Archetypes In Araby

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Pages: 5

Araby by James Joyce’s is a short story which undercuts the traditional narrative archetypes evident in most forms of Medieval literature and challenges the reader's expectations of the conventional epic romance through the main characters unrequited love for his companions sister one who is constantly in his thoughts and bring him great joy and profound frustration. This challenges the traditional epic romance because even through the narrator trys to deal with problems such as his struggle with focusing on school work, his frustration with his uncle for being late, and his fear of his chances with Mangan’s sister, he does not get the happy ending he so desperately craves. Unlike traditional romantic stories where the main character goes through …show more content…
In the beginning of the story he describes north Richmond Street as a "blind," "cold ... .. silent" street where the houses "gazed at one an-other with brown imperturbable faces." The Residents of North Richmond have blindly become complacent and there homes are a reflection of their attitudes this tells the readers that the boy isn’t the only one blind to the falseness of the world they all live in and only when he gets to the bazaar at Araby does he awaken to the true reality that he lives in. In any true love story you have an unlikely hero\heroin and the object of his/her affection the budding love story starts with unrequited affection from the hero who then comes to a crossroad or obstacle that can either obstruct there goal or dream or further their ambitions then the story finishes with an ideal happy ending where the hero and his/her love unite and go off to enjoy a happy ending. While this story has all the key factors in making a great love story when the main character gets to this cross road it doesn’t further encourage him to continue with his noble quest but instead shows him the futility of his actions and shatters his belief of love challenging the code of a love story and making the story into a coming of age tale when a boy becomes a man and see’s the world for what it truly is. I believe that Joyce is taking from personal events from