Mangan's Sister

Araby The diction employed by Joyce in his short story "Araby," just one of the many works in his collection of tales known as Dubliners, is critical to the interpretation of this story. Beyond everything else, the author's choice of wording helps to reveal critical elements about the narrator. These elements are not related to the basics of characterization: who he is, what he is doing and why.

Instead, Joyce's diction is an important determinant in evaluating how the narrator does what he does, and how he is actually feeling through the various stages of the plot. A careful analysis of the author's word choice reveals that more than anything, the narrator's character is that of a hopeless romantic, for whom life can never hope to be as pleasant as his romanticized perception of things.

The chief cause of the narrator's romantic characterization, of course, is the sister of his playmate Mangan -- a beautiful girl who is a part of a convent and, as such, is woefully beyond the reach of the narrator, who is merely a schoolboy. In his interactions with Mangan's sister, the narrator reveals his romantic disposition through the choice of words he uses to describe both himself and her.

For instance, when he witnesses her leaving in the mornings Joyce writes that the narrator's "heart leaped." Although the imagery used in this particular phrasing is routine and somewhat cliche, the connotations of the narrator's heart jumping for joy at the site of this girl is representative of his romantic nature. More original imagery is found in the following quotation in which the narrator admits that the very name of this young woman serves as "a summons to all my foolish blood" (Joyce).

The fact that the effect she produces upon the narrator is referred to as a "summons" underscores the power of that effect. More importantly, it also proves that the narrator is extremely attracted to this young woman and is a romantic who truly enjoys such attraction. Still, the more convincing evidence that Joyce's diction provides that demonstrates that the narrator is a hopeless romantic is found in the scenes in which Mangan's sister is nowhere present, and the boy still shows a tendency to romanticize his surroundings and situation.

Granted, he was already possessed with the thought of this girl, and even more so after he promises to bring her back a gift from an upcoming bazaar. However, the true romantic characterization of the narrator is revealed in the following quotation. "I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school (Joyce)." The diction in this passage is particularly passage, and is all the more so because it occurs without the presence of Mangan's sister.

Once the narrator makes his promise to Mangan's sister, he strongly resents anything that gets in the way of fulfilling such a promise. That strong resentment is demonstrated in the fact that he refers to the days before he attends the bazaar as "tedious," and actually wishes to destroy them. Literally, of course, no one can destroy days.

However, the very fact that the narrator wishes to shows that he has a romanticized view of life, and summons poetry in his thoughts (underscored by the powerful imagery of destroying time or days) ever since he has been possessed by the idea of Mangan's sister. Less powerful diction in the preceding passage would have indicated a more casual affection for Mangan's sister. The potency of the diction in this quotation, however, shows the romantic tendencies of the narrator and his characterization.

An analysis of the diction used in other passages also supports the interpretation that the narrator is characterized as a hopeless romantic. On of the most cogent of these passages again occurs when Mangan's sister is nowhere around, and the narrator romanticizes his surroundings. When he is returning from the market with one of his relatives while carrying some of their goods on a crowded weekend, the narrator describes the experience as thus: "I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes" (Joyce).

Although part of this description is attributed to the juvenile imaginings of a child, a closer examination of the diction reveals that there are distinct romantic elements of the narrator's perception. He is not merely carrying groceries; he is bearing a "chalice." The connotations of this noun conjure images of knights and damsels in distress -- perhaps.