1. James Joyce
“Araby” and “Eveline”

2. James Joyce 1882-1941 Born in Dublin, Ireland
Writer of great importance
First major work is Dubliners

3. James Joyce Published in 1914
Collection of short stories about life in Dublin
Includes “Araby” and “Eveline”

4. James Joyce Major Themes Paralysis Isolation Poverty
Longing for Escape
Religion
Epiphany

5. “Araby”
1. How would you describe the narrator as a character? What word or words describe him well? Why?
From Star Power! The narrator of this story is young, shy, and anxious. Almost as if he has a type of social anxiety. The character is shown as withdrawn from his family, spending a great amount of time in the back room of his home where the previous tenant had died. Within the story we are told that the narrator finds isolation in the upper floor of his home. He is shown falling in love, or at least infatuation with a friend’s sister.

6. “Araby”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? From Arab Hem The story happens in North Richmond Street, and is quiet except for when school is let out. The environment of the story is very bland and boring with not much happening. The air is “musty from having been long and enclosed”. Shouts are echoed in the streets because the environment around the street is so quiet.

7. “Araby”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? Darkness . . .

8. “Araby”
3. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic, that is, something that seems to have more meaning than what it literally is. What might this symbolism contribute to the story? From Distracted Dingos The girl symbolizes change and something new. The man looked to her to help his life change for the better.

9. “Araby” Another symbol: Araby
“’If I go,’ I said, ‘I will bring you something.’”

10. “Araby”
4. Choose one passage from the story of at least several sentences that you think is especially important. Copy and paste that passage below, and explain why you think the passage is important. From Pancakes$4 “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” We think the passage is important to the story because the narrators becomes angry when he realizes that his fantasy of being with Mangan’s sister consumed his life. He spent too much time on fantasy that will never become reality. He realizes that Mangan’s sister was only conversing in small talk with him about the bazaar. Mangan’s sister never really showed interest in him.

11. “Araby”
5. Finish the sentence below to express what you think is a good one-sentence summary of the main theme (or the comment about life) that we should get from the story “Araby.” From James Joyce’s “Araby” shows us how people shouldn’t get caught up in their own fantasies and lose touch with how the world really is.

12. “Araby”
6. If you write an essay on this story, what would be three or four good topics for the body paragraphs of the essay?

13. “Araby”
Look Carefully at the Details! “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free.”

14. “Araby”
Look Carefully at the Details! “At nine o'clock I heard my uncle's latchkey in the hall door. I heard him talking to himself and heard the hallstand rocking when it had received the weight of his overcoat. I could interpret these signs. When he was midway through his dinner I asked him to give me the money to go to the bazaar. He had forgotten.”

15. “Araby”
Questions?

16. “Eveline”
“She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue.”

17. “Eveline”
1. How would you describe Eveline as a character? What word or words describe her well? Why? From: Leburt Eveline is indecisive because she wants to move away. She wants to move away because her father is abusive but doesn’t want to leave her home. Said in the story “She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise? She tried to weigh each side of the question.” This shows that Eveline is indecisive and struggles making decisions for herself.

18. “Eveline”
1. How would you describe Eveline as a character? What word or words describe her well? Why? From: earaches Eveline is a character who is very conflicted. She has a choice she must make and she is unsure of what to do. She is also unhappy about her life at the moment, she wants to be happy. She considers what other people will say about her. She is afraid that they will think badly of her.

19. “Eveline”
1. How would you describe Eveline as a character? What word or words describe her well? Why? From: Trivial Axles She is hesitant, indecisive, and sentimental because she is faced with a difficult decision between her own happiness with Frank and taking care of her careless father. She dwells on memories of her mom helping around the house and taking care of the family.

20. “Eveline”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? From: Plink The setting during the course of the story is mostly melancholy and devoid of what Eveline loved about her home as a child. When thinking of the past, Eveline views her neighborhood in a much more positive way than she does as it is currently. She misses her friends who have died or moved and having her mother around, which is likely why she wants to run away with Frank.

