Araby, The Short Story Revealed

Michael Kalamchi and Lindsay Merhege

Araby Short Story Analysis

3 May 2011

1.     How important is this writer in the history of British literature?  Why? What is the most interesting thing you learned about him her?

Considered to be one of the most influential writers to produce literary works during the modernist avantgard in the early 20^th century. He is best known for his book Ulysses, which is a retelling of the Odyssey, which uses almost every literary device available and perfects his stream of consciousness technique.  Many writers and scholars scrutinize his work but his influence on literature has left a great legacy.  The most interesting fact is that he is Ireland’s Modern writer.

2.     What stands out most about this story?  Its subject matter? Style?  What are its most and least interesting aspects?

The way in which James Joyce creates an atmosphere completely filled with amazing description of everything in his life before we interact with a character.  He goes to great lengths to describe how his day starts with thoughts and glances of the girl he loves, Mangan’s sister.  The most interesting aspect is how Joyce combines reality and everyday life with his fantasies and dreams of being with the women he lusts. The descriptive aspect drag on and create a monotonous tone, which we become very bored with quickly.

3.     These stories are, with only one exception, set outside England: Ireland, Canada, India (Kashmir), New Zealand, South Africa, the British West Indies.  They also take place in times other than the present-day English-speaking world.  What is the importance of the setting of your story?

The setting is very relatable, the neighborhood theme is one that everyone can think of. He does not place the story in some far off exotic location that many people would never hear of.  Also the fact that this story deals with the admiration of a crush is also relatable as this is something everyone has experienced at one point in their life or another.

4.     What are three important sentences of brief passages from the story?  Why are they important?

“Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”

The last lines of the story are the most important because they explain the whole point of the story.  Joyce set out to write this story to show that everyone is driven by vanity and that is does not always lead you to happiness or wanted endings.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.



Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.


Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.


Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

      'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' by Dylan Thomas is a poem about a man observing his dieing father, who is growing older and more frail right before his eyes. The 'good night' and the 'dying of the light' both symbolize death. The speaker is urging his father to fight on, to keep living his great life that he has been.

       The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. The first line of every stanza rhymes with either night, or light. And the second line of every stanza rhymes with every other second line. The lines 'Do not go gentle into that good night' and 'Rage, rage against the dying of the light' are repeated every other stanza. These lines are repeated to stress their importance. These lines are used to contrast or balance the rest of the stanza. In each stanza the speaker talks of how even the best men cannot best death. However he returns to these lines every time. Chanting not for the sake of his father, but his own comfort. He tells himself regardless of this I must keep fighting on. 

       In this poem the speaker sees his father growing closer to death, and starts to fear his own. In this poem the realization of death occurs because of seeing this happen to one close to him. Seeing this happen before his own eyes, the speaker now fears death himself. He sees the fight between death and his father important not just because a loss here would mean the end of his father, but it would also mean that the fear of death would consumer him.

       The first stanza is straight forward in meaning. This is when the speaker is addressing the father, we find out he is speaking to his father in the last stanza, and telling him rather than give up. Keep fighting and live on. Do not give in to just because it is an inevitability.

       The second stanza speaks of wise men. These wise men went out to change the world. Their words however 'forked no lightening.' Meaning their 'wise' words had not have the weight they had hoped it would carry. Because of this they keep living on until they have accomplished what they set out to do.

       The third stanza utilized the metaphor of the ocean. 'Their frail deeds might have danced in the green bay.' These 'good men, the last wave,' may have done some good in their life, but those actions only mean something in the bay. While they are living. This is an interesting metaphor as it reverses the role of life and death. The shore signifies death while the ocean itself signifies life. Not as you would usually see it. 

       The fourth stanza speaks of happy men. Men who dance and celebrate life. And although they are carefree and forget about death. They 'learn, too late, they grieved it on its way.' While caught up in this blissful ignorance lifestyle, they find they are blind sided by death.

       The fifth stanza speaks of old men. Men older than the speaker's father. Blind, just waiting for death. And although they are literally blind. They see how close they are to dieing, and intend on going out with a bang. The meteor used as a metaphor to signify this idea.


       The last stanza is where we finally learn this is being addressed to his father. We learn this whole time he is trying to convince himself to be strong. To keep living on. He almost is ashamed of being fearful of death and masks his self comfort as helping his father.

What the Magistrate Learns

     The Magistrate learns one important lesson through the novel. His interactions and dealings with the barbarian women as well as the rest of the barbarians allow the Magistrate completely rewrite what he finds morally wrong and right. The start of the novel points to the fact that the Magistrate was a pawn of the Empire. He lacked free will and it was the reason he was perfect for the job. After his interactions with the Barbarian girl however, he changes his thinking of right and wrong. He grows a backbone, and tries to undo the work of the Empire and the Colonel, the physical manifestation of the Empire in the Magistrate's eyes. He tries to right his wrongs in order to live with himself. Through his guilt he learns to open his eyes, and starts the view the world as it is.

US as a Police State

Following September 11, President Bush passed the USA PATRIOT Act granting emergency powers. President Obama extended this act in 2009 and again in 2010. This allows the government to do anything they need if it is in the name of national defense.

http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/

The Importance of Perception in Pride and Prejudice

Thesis:
Susan Morgan's thesis is that perception plays a large role within the novel Pride and Prejudice.
Characters are able to evoke emotions from us the way they do because of perception within the novel.

Support of Thesis:
"Did you admire me for my impertinence"?" Her impertinence, of course, is why generations of readers have admired he, and why we recognize that the major concern of the book is with the possibilities and responsibility of free and lively thought'

Austen's "social" concerns are with human relations, not society.

Morgan argues that we take Pride and Prejudice regarding a very specific topic, such as society. Morgan goes on to say that Pride and Prejudice talks on a much grander scale, about the human race.

I do agree with Morgan's thesis. Austen has shown us throughout the novel that she is incredibly educated. She is  intelligent enough to be able to write a novel that comments not only on the society of her time but one that can carry its meaning throughout the ages.

This information allows us to view Austen differently, we see her as a write that had great foresight. She was able to comment on a society she would never see just by her understanding of human relations from her time.

Blog 6

Ne deeth, allas! ne wol nat han my lyf;

Thus walke I, lyk a restelees caityf,

And on the ground, which is my modres gate,

I knokke with my staf, bothe erly and late,

And seye, “leve moder, leet me in!

Lo, how I vanish, flesh, and blood, and skin!

 

The lines above describe the the old man that the three delinquents encounter. He speaks of knowing death, but said that death would not take him because of how aged he had become. This leads me to suspect that this old man could possibly be death himself. The fact that he has been wondering for so long, with no end in sight makes it seem completely possible that he is. Plus he leads the three delinquents into the direction of the gold where all three of them find death. This shows that he could have possibly set up this trap for the three, then pointed them in the direction where they would meet their fates.

Blog 5

The knight is a character that follows a strict code of honour and chivalry. He is devoted to justice and does not stray from his straight path. He has fought in many wars, for instance he helped take over Alexandria. Despite his success he remains noble and humble. Truly exemplifies the 'perfect' knight. However because of this he is a very unrealistic character. He is not very believable because of his lack of flaws. Also he is not an interesting character to read about for the same reasons. He's bland and lacks any sort of realistic traits that any normal human would have. Making him a much harder character to read about.