Home 


logo4.jpg (8470 bytes)

Essay 1 Readings:  Questions for Discussion


"Araby"


These discussion questions are designed to help you think
about the stories you have read.  If you wish,  you can answer
the discussion questions in your reading comments for Essay 1.

You can also select ONE of the discussion questions to
serve as the focus for your Essay 1 Paper.

"The story "Araby" contains symbolism, a term used for stories
that have persons, places, actions, events, or objects, that in
addition to its literal meaning, suggests a more complex meaning
or range of meaning.  James Joyce used symbolism in his books,
even in his more realist,early collection Dubliners.  And the Eloy
and Morlocks in H. G. Wells The Time Machine have symbolic
meaning, as well as literal.  You can read more about symbolism
in Literature: Reading, Reacting, and Responding on pages 254-56.

In "Araby,"  the title word seems full of exotic possibilities to a Dublin
boy.  And his search for "Araby" becomes combined with other
shifts in his vision of himself and of those about him, especially
the world of adult Dubliners.   Below are some points about why
this story seems so realistic, yet full of half-hinted awakenings and
disillusionments.

  • What did this shift in the boy's attitude toward the enclosed stalls
    at the market mean in both literal and symbolic terms?
  • What are several examples of figurative language in this story?
  •  What might darkness and blindness (the street was
    "blind" at the opening) symbolize in this story?
  • Besides the title word "Araby," are there any other symbols
    in this story?

  • Compare and contrast the attitude toward awakening interest in
    women in this story to that in "A & P" (Literature, pp. 97-102).      




    Home | Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Term Paper