Blindness In “Araby“

3 Pages 632 Words

Numerous references to blindness appear throughout James Joyce’s “Araby.” Joyce makes no effort to hide these frequent and overt implications. By strategically placing a just few colorful adjectives and phrases, he successfully points the reader toward the underlying meaning of the story. The uses of “blind” and the implications of “blindness” take many forms and meanings. Joyce utilizes many of the denotations and connotations of the word to accomplish his theme of “blindness.”
Joyce immediately suggests the central theme of “Araby” by using the word “blind” twice in the first paragraph. Describing North Richmond Street as blind, he uses the adjective to illustrate the road as closed at one end. Figuratively, it suggests that the people of the neighborhood lack the ability and foresight to progress. Stark and decrepit, the community has reached a proverbial dead end and seems destined to remain in its desolate state. Residents do not search for a better lifestyle or attempt to escape their miserable reality, because they contently endure it.
During the sixth paragraph of the piece, Joyce writes, “I was thankful that I could see so little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves.” Blindness, in this instance, expresses how the narrator does not want to perceive or understand his surroundings. Desiring to eclipse the depressing aspects of his life, he focuses on one comforting hope, Mangan’s sister. This fixation is conveyed in the sixteenth paragraph, “I may have stood there for an hour, seeing nothing but the brown-clad figure cast by my imagination.” He deliberately blocks out the overwhelmingly grim parts of his life, because he cannot fear what he remains unaware of. By concentrating on Mangan’s sister, the narrator can dream and have faith in something that prevents him from falling into the depressing realization of reality.
Many references to darkness represent t...