Cruelty of Reality in "Araby"

Authors highlight the dangers of idealization to accentuate the ironic mode in heroes’ realistic journeys. In a story “A Devoted Son,” Rakesh’s father Varma think Also, in “Araby”, the narrator is As well as “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” the main character of this story, Paul. He is a young boy who is lack of mother’s love. Paul wish his mother would love him, so he tell his mother that he is a lucky guy, “ “Well, anyhow,” he said stoutly, “I’m a lucky person.

””(Lawrence, 21) Yet Paul knew that she is not concentrating and she is not believing him, “The boy saw she did not believe him; or rather that she paid not attention to his assertions.”(Lawrence, 21) He was thinking about what can he do to make his mother to concentrate on him and prove her to love him.

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Then he use his luck to earn money for his mother. Luck is equal to money to Paul, because he thinks that is the only way to make his mother to love him.

Heroes in the ironic mode are used to emphasize appearance versus reality in short stories. In a story “A Devoted son,” Rakesh seems to be a best progeny as a son and a doctor. To father, however, is just a devoted doctor not a devoted son. “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is similar to two other stories. In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator of this story says the Paul’s mother does not love her children.

Yet, she seems to love them and people say, “She is a good mother. She adores her children.” (Lawrence, 19)

Likewise, in the “Araby,” the narrator dreams of starting a relationship with his Mangan’s sister. They do not know each other well. The story shows readers that the narrator do not know her personality; he only describes her beauty. “... our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there, and falling, lit up the hand upon the railing.” (Joyce, 184) The relationship which his dreaming seems futile, but he thinks he can establish the relationship with buying her a gift at a night fair. He is swallowed by fantasy and not facing the reality. The author strongly emphasize dreams versus reality after the narrator visited the Araby fair. He was dreaming that the Araby fair would be excited and mysterious, yet when he arrived, all of the fair was closing. The showy aspects of the fair were being taken down and the mood changes to same as the narrator’s town. Then he realizes that all of things were imaginary which is based on his perception. He now faces the reality.

“There would be no hero deed unless there were an achievement.” (Campbell, 174) base on “The Hero’s Adventure.” In the three short stories, however, authors did not shows to readers that this kind of archetypes of heroes.