The Role of Religion in Araby
The Role of Religion in Araby Religion plays an immense role in the lives of many people, including the narrator of the short story, Araby, by James Joyce. Religion is based on the belief that a supernatural power governs the universe, this basically gives us explanations to things humans don’t fully understand, yet it is very common for one to become torn between personal feelings and religious beliefs. When one is weak and vulnerable they may turn to religion to set them back on track. Religion is an unquestionable way of life to many. The narrator of the story lets his religion flow throughout the story by the way he expresses himself, through his actions, and by how he tells the story of Araby.
From the beginning of the short story, it becomes obvious that religion is the backbone of the story. The first paragraph begins with the narrator describing how noisy the neighborhood was when the boys got out of the Christian Brothers’ School, “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free” (Joyce, 882). This immediately informs the reader that not only is a Christian school involved in the story, but a strict one at that, one that perhaps doesn’t allow the boys to talk and express themselves completely since it seems to be noisy when they are finally set free. Perhaps the boys of the Christian Brothers’ School can finally be themselves when let out of the eye of the church.
Religion flows on to the second paragraph just as well as the first. It opens discussing how the boy’s house was once the house of a priest who had died in the back drawing room. The narrator goes on to describe how old and musty the house is, giving it an eerie, foreboding feeling, as if, because the priest had died there that there must be some sort of supernatural spirits within the house. By reading the first two paragraphs the reader may get the idea that the narrator is in doubt of religion or possibly
From the beginning of the short story, it becomes obvious that religion is the backbone of the story. The first paragraph begins with the narrator describing how noisy the neighborhood was when the boys got out of the Christian Brothers’ School, “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free” (Joyce, 882). This immediately informs the reader that not only is a Christian school involved in the story, but a strict one at that, one that perhaps doesn’t allow the boys to talk and express themselves completely since it seems to be noisy when they are finally set free. Perhaps the boys of the Christian Brothers’ School can finally be themselves when let out of the eye of the church.
Religion flows on to the second paragraph just as well as the first. It opens discussing how the boy’s house was once the house of a priest who had died in the back drawing room. The narrator goes on to describe how old and musty the house is, giving it an eerie, foreboding feeling, as if, because the priest had died there that there must be some sort of supernatural spirits within the house. By reading the first two paragraphs the reader may get the idea that the narrator is in doubt of religion or possibly
Cited: Joyce, James. “Araby”. Literature For Composition. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto and William E. Cain. Pearson Longman 8th Edition. Pgs. 882-886.