Mangan's Sister Essay

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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.

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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….....

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