"The Araby" and "Eveline" by James Joyce

Sungwon Kim

Mr. Garrioch          

World Literature

March 17, 2015

“The Araby”

The story is often read as a narrative recounting the experience of a young boy affronting an unexpected frustration and disappointment in his disenchantment of exotic “Araby” and love. Driven by his feeling of love toward the Mangan’s sister, the narrator goes on his journey to the “The Araby” with fascination for the place. Different from what he had anticipated of his journey—mundane life of Dubliners to the exposal of new and enchanting orient—the boy disappoints at finding the place rather dull and disparaging with most of the stalls closed in darkness. There, the narrator observes the flirtatious young lady and two gentlemen who break his naïve preconception of love as a pristine emotion, and eventually feels intense anguish and anger. However, such interpretation lacks consideration of some other crucial qualities depicted by the narrator in terms of his development throughout the story. The juxtaposition of the frequent call to sensual desires and the journey to “the Araby” hints at the narrator’s duplicitous nature. Along with the reference to Christianity, therefore, it is more legitimate to assume that the narrator feels rage toward himself for his negation of the true mind that yearns for sensual pleasure. The “confused adoration” turns out to be the boy’s sensual desire seeking for “the curved neck, the hand upon the railings and the border below the dress” through the revelation that takes place in darkness.

“Eveline”

At first glance, James Joyce’s “Eveline” might appear to be a tragic story of a young woman who inevitably forsakes her opportunity to embark on a new life through her love due to her domestic responsibility. After all, when Eveline, despite the constant threat of her father’s violence and economic difficulties menacing in her daily life, refuses to leave with Frank at the harbor, we might assume that she eventually makes her decision on behalf of her family. However, on the other hand, such interpretation fails to meet the underlying essence of the story, as hinted in her reaction to Frank’s departure in the end. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that “Eveline” is rather a portrait of the typical women in the Dubliner society, characterized by unsettled and mercurial mentality. In this sense, Eveline is not simply a character that fulfills her responsibility through her sacrifice of “individual”, but rather a vivid representation of woman detached from love. “Her eyes [with] no sign of love or farewell or recognition” were the kinds that could easily be seen in the eyes of women in Dubliners society.                   

Reading Journal: "The Student" by Anton Chekhov

The general impression I had on this piece of short story was that it was complex. There had been a lot of biblical references that I had to be familiar with beforehand to understand the story. After reading it once, the story seemed to be very interesting, and the reason was that there was nothing I can understand from what happened in the story. (I had things to figure out on my own!) But when I read it for the second time with full appreciation of the little details, I began to create my own connections to the story as a whole. The main question that had to be answered was why did Vasilisa (The mother of the two widows) started crying after hearing the story about the Crucifixion delivered by the student.  

The story starts with the description of the weather in the forest. The forest was depicted quite starkly. Extreme coldness, agonizing wind, loneliness, and remoteness of the forest set the whole story on a gloom from the beginning. Then, it goes on more gloomily as the story talks about poverty and hunger, and how it had always existed since a thousand years ago and it will continue to exist. Then, the student tells the story about the betrayal of Peter and the Crucifixion. The story, overall, sets in a very negative and pessimistic air. However, unexpectedly, its ending is somewhat positive and hopeful. Far different from how the two widows reacted to the story, the student rather feels happy on his way to somewhere else after leaving the house. Such ambiguity also presents a bit of mind-boggling experience to the reader.     

The story makes its consistent effort to draw connection between past and present. The most salient one reads, “since she had shed tears all that had happened to Peter the night before the Crucifixion must have some relation to her….” From here I could conjecture that she is feeling the same sort of guilt as Peter felt. Soon after the student visits the house, the student notices that the two women have just had supper on the Good Friday. While, the most faithful observes an absolute Fasting (an act of abstinence from food), the two women didn't observe what is expected for them as Christians. The student also asks the two widows, with skepticism, whether they had been at the reading of the Twelve Gospels with skepticism. Then, the story of betrayal of Peter and the Crucifixion comes in. Vacilisa’s tears eventually imply that the women are not so faithful Christians who feel guilt as Peter did.

There are much more parallels in the story. Another notable one reads, “At just such a fire the Apostle Peter warmed himself,” said the student, stretching out his hands to the fire, “so it must have been cold then, too…” Poverty and hunger exists just as it did a thousand years ago, and it is obvious that the family suffers from poverty. The disobedient acts of Peter and the two women toward Jesus are in common in that they did on behalf of themselves. Peter denied his acquaintance with Jesus to save himself from the mad crowd who were very willing to kill him if otherwise. To the women, they were too hungry to pursue the observance of religious fasting.  

I could come up with this interpretation based on the connection I drew from my own life. I actually felt a bit of similarity with Peter. I was a faithful Christian when I was young. My parents were both Christian, and I was raised as Christian. However, as I grew older, I prayed less often, and eventually I stopped praying. I had my own particular reasons for letting go of my faith though. I am sure I've made solemn prayer assuring my belief in Jesus. The situation is similar but the feelings I had was neither guilt nor joy. The student rejoices at his youth, health, and vigor in the end. I still don’t have a clear understanding of the student. Why does the story suddenly end in a positive light with the rejoicing of the student? The story has been given its title “the student”—there must be some other messages that maybe Chekhov wanted to convey?