One of the most important parts of a literature piece is its setting. The setting of a story can have many underlying details that make up its plot, the character's attitude, and emotions and at times it helps to foreshadow the coming events of the plot-line.
In James Joyce's, "Araby", there is a boy that is dealing with his first love. In a deeper sense, it is a story about the world in which he lives, a world contrary to ideals and dreams. This deeper meaning I am referring to is introduced and developed in many different scenes. For instance, in the very beginning when the narrator is describing his street. North Richmond Street is described metaphorically and presents the reader with his first view of the boy's world. The street is "blind"; it is a dead end, yet its inhabitants are smugly complacent and the houses reflect the attitudes of their inhabitants. The houses are "imperturbable" in the "quiet," the "cold," the "dark muddy lanes" and "dark dripping gardens. (246)."
Moreover, the background or world of blindness extends from a general view of the street and its inhabitants to the boy's personal relationships with his aunt and uncle. It is not a generation gap but a gap in the spirit, in empathy and conscious caring, that results in the uncle's failure to arrive home in time for the boy to go to the bazaar while it is still open. The uncle has no doubt been to the local pub, not really caring about how impatiently the boy is waiting at home and how anxious he is to get the money and leave. The boy waits well into the evening in the house with its musty smell and old, useless objects that fill the rooms. The house, like the aunt and uncle, and like the entire neighborhood, reflects people who are well intentioned but narrow in their views and blind to higher values, even the street lamps lift a "feeble" light to the sky. The total effect of such setting is an atmosphere filled with solitude and dullness.
Overall, "Araby" is a story of first love. This story is a portrait of a world that challenges the ideal and the dream. In such a way, setting in this story becomes the true subject. The boy in the end takes his first step into adulthood.
Moreover, the background or world of blindness extends from a general view of the street and its inhabitants to the boy's personal relationships with his aunt and uncle. It is not a generation gap but a gap in the spirit, in empathy and conscious caring, that results in the uncle's failure to arrive home in time for the boy to go to the bazaar while it is still open. The uncle has no doubt been to the local pub, not really caring about how impatiently the boy is waiting at home and how anxious he is to get the money and leave. The boy waits well into the evening in the house with its musty smell and old, useless objects that fill the rooms. The house, like the aunt and uncle, and like the entire neighborhood, reflects people who are well intentioned but narrow in their views and blind to higher values, even the street lamps lift a "feeble" light to the sky. The total effect of such setting is an atmosphere filled with solitude and dullness.
Overall, "Araby" is a story of first love. This story is a portrait of a world that challenges the ideal and the dream. In such a way, setting in this story becomes the true subject. The boy in the end takes his first step into adulthood.
