Term Paper on "James Joyce's "Araby" and William Faulkner's "Barn Burning"

Term Paper 4 pages (1356 words) Sources: 1+ Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Faulkner Joyce

Internal Conflict in "Araby" and "Barn Burning"

The key theme running throughout both James Joyce's "Araby" and William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" is the conflict between the protagonists' inner conceptions of what the external world should be like, and the actual reality of their respective circumstances. For the narrator in "Araby," he is conflicted between the seemingly real and intense consequences of his daydreaming, and the drab or mundane aspects of his real, every-day life. To him, Mangan's sister, and the bazaar both represent the romantic visions that he entertains within the context of his otherwise unromantic life. For Sarty, his conflict stems from his notions of what justice and morality are, and the way these ideals contrast with the physical events surrounding his life, such as his familial ties to his father. In both stories, the main characters progress towards manhood by coming into close contact with the very real consequences of their somewhat naive understandings of how the world operates. In this way, both short stories follow a similar pattern, though they follow this pattern by using different characters, ideals, and settings.

In "Araby," the narrator becomes increasingly consumed by idealistic and romantic thoughts of Mangan's sister as the story progresses. There is a tumultuous mingling of the realities in the narrator's life, and the imaginary and exotic dreams that come to dominate his thoughts. Of course, this dangerous combination centers upon Mangan's sister; she represents both the exciting and the mundane. This is fundamentally because although she is a part of the ordinary atmosphere of northern Dublin, she remains something strange and somehow unattainable for the main character.

He finds himself daily waiting by his window to catch a glimpse of Mangan's sister, so that his daydreaming can become more vivid and intense. However, when he actually comes into contact with Mangan's sister, and he tells her he will attend the bazaar for her, the narrator initially interprets this as the very near realization of his internal fantasies. Joyce writes, "I could not call my wandering thoughts together. I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child's play, ugly monotonous child's play," (Joyce 188). This is a significant passage because it represents the point in the story during which the narrator is confusing his idealistic dreams with reality most severely. It is important that Joyce characterizes the essential daily obligations of the boy as seeming like children's games; through the narrator's obsession with the romantic life that Mangan's sister represents for him, the necessary actions of everyday life in northern Dublin seem like things of the past, and his prior concerns for school have vanished, only to be replaced by his visions of what "real" life would be like with Mangan's sister. This vision of the future, and what the bazaar can offer for it, seem real and adult to the boy.

Yet, just as fantasy seems about to win out over reality, the narrator's desires to attend the bazaar -- which he believes will somehow provide him with a gift that will express his feelings for Mangan's sister -- are gradually impinged upon by the events of his everyday life. To begin with, his uncle is late to arrive with his train fare, which gives the narrator time to contemplate just how realistic his hopes to attend the bazaar may be. Joyce writes, "I had to endure the gossip of the teatable. The meal was prolonged beyond an hour and still my uncle did not come.... I began to walk up and down the room, clenching my fists," (Joyce 189). At this point the narrator is being confronted with the possibility that his daydreams may be unrealistic based solely upon his environment and the surrounding circumstances of his life. Once he actually attends the bazaar, however, this feeling becomes more acute, and the narrator reaches an epiphany of realization. When the narrator realizes that the bazaar holds nothing that remotely resembled his inner fantasies, he recognizes the… READ MORE

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