Reading Journal (Paragraph): Araby

First Draft (499 words):

From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple formation novel about a boy who realizes harsh reality and loses his innocence. After all, when the nameless narrator goes through his journey to Araby, he learns that his precious “sixpence” is too little to buy anything, and confronts a flirting woman who breaks his fantasy about love. Readers, at first gaze, observe this novel is a Bildungsroman. However, on the other hand, Joyce's "Araby" is not just another common Bildungsroman because it closely describes its setting, contemporary Ireland, in detail. James Joyce is an Irish writer, and in his days, Ireland was largely acknowledged as a subservient nation to Britain, ignorant and vulgar. Joyce believed that Catholic Church was one factor that stopped Ireland's emancipation and development by denouncing rebellions and excommunicating those who rebelled. Because of the Church, Joyce claimed, Ireland reached a state of cultural paralysis in which people fail to move forward and stuck in place. In other words, even when the Church lost its original purpose of faith and politically deteriorated, Irish, who already had been paralyzed by the Church, stopped to rebel and kept meaningless faith. This reality is portrayed in "Araby" here and there; the former tenant of narrator's house, "a priest", who had been “very charitable" and academically erudite as "a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp" indicates, is dead. This shows that the original intention of the church - benevolent and academically influential - is gone now. Still, Irish meaninglessly believe in the Church, just as the aunt hopes that Araby is not some “Freemason affairs” and old Mrs. Mercer collects stamps for “some pious purpose”. Even the narrator likens Mangan's sister to a religious concept ("chalice") whose name "sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers". Joyce criticizes such tendency of unconditional religious belief by describing the reality is not holy, sacred, nor noble at all - "dusk fell" down the "blind" street "jostled by drunken men and bargaining women", the uncle is drunk and "had forgotten" about his niece's romantic plan, and train to Araby is "deserted". At the last part of the story, the narrator "allow[s] the two pennies to fall against the sixpence in [his] pocket", which was precious money to buy present for his lover, and this act shows that the narrator admits the breakdown of his romantic, idealistic, even holy love. All these gloomy descriptions and dark conclusion Joyce employed, which do not fit to the image of sacred, honorable, noble religion at all but rather contradict it, are in accordance with contemporary Ireland, where Catholicism was ubiquitous but meaningless. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is not a mere Bildungsroman, but a more deepened story that effectively uses details to reflect Ireland. In this sense, Joyce is a great writer who does not only catch an individual's epiphany but also understand the world he lives in and reflect it in his story.

Comments:

Those who commented on my first draft liked how I “put in the background of Joyce’s time and tried to link that” with the whole plot. (Nuri) However, they pointed out that this was “too long” and that I should shorten “my introduction and conclusion because they are a bit too repetitive in their ideas” (Jane) and “the historical summary” because “most people who read anything about Joyce won’t need the historical stuff” (Mr. Garrioch). Also, some pointed out that I was being too “radical” (Flora) with my claims, so that I should use a bit more careful words. Accepting those comments, I tried to 1) clean up my introduction, 2) summarize the historical context in one sentence, and 3) use careful diction such as “seem” or “somewhat”. 

Some students gave me additional details to add on my essay (“Another aspect … related to religion in “Araby” is when the boy depicts the girl as a “white” figure … [with] a halo” (Nuri)), and I tried to add these in second draft, but the paragraph got too long again. Maybe I’ll write a longer essay about “Araby” so that I can explain further about history of Ireland and add more details that substantiate my thesis. (:

Second Draft (413 words):

From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear as a simple coming-of-age story about a boy who realizes harsh reality and loses his innocence. After all, when the nameless narrator arrives at Araby and encounters a young female clerk flirting with two men, he is disenchanted with his idealistic view on love. However, on the other hand, Joyce's "Araby" is not just another common Bildungsroman because it closely depicts contemporary Ireland, its setting, in detail. Joyce believed that the Catholic Church disturbed Ireland’s cultural development and emancipation from England by denouncing rebellions, and asserted that continued suppression paralyzed Irish to keep meaningless faith even after the Church lost its original purpose of faith and exercised political leverage. The troubled civil and religious history of Ireland is portrayed in "Araby" here and there. The former tenant of the narrator's house, "a priest", was "very charitable" and academically erudite as "a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp" indicate. But the priest is dead. This shows that the original intention of the church - benevolent and academically influential - is gradually fading. Still, many Irish, and especially those on North Richmond Street, seem to believe meaninglessly in the Church. The aunt hopes that Araby is not some “Freemason affair” and old Mrs. Mercer collects stamps for “some pious purpose”. Even the narrator likens Mangan's sister to a religious concept ("chalice") whose name "sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers." Joyce criticizes unconditional religious belief by illustrating that reality is not always holy, sacred, or noble - "dusk fell" down the "blind" street "jostled by drunken men and bargaining women", the uncle is drunk and "had forgotten" about his niece's romantic plan, and train to Araby is "deserted". At the last part of the story, the narrator allows his precious two pennies that he planned to use to buy a present for his lover to "fall against the sixpence in [his] pocket"; this act shows that the narrator admits the breakdown of his romantic, idealistic, even holy love. Through all these gloomy descriptions that Joyce employed, we can see how contemporary religious Ireland is criticized for its delusions. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is not a mere Bildungsroman, but a profound story that reflects Joyce’s somewhat negative perspective toward contemporary Ireland. In this sense, Joyce is a great writer who does not only catch an individual's epiphany, but also understands the world he lives in.