21. “Eveline”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? From: Green The author places the audience in the setting of an old stretch of land where the children used to play. This was at a time when Eveline’s mother was alive. In the present of the story Eveline’s mom is deceased and the vacant land is now filled with houses and buildings. Eveline found comfort in the free area as a child, and now that she is older she is looking for a way to escape to a new comfort. The flashback used by Joyce represents the change throughout the setting, and it connects to how rapidly change can occur near the end of the story.

22. “Eveline”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? From: Salsa Chips The atmosphere is very depressing and destroying mentally, emotionally and physically. She is surrounded by death. Her friend is dead, her brother is dead, her mom is dead. All these people protected her, “and now she had no body to protect her.” Her home life was not safe: “she felt herself in danger of her father’s violence…she would not be treated as her mother had been.” Her father was destroying any chance at a happy life when he forbid her to see her boyfriend: “of course, her father had found out the affair and had forbidden her to have anything to say to him.”

23. “Eveline”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? From: Parakeet The setting of the story is dull and weary. Everything feels a little hopeless and without direction. The setting really ties into the overall feel the story emits.

24. “Eveline”
2. How would you describe the setting, or the environment, of the story? What does this setting contribute to the story? From: Libel Slander Eveline’s home is familiar to her. Even though she is afraid of her father and there are many painful memories there, it is incredibly difficult to leave the only thing she’s ever known. She feels important there because she is her father’s care-taker, much like her mother once was.

25. “Eveline”
3. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic, that is, something that seems to have more meaning than what it literally is. What might this symbolism contribute to the story? From: Armband by Tigers The ship is symbolic of a scary future for Eveline when it is described as a “black mass”. It is something she has been wanting forever, but is also scary and hard for her to fathom. It is the unknown.

26. “Eveline”
3. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic, that is, something that seems to have more meaning than what it literally is. What might this symbolism contribute to the story? From: Mufasa The street organ symbolizes the promise Eveline had made to her mother to keep the home together. She thinks that it is strange to hear it on the night that she is about to leave just as memories would come to mind trying to influence her to stay.

27. “Eveline”
3. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic, that is, something that seems to have more meaning than what it literally is. What might this symbolism contribute to the story?
From: The Lonely Boyz The dust holds a symbolic place in this story. The dust symbolizes her inability to leave her home, town, father etc. Much like the dusty cretonne curtains that Eveline dwells beside to daydream, she remains still: never changing.

28. “Eveline”
3. Identify at least one thing in the story that you think might be symbolic, that is, something that seems to have more meaning than what it literally is. What might this symbolism contribute to the story? From: The Starks Frank is symbolic of opportunity. Eveline feels stuck in her life, and frank provides with the opportunity to escape from it. He is described as kind and open hearted, so he provides her with the feeling of “home” that she longs for.

29. “Eveline”
5. Finish the sentence below to express what you think is a good one-sentence summary of the main theme (or the comment about life) that we should get from the story “Eveline.” From James Joyce’s “Eveline” shows us how people who are in an abusive situation while afraid still find it scarier to leave that situation. The fear of the unknown is harder than the fear they feel already.

30. “Eveline”
6. If you write an essay on this story, what would be three or four good topics for the body paragraphs of the essay?

31. “Eveline”
Look Carefully at the Details! “She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.”

32. “Eveline”
From the writer Kurt Vonnegut “Joyce, when he was frisky, could put together a sentence as intricate and as glittering as a necklace for Cleopatra, but my favorite sentence in his short story ‘Eveline’ is just this one: ‘She was tired.’ At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do.”

33. “Eveline”
Look Carefully at the Details! “Her time was running out but she continued to sit by the window, leaning her head against the window curtain, inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne.”

34. “Eveline”
Look Carefully at the Details! “She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress, she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty.”

35. “Eveline”
Questions?