Symbolism In The Boy's Life example essay topic

'North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers's chool set the boys free. An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbours in a square ground. The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces. The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back drawing room.

Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless papers. Among these I found a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp: The Abbot, by Walter Scott, The Devout Communicant and The Memoirs of Vido cq. I liked the last best because its leaves were yellow. The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree and a few straggling bushes under one of which I found the late tenant's rusty bicycle-pump. He had been a very charitable priest; in his will he had left all his money to institutions and the furniture of his house to his sister. ' This paragraph from James Joyce's "Araby" appears at the beginning of the story.

This passage opens the story with a description of the boy's home and neighbourhood. The passage also describes the boy's life using symbolism and imagery done through the priest, the house and neighbourhood, and the garden. The importance of the boy's relationship with his faith is immediately touched upon in the beginning of the story. The connection is indirectly made through the quotation, "it was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers's chool set the boys free". The Image given is one of a prison setting.

This image shows that the boy feels religion controls and confines his life. The boy has experienced religion and entertains some form of a deity for short periods. The priest in the passage is, in fact, a symbol of religion. This quote implies that religion is only a brief part of the boy's life. Since the death of the priest happened before he lived at that house, this would mean religion was more so a part of his family before he was born and slowly became less important in is household. The boy discovers "a few paper-covered books" left behind by the priest.

This quote is viewed as an occasional return to faith during hard times. The boy is confused by what he finds and does not understand the meanings. "I liked the last one best because it's leaves were yellow". The books he finds contradict the whole philosophy of religion. One book is a romance, another is a religious text, and the last is pulp fiction. The author is using his house and neighbourhood as metaphors in the passage.

He explains the house is on a blind street. The blind street is a symbolic reference to his lack of world experience and social interaction. The other houses on his street are described with personification: "The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces". In the boy's view, this illustrates a calm and composed community. Since the boy is young, he leads a calm life with little responsibility. The boy knows changes will happen in his life but he needs to explore beyond the confines of his blind uncertainty.

The author is giving a sense of mystery with the description of the "uninhabited house" at the blind end of the street. An uninhabited house is something usually ignored but noted in the passage. The boy is comfortable with his surrounding but is aware of an unknown emptiness; this unknown is the changes taking place in his life. The house is "detached from it's neighbours on a square ground". The square is a Masonic symbol for mortality and the uninhibited house symbolizes lifelessness, and when conjoined, life and death.

The garden, in the passage, is a symbol of life. In life, imperfections are present. This is shown with the quotation: "The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree and a few straggling bushes". The bushes represent imperfections in life because a perfect garden would not have straggling bushes. The boy thinks of sexual thoughts as a flaw. The boy finds a "rusty bicycle-pump" under one of the bushes.

From a Freudian perspective, the bicycle-pump might be interpreted as a sexual symbol because it is a cylinder. The boy is also aware of temptations with the symbolic apple-tree. The apple is linked to a biblical symbol of temptation in the Garden of Eden. The opening passage in "Araby" is clearly a major one. It shows the symbolism in the boy's life. This is done through the symbolism of the priest, the house and neighbourhood, and the Garden.