Week 11

James Joyce’s Araby is similar to his Eveline in many way but yet each is unique it is own way. First, both stories begin with a person looking out the window into a Dublin Neighbourhood. Each story describes the neighbourhood, and both neighbourhoods have mostly brown houses. Each of the Characters talks about people who had died. The girl talks about her brother, mother and Tizzie Dunn who have died, and the boy talks about the priest, who was a tenant, who died in their back drawing room.  They also both describe scenes in which they played in the streets surrounding their house, and tried to avoid their guardians who would try to send them inside. Both characters, comment on their infatuation with a connotation that it was foolish.

Another similarity, is both character describe their work, the boy assists his aunt in running errands and carrying parcels for her, and, the girl,  describes her time working in a stores in a market for a lady called Mrs. Hill.  The boy and the girl both have struggles with money, and more specifically getting money from their uncle and father, respectively, on Saturday.

In the end, both the girl and the boy had both had doubts about what they had set out to do. The boy does not get the gift for Mangan sister, and the girl does not leave home for South America. i.e. they both have an epiphany which changes their frame of thinking. It is also worth noting that they both had their epiphany after they had taken train rides, but before they are about to do what they intended to do when they got to their definition.