Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Which type of irony is represented by the boy's disillusionment at the bazaar?This is from Araby..

The irony in Joyce's "Araby" goes deep beyond the bazaar
itself.  The narrator sees himself as a religious hero, and sees Mangan's sister as a
Virgin Mary-like figure.  As he courts her, so to speak, he is participating in a
religious quest.  Of course, this is an illusion. 


The boy
has not learned to separate the religious and the secular.  The lateness of his uncle,
the trivial conversation he overhears, the fact that the bazaar turns out to be a
low-life place that sells low quality merchandise as a means for the church to make
money, etc., lead him to the realization/epiphany that all has been an
illusion. 


He has been figuratively blind, as is the street
he lives on (see the opening description of the neighborhood), and in his epiphany his
eyes are opened.  He understands that he has been silly, trivial, figuratively blind. 
He understands, it seems, that his relationship with Mangan's sister is not a holy
crusade, and that he, in fact, has no relationship with her.  He is not a crusader and
she is not the Virgin Mary. 

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