*Dublin/Ireland:

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Dublin was a mass of

contradictions and a melting pot of different cultures and classes: it was the
second city of the British Empire and also the first city of nationalist Ireland;
rich and poor, immigrant and native, nationalist and unionist, Catholic,
Protestant, Jew and Quaker were all bound together in the life of the city.

*James Joyce:

As a writer, James Joyce is one of the pioneering representatives of

modernist English literature in the early decades of the twentieth century. In
his writings, Joyce dealt with various issues which still draw attention of the
readers worldwide.

*Dubliners:
James Joyce's collection of short stories, Dubliners, includes fifteen stories written
from 1904 to 1907. The stories, that deal with the life of middle-class and lower
middle-class Dubliners, raise the questions of Irish identity and cultural identity crisis.
In Dubliners, the characters are represented in such a way as if they are unable to find
out their Irish identity since they are affected both by the British empire and the
Catholic Church of Ireland.

The three major themes in Dubliners are paralysis, corruption, and

death.
Joyce believed passionately that Irish society and culture had been frozen in place for
centuries by two forces: The Roman Catholic Church and England. The result, at the
turn of the twentieth century, Dublin was one of the poorest, least-developed countries
in all of Western Europe.

Joyce wanted to show throughout the stories that the purity of Christian faith in God
clearly has been corrupted by the institution of the Catholic Church.

Joyce's third and last major theme in Dubliners is death. He links this theme closely to
the prior two, and without much effort, as paralysis often precedes death, and
corruption could be defined as resulting from a kind of spiritual or moral death.

As a result of these circumstances, Dubliners, throughout the whole stories,

are in a permanent quest to escape searching for their lost identity. And I'm
going to talk specifically about escapism in Araby.
*Araby:

"Araby" is about a young boy who develops a crush on his friend's sister. One
evening she asks him if he plans to go to a bazaar called Araby. The girl will
be away on a retreat when the bazaar is held and therefore unable to attend.
The boy promises that if he goes he will bring her something from Araby.

The boy requests and receives permission to attend the bazaar on

Saturday night. When Saturday night comes, however, his uncle returns
home late, possibly having visited a pub after work. After much
anguished waiting, the boy receives money for the bazaar, but by the time
he arrives at Araby, it is too late. The event is shutting down for the night,
and he does not have enough money to buy something nice for his lover
anyway. The boy cries in frustration.

The Irish identity crisis:

Araby” underscores the appropriation of the East as a place for Dubliners to “

escape
the boy looks to the Orient as a place where one might forge an identity that is
not censored by the Irish impulse to exclude the exotic and quell inquiry and
individuality

Quotes:
"It would be a splendid bazaar, she said she would love to go." (Araby,22)
"The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in
which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me."
(Araby,23)
"…that was a special train for the bazaar." (Araby,25)
"In front of me was a large building which displayed the magical name."
(Araby,25)
"…fearing that the bazaar would be closed." (Araby,25)
"I walked into the centre of the bazaar timidly." (Araby,25)
"I heard a voice call from one end of the bazaar that the light was out."
(Araby,26)