第七 八周
Araby” is narrated by a young boy who is, like most of Joyce’s characters, a native of Dublin, Ireland. Since the conflict in the story occurs primarily within the boy’s consciousness, Joyce’s choice of first-person narration is crucial. We know immediately that Catholicism has served as one of these principles; he attends a Christian Brothers school and at home is attracted to the library of a former tenant of his family, a priest. His identification with Catholicism is more than casual. The narrator’s dedication to Catholicism, however, does notrun as deep as he might believe.
Readers learn first that the priest’s library contains three books especially important to the protagonist: a romantic novel, a religious tract written by a Protestant, and the memoirs of a French police agent and master of disguise. If this priest does not maintain a sufficiently pious library, how can this boy be expected to properly practice his religion?More importantly, the boy takes the Catholic idea of devotion to the Virgin Mary and finds a real-world substitute for the Mother of God. We learn that he is especially fascinated by the older sister of one of his schoolmates. In the narrator’s first description of Mangan’s sister she is lit from behind, like a saint. the narrator tells us, presenting an image of himself as a prostrate worshipper. Furthermore, he relates that “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance.”
from:http://tw.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question?qid=1008041005667
James Joyce
citd from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Revolutionary_Joyce_Better_Contrast.jpg
Holy Grail: a sacred object figuring into literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers.
Themes
Araby touches on a great number of themes: coming of age; the loss of innocence; the life of the mind versus poverty, both physical and intellectual; the dangers of idealization; the decreasing significance of the church, despite the preservation of empty ceremonies; and the pain that often comes when one encounters love in reality instead of its elevated form. These themes build on one another entirely through the thoughts of the young boy who serves as narrator.
Dubliners
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