My research essay will be on Araby by James Joyce. The main thing I will be focusing on for my essay is how the story is not actually a love story but one with many other underlying tones. The thesis statement is “Throughout the story readers see how the narrator uses settings and metaphors, particularly the contrast between light and darkness to show how the feelings he has towards the girl are not love but obsession.” I feel like dissertations on the author, James Joyce, would be useful as I would be able to gain insight on the authors writing style. Furthermore, there are many Journal articles on JSTOR which would provide many different interpretations of the story which I could draw ideas from in my research paper. Biographies on James Joyce would also further my understanding of her, specifically her writing style. Lastly, criticisms of literature would be helpful as they provide constructive criticism of Araby from which I can draw points from to connect to my thesis.
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“The wife” by Emily Dickinson and “The story of an Hour?” by Kate Chopin are both short pieces that highlight the inequality faced by women, especially married women. They both have a reoccurring theme of the dysfunctional relationship between husband and wife. In the third stanza of “the wife” it says “But only to himself is known the fathoms they abide.” I believe that this means that the husband is the only one that knows what their wife goes through on a day-to-day basis and at the same time it means that they don’t know the depth of what their wife actually goes through especially during the times the poem and short story was written as women had much less rights than they do today. This is especially noted when Ms. Mallard dies when she finds out her husband is alive as all her hopes and dreams of being freed from married life are instantly crushed. It shows how their relationship was so dysfunctional and how Ms. Mallard hated it so much that she would rather die than go back to her husband.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a story about a family who decides to go on a road trip to Tennessee but are killed along the way. On the surface the story seems to be about a family whose road trip is ended short due to tragedy. However, the story is really centered on the grandmother, the protagonist, and how her hypocrisy and ethics led to the downfall of her family. First, her standards are extremely hypocritical. She cared about her appearance and how people saw her on the surface but around her family she didn’t mind lying to get what she wanted. Her blatant racism is also a stark contrast from her outwards appearance. Furthermore, it was her lying that led the family to their death. She lied about the fact that there was treasure in an old plantation to manipulate the children into convincing their father to driving there. Later, she realized that the plantation was actually in Tennessee and everything goes downhill from there. She is the reason that the her family was killed.
Oedipus the King is a play written over a thousand years ago. However, the characters’ experiences and behaviors are still relatable to people from all eras, including us living in the modern era. One of these things is how we tend to think about the worst case scenarios as Oedipus did when be believed that Creon was after his throne. In the play it states “I have come because I heard deadly words spread about me, that the king accuses me.” Oedipus is so paranoid of Creon taking the throne that even Creon knows about this rumor without Oedipus directly informing Creon. Another thing that humans have experienced for all eternity is pride. Oedipus the King is completely based on the hubris of Oedipus and how it was his downfall. We see this happen over and over throughout history. One example is Hitler, he thought his ideas were the truth and decided to subject them to most of Europe but failed as he was too prideful and never thought that he would lose the war.
Araby is a complicated short story as at first glance it seems to be about love. However, as you dive deeper you realize it is actually about a boy whose longing after a girl becomes an unhealthy obsession. He describes the world as gloomy and depressing with his description of the street he lives on as “conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.” The only time he sees any sort of excitement in his life is when his crush, Mangan’s sister, is around him. He said “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.” This statement clearly shows that he is crazy about her in an extremely unhealthy way. Furthermore, in the book he gets so nervous when she asks him a simple question, whether he will go to the bazaar. The first thing he says is why can’t she go. This along with the rest of the things he does in the short story clearly shows he is obsessed with her in an unhealthy way.
“The lesson” is a story which shows how some young people are aware of socio-economic inequality. There are two characters, Sylvia and Sugar, that show the difference in their understanding of socio-economic equality their thoughts and actions when they visit FAO Schwartz. For example, Sugar said “You know, Miss Moore, I don’t think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs.” This statement of hers clearly shows that she has some understanding of finances as she knows that the amount of money spent on one of her and her friends’ necessities is inconsequential to those who shop at FAO Schwartz. Therefore, it shows that she is aware of the socio-economic inequality that she faces. On the other hand, Sylvia is angry at the situation but is not able to put it into words. “And I’m jealous and want to hit her. Maybe not her, but I sure want to punch somebody in the mouth.” Sylvia is angry at the fact that the sailboat cost a lot but is unable to communicate why she is angry at this particular situation. This clearly shows that Sylvia is not as knowledgeable as Sugar regarding socio-economic inequality.
