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Darby Willer

Miss Oligney

English 11

2016

Literary Analysis for Araby

James Joyce was an irish novelist who contributed to the modernist avant-garde. He is

referred to as one of the most influential and one of the most important authors of the twentieth

century. Though he has written many short stories, Araby has received the most attention,

because of the use of rhetorical elements. Specifically he uses personification; which is giving

life-like qualities to objects that are non-living. In this piece Joyce uses personification a handful

of times to create a scenery in the audiences mind.

Joyce starts his piece by using two uses of personification. The first one is, North

Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers

School set the boys free. This gives the audience an idea of where the short stories setting will

be at. By saying that Richmond Street is blind Joyce is helping the reader to see that no one is

roaming the streets, and the street is not busy. When he says that the street was quiet Joyce is

helping his audience to see that there are no noises to be heard on Richmond Street. Also, in the

first paragraph Joyce states that An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end,

detached from its neighbors in a square ground. This helps his readers to see that the houses are

sitting next to each other, not that they are literally detached from one another.

Furthermore, Joyce gives us examples throughout his short story.

Within the next couple of paragraphs Joyce uses personification several times. For

example in the second paragraph he recounts that Air, musty from having been long enclosed,
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hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless

papers. By saying the the air was hung in all the rooms Joyce is helping his readers to see that

the air was dry and that the room has been left unused for a long time. When Joyce states that the

kitchen was littered with old useless papers Joyce is helping the reader to picture how dirty the

room is, and what it looks like. Joyce always restates The cold air stung us and we played till

our bodies glowed. By saying the cold air stung them, it means that their bodies were cold,

the air doesnt actually sting someone.

Continuing through the short story Araby Joyce proceeds to use personification several

more times. In the fourth paragraph Joyce explains When she came out on the doorstep my

heart leaped. Joyce was describing how the boy felt when he saw the girl.

Joyce used the word leaped to describe the flutter and excitement of the boy's heart when he

saw the girl. Later in the piece, Joyce used another example of personification. Joyce recounted,

But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the

wires. Joyce used this statement to describe what he felt when the girl spoke, and did gestures.

By saying the boys body was like a harp Joyce is helping the audience picture what the boy

feels inside.

In addition, Joyce restates in the next paragraph The fine incessant needles of water

playing in the sodden beds. Water cannot literally play,Joyce was helping his audience to

picture that the water was bouncing off the soaked beds of the garden. In the last few paragraphs.

Joyce restates I could not call my wandering thoughts together. By saying the boy could not

call his thoughts together, Joyce is helping his readers to see that the boy has many thoughts.

You cannot literally call your thoughts together.

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All in all, Joyce showed that when you use personification it can help his audience

visualize what is actually happening by giving inanimate objects life-like qualities. It also

helped the audience to see how the boy felt in certain parts of Araby. Joyce gave many

examples of a rhetorical element proving that they are all very an important part of short stories.