Araby" and the Writings