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James Joyce's Dubliners Essay

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Dubliners

In the story Dubliners by James Joyce, he writes about a few different themes, some of these being autonomy, responsibility, light, and dark. The most important of the themes though must be the individual character in the story against the community and the way they see it. I have chosen to take a closer look at “Araby,” “Eveline,” and “The Dead” because the great display of these themes I feel is fascinating. Many things affect the way the individual characters see the community, for example their family, friends, fellow citizens, or even new places. In Dubliners, the way the characters see the community affects them and other people around them.

In the story “Araby,” the boy has a negative …show more content…

It all starts with his neighbor, Mrs. Mercer. Mrs. Mercer is a garrulous lady, who is a widow to pawnbroker. She is the kind of lady that loves gossip and will go on about it for ages. As the boy made his way back to equilibrium he found himself at the dinner table with Mrs. Mercer. Mrs. Mercer adds to the boys’ frustration by prolonging her visit for more than an hour. All the boy wanted to do is get money so he could make his way to the bazaar. The second case of a woman inflicting frustration to the boy is the young lady at the porcelain vase stand at the bazaar. As the boy glances at the vases the lady asks him if he wants to buy anything and he responds, “No, thank you.” At this stand the boy realizes the reality of his whole entire situation. First of all, the boys’ chance to get the girl is very slim for a few reasons, one being that she is older and two she is most likely going to become a nun when she is older; the girl is away on a retreat this weekend and that is why she can’t go to the bazaar herself. The second thing he realized and questions, can you really buy love? These two things combined hit him all at once and came to him at as a shock.

In “Araby,” there are some positive aspects of the way the boy sees the world around him. The boy idolizes the girl and can

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