"Araby" by James Joyce

"Araby" by James Joyce

• Published in 1914 as part of Dubliners.
• A modernist short story falling under the genre of coming-of-age.
• The setting for the story is Dublin, Ireland, in the late 19th or early 20th century.
• Centers on themes, including disillusionment, loss of innocence, paralysis, escapism, and a contrast between romantic idealism and harsh reality.
• Uses first-person and retrospective narration.
• Stream of consciousness is evident.
• Symbolism and imagery contribute to richness.

Plot Summary of Araby

• A young, unnamed narrator resides in a lifeless Dublin house with his aunt and uncle.
• The house was once a priest's, and the remnants symbolize religious disillusionment.
• The narrator is infatuated with Mangan's sister.
• He idealizes her as an escape from his dull reality.
• The sister expresses a wish to visit the Araby bazaar.
• The narrator views bringing her a gift from the bazaar as an act of devotion.
• Plans to attend Araby are delayed by the uncle's late return.
• Most stalls are closing when the narrator arrives at the bazaar.
• The narrator finds the vendors indifferent and the bazaar an ordinary commercial event.
• The narrator experiences an epiphany, realizing vanity in romantic ideals and feeling humiliated by naivety and stands in darkness, which symbolizes loss of innocence.
• The story includes examination of disillusionment and loss of innocence because the romanticized view of love and adventure is shattered.
• The end represents the transition from childhood idealism to disillusionment.
• Dublin shows paralysis of citizens leading unfulfilled lives.
• The boy's inertia is shown through his inability to act on feelings and the delayed trip.
• Projecting grandiose fantasies onto Mangan's sister and the bazaar leads to disappointment.
• The stark contrast symbolizes the futility of idealism.
• Environment shows disillusionment as it is filled with religious imagery symbolizing decay.
• Growing cynicism is related to disillusionment with religious and social values.
• The bazaar represents romantic illusions and promises escape.

Symbols in Araby

• The bazaar’s disappointment symbolizes the loss of innocence.
• Darkness symbolizes ignorance, disillusionment, and paralysis.
• Light represents naive idealism, which fades.
• Mangan's sister symbolizes unattainable beauty and youthful infatuation.
• She remains distant, reflecting the narrator's idealized perception due to the use of first-person retrospective narration, a tone of regret and nostalgia is created.
• The narrator has a moment of sudden realization that alters his understanding.
• Gloomy descriptions of Dublin mirror emotional paralysis, and the contrast does the same for the boy's journey from innocence to disillusionment.
• The narrator realizes that his ideals were foolish bringing him feelings of self-contempt and anger.
• The boy's religious adoration turns to idolatry.
• The story captures the loss of innocence, the awakening to life's limitations, and themes of paralysis and disillusionment.

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence

• A modernist short story.
• It functions as psychological horror and allegory.
• Setting: early 20th-century England, middle-class.
• Greed and materialism, fate, luck, parental neglect, the supernatural, and obsession are recurring themes.
• Uses a third-person omniscient narrator.
• Has a fairy-tale-like tone with psychological depth.
• Symbolism and allegory also contribute.

Plot Summary of The Rocking-Horse Winner

• Begins with a middle-class family struggling financially.
• The mother, Hester, appears loving.
• Hester always desires more money, and the house "whispers" about it.
• Paul is a sensitive boy who absorbs his mother's dissatisfaction.
• Paul rides his rocking horse into a trance.
• He collaborates with Bassett, and later, Oscar Cresswell, to bet on horse races.
• Paul arranges for his mother to receive £5,000.
• The whispering in the house grows louder.
• He becomes desperate to predict the Derby winner to silence it and win his mother's love.
• Paul collapses while riding his rocking horse and falls into a feverish state.
• While delirious, the winner is revealed to his uncle as "Malabar".
• Paul dies after his victory due to his obsession.
• The uncle notes that Paul was lucky but the luck came at the cost of his life.

Themes and Analysis

• Hester's need for wealth causes obsession and downfall.
• Money fuels more dissatisfaction, also luck is central, and Paul believes he can change destiny.
• The contrast between Paul's ability and his mother's perception highlights the futility of chasing wealth.
• A need for his mother's approval influences his pursuit of money as lack of it leads to equate love with success.
• The house amplifies the story's ghostly quality adding an unsettling tone.
• Instead of solving problems, money worsens greed, his belief that it will win his mother's love is misguided.

Symbolism in The Rocking-Horse Winner

• The rocking horse represents obsession, desperation, and destruction.
• A child's toy leads to an adult world of gambling.
• The whispering house is a metaphor for materialistic greed which parallels Paul's health.
• "Blue fire" eyes symbolize his trance and his movements mirror his turmoil.
• "Malabar" is his attempt to silence the house ironically, it leads to death.
• The story is fable-like with moral undertones and uses a third-person omniscient narrator.
• Paul's "luck" leads to his downfall.
• The motifs reinforce central messages in the symbolic story.

Important Quotes

• "There must be more money!"- The whispering house reflects the family's relentless greed symbolizing pressure.
• "He wanted luck, he wanted it, he wanted it.”- Paul's obsessive belief that luck can earn his mother's love.
• "I am lucky!” - Paul's repeated insistence contrasts with tragic outcome.
• "But poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner.”-The final quote shows that obsession doesn't serve to create anything.

"A Family Supper" by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Published in 1982.
• Short story in the genres including post-war fiction and domestic drama.
• Setting: Post-World War II Japan.
• Themes: Cultural conflict, generational divide, familial alienation, loss, tradition vs. modernity, and ambiguity.
• Uses first-person narration.
• Sparse and restrained prose.
• Implicit storytelling.

Plot Summary

• The narrator returns to Japan after his mother's death.
• Consuming fugu might have caused her death.
• The father is traditional.
• During the meal, the father talks about Watanabe's suicide due to "weakness".
• The conversation reveals the generational gap between a traditional father embodies Japanese values and a Western son.
• Kikuko adopts a Westernized lifestyle.
• The father serves fish creating tension and little conversation.
• The narrator becomes uneasy.
• After the meal, the family remains distant.
• The father hopes his son considers returning to Japan.
• The story ambiguously concludes and leaves uncertainty about the father's intentions.
• Generational divide and cultural conflict include the father (tradition) and children (Westernization) because tradition and modernity reflect Japan's post-war struggle.
• The family members communicate in a formal manner emphasizing disconnection.
• Reconciliation attempts are awkward.
• The meal isn't unity, instead emphasizing the emotional chasm.
• Creates a sense of unease due to ambiguity.

Thematic Elements

• The restrained dialogue leaves the reader uncertain.
• The ambiguity mirrors post-war Japan while the mother's death looms over emphasizing the father's stoic demeanor masking grief.

Symbolism

• Fugu (poisonous fish) symbolizes the underlying threat.
• Serving fish represents a veiled desire for control.
• Uncertainty of whether the fish is poisoned reflects ambiguity.
• The father's garden represents traditional Japanese values.
• The garden is contrasted to emotional neglect.
• Kikuko's cigarettes symbolize rebellion.
• First-person narration is used.
• Limited insight is offered due to sparse prose mirroring emotional repression.
• The story's power lies in what is left unsaid and creates an atmosphere of suspicion.
• "My father did not seem to hear me. He gazed out into the garden, his eyes narrowed." Highlights the father's withdrawal.
• "It's quite safe. I know how to prepare it." The father's statement is laden with potential menace; the silences add to emotional disconnect.
• The story captures the sense of dislocation.

"The Werewolf" by Angela Carter

• Published in 1979, within The Bloody Chamber.
• Falls in genres of Gothic fiction, fairy tale, horror by containing a subversive revisionist themes.
• Set in a cold, superstitious medieval village.
• Includes themes such as fear, superstitions, plus violence.

Characters

• The young girl is the protagonist.
• Grandmother is the alleged monster.

Plot Summary

• The story is a dark Little Red Riding Hood retelling begins and the protagonist sets out to visit her grandmother, carrying a knife.
• On the way, the girl cuts off a wolf's paw.
• When she arrives at her grandmother's house, she notices the missing hand/wolf paw.
• The villagers arrive.
• Accusing the grandmother of witchcraft, stoned her to death which leads to the story subverting the traditional one because in this case, it gives the girl power and is the focus of the ending.

Thematic Elements

• The story challenges fairy tail tropes.
• Instead of being helpless, the girl is an active participant and the grandmother is dangerous.
• The girl is self-sufficient and ultimately gains power which emphasizes female empowerment.
• Fear and superstition are highlighted as they show how a person can turn on another from hearsay.
• This also criticizes societies that persecute other groups accused of being witches.
• The protagonist's violence is justified and blurs the ambiguity of good and evil.
• The transformation of the grandmother is representative of humans—both civilized and animalistic because violence and morality are central.
• Symbols are present in the story that highlights the fact that women can be nurturing but also sometimes threatening patriarchal societies.
• Symbolism is shown as the grandmother is a werewolf.

More Symbols

• The grandmother is a werewolf/monster.
• The knife is female power.
• The villager's show the negative impacts of fear.

Narrative Elements

• Includes fairy-tale elements with a dark twist which emphasizes realism and brutality.
• Is also unreliable by Carter.
• Hints at the grandmother's transformation
• "They drove the old woman, propped her up, and stoned her to death." Highlights the brutality of the villagers which highlights women getting persecuted without concrete evidence.
• Angela Carter creates a world that challenges traditional gender roles with dark, unsettling world and blurred lines between good and evil.
• Overall, the story serves as a critique of fear and violence, the themes of which echo feminism.