Stylistic Analysis of James Joyce’s Araby

【Abstract】Araby is one of the most well-known short stories collection Dubliners by James Joycer， describing a boy disillusionment of love and his growth from innocent to mature. This paper aims at analyzing the short story Araby from the stylistic features including the lexical， syntactic， and semantic parts.

【Key words】Araby； stylistic features； lexical feature； syntactic feature； semantic feature

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction of The Author

James Joyce is an Irish novelist and poet， considered to be one of the most prominent literary figure of the first half of the 20th century.Most of his works have the same setting—Ireland， especially Dublin， and the same subject—Irish people and their life.

2. STYLISTIC FEATURES OF ARABY

Araby is a short story of the story collection Dubliners. It is a story about an ordinary boys ruin of love illusion. He wants to buy a gift from Araby bazaar that told by the girl he liked. When he got Araby that was his holy place in mind， the reality destroyed his dream and he has frustrated quest for beauty.The main characters in this story Araby are the narrator “I”， Mangans sister.The following parts will focus on the analysis of stylistic features.

To analyze the writing style of the story， the following parts will do it through lexical features， the syntactic features， the semantic features and context and cohesion of the story.

2.1 Lexical Features

In order to create a blind atmosphere of the story， as well as the dark and indifferent society， the author uses many negative words and pessimistic attitude to describe the environment， for example， the description of the North Richmond Street is blind； the house is uninhabited and detached； “When we met in the street the houses had grown somber. The space of sky above us was the color of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns （James Joyce 451）.” The author uses many images， such as visual， aural， olfactory， gustatory images to show the readers the lifelessness of the street the boy lived. The word “dark” appears many times， which also add the blind tone of the story.

Including the Araby bazaar， the holy place in the narrators eyes.When he tried his best to go to Araby bazaar， he saw nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness， hearing the talking of flirtation between men and a woman. Joyce never tells the readers the boys dream is doomed to be disillusioned， and what he depicts can indicates the reality. Araby is also as profane and vulgar as Ireland. Readers can see the vivid description of Araby bazaar.

Sum up the three main scenes， readers can see that James Joyce makes good choices of words to make his characters and the environment of the story vivid， as well as to express the theme of disillusion of love.

2.2 Syntactic Features

The author is very skillful in keeping the story develop in a natural and smooth way. He combines simple sentences with complex sentences， ranging from short sentences， exclamatory sentences， to maintain the development of the story. Besides， he also uses some inverted sentences to describe the surrounding of the boy.

James Joyce is fond of running speech and narrative together without the quotation marks， for example，

——Its well for you ，she said.

——If I go， I said， I will bring you something （James Joyce 452）.

Besides using direct and indirect speech， James Joyce uses free direct speech in his story as well， for instance，

——O， I never said such a thing！

——O， but you did！

——O， but I didnt.

——Didnt she say that？

——Yes. I heard her.

——O， theres a ... fib （James Joyce 455） ！

Unlike direct speech， it does not record characters speech word by word. By free indirect speech， the author seems to get into the mind of the character and is influenced by the characters thoughts and feeling and express the mind activities of the characters from the narrators point of view.

2.3 Semantic Features

Semantic is related to the meaning in language or logic. In order to achieve vivid description， the author uses many rhetoric devices.

2.3.1 Personification

In the story Araby， James Joyce uses personification to describe houses in the North Richmond Street， for example， “an uninhabited house of two stories stood at the blind end， detached from its neighbors in a square ground. The other houses of the street，conscious of decent lives within them， gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces （James Joyce 450）.” Houses are lifeless objects， but here the author personates the house in order to tell the readers that the environment the narrator lived is also detached and indifferent. Whats more， the imperturbable faces of the house also indicate the characters of people are indifferent there.

2.3.2 Metaphor

In this story， the author also uses metaphor as one of the figure of speech. Readers can see from the same example that mentioned in the personification part ： “An uninhabited house of two stories stood at the blind end， detached from its neighbors in a square ground. The other houses of the street，conscious of decent lives within them， gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces （James Joyce 450）.” From this sentence， besides the employment of personification， the writer also uses metaphor.James Joyce uses metaphor to describe the street， which shows the readers the environment the boy lived is the same. He cannot escape from this reality.

2.3.3 Symbolism

The process of his arrival to Araby bazaar stands for the journey of self-cognition. The writer uses symbolism to expose the repression of Dublin society and indifference of Irish people， let alone an innocent boy who cannot escape from the indifferent society.

First， the narrator “I” reminds the readers of the memory in childhood. “This boy represents all the boys in Dublin in the 18th century. In his view， because Dublin is the center of paralysis， he chooses Dublin as the setting of the story. To some extent， he uses a kind of style of scrupulous meanness （Zhang Xiuqing 160）.” Sometimes， from this anonymous boy， readers can recall their first love in their lives. They have to give up the mirage of childhood， begin to see somethings as they really are like the boy in Araby.

Second， Mangans sister is also a symbol in this story. All the description of her is written from the perspective of the narrator. The adoration of Mangans sister stands for pursuit of beauty. Every time she appeared， she is defined by the light from the half-opened door. All the details shows that the narrators adoration towards the girl is his confused adoration. His love is passionate and blind like the society. He regards Mangans sister as idol or angel. In his mind， he compares his love to Grail. He is a knight， holding the grail， which cannot be understood by people around him. Thus when the girl mentioned Araby bazaar， he considered it was a holy place and wanted to go there bring something back for her.

In addition， another symbol Araby is the essence of the story. In this story， Araby is a bazaar that the narrators lived girl wanted to go. It stands for his quest of beauty， his pursuit， and his ideal world. Mangans sister is an angel who can leads him to that ideal world. James Joyce depicts the desire of the narrator， drives him to go through many hardships to get to his holy place Araby. However， in his holy place he only sees darkness and boring and vulgar flirtatious talking between two men and a woman. The holy Araby in his mind turns out to be a low and vulgar bazaar， which destroys his dream and illusion. The real Araby represents the dull and blind and indifferent Irish society.

2.3.4 Context and Cohesion

James Joyce pays attention to choose the context of this story. He Situates the narrator in a blind， spiritual corrupted， and indifferent society. Even though， he never mentions that the boys quest is doomed to fail， but readers can realize through his setting and description of the context. About cohesion， which is related to the broader concept of coherence. The development of the story is smooth and natural. James Joyce also uses some transition words and conjunction.

3. CONCLUSION

In the story Araby， the author vividly depicts the characters. Whats more， he also employs many figures of speech， like personification， metaphor， and symbolism. Whats more， he pays attention to context and cohesion. In the end of the story， readers can easily realize the theme of disillusionment of love and the heros frustration quest for beauty.

References：

[1]Joyce，James.“Araby.” A Course Book of English Literature（Volume Two）.Ed.Zhang Boxiang.Wu Han：Wu Han University Press，2011.451-455.Print.

[2]劉曉茜.詩意斑斕的現代短篇經典——《阿拉比》[J].鄭州經濟管理干部學院學報.2004：55-56.

[3]張秀清.現實與夢想的差距——《阿拉比》的現實主義與象征主義雙重層面解讀[J].福建行政學院福建經濟管理干部學院學報.2004：160-162.

作者簡介：王雪（1991-），女，海南澄邁人，現就讀于西安外國語大學研究生部2014級英語語言文學專業(yè)，碩士研究生，主要研究方向：英國文學。