entire plot depicting the weak position that is occupied by the female character in the contemporary society. In this imaginary romance, a narrator, the boy’s infatuation with the unnamed sister of his best friend, Magnan, goads him to join a pseudo-Middle Eastern market, dubbed Araby.

Readers if they consider the broad definition provided by Cheng ¾ “the desire for a personal, sexual or something outside of the self” (99) ¾ Magnan’s sister consequently becomes the object of the desire that speaker was longing for (Fargnoli et al. , p. The trip of the boy to Araby as was drawing closer, he stood to wait for it and he looked over at the dark room where she was living and he could barely see anything but only a brown-clad which was illuminated by his imagination. The image that has been formed by the imagination of the young boy can be used to symbolize male as the bearer of the look while the image represents the woman. The determining man stare reflects its imagination on to the woman figure which is fashioned appropriately (Fargnoli et al.

For their power to transport their male characters into the charming East, the commoditized Arab horse and the anonymous woman eventually become instrumental achievements. Just as the beloved steed offers guidance to the Arabs through the desert routes in their journey back home, it is through the instructions of Magan’s sister that the young boy managed to arrive at his final destination, Oriental. The expressions of the male postulate the anonymous woman as well as the Arab horse as objects of untiring craving. Just like the horse, the hair that is found on the nape of the neck of Magnan’s sister, they demonstrate the light that captivates the onlooker. The adoration that is confessed by the young boy towards the Magnan’s sister, are the representatives of Otherness, whose personality is determined by the shape of the male suitors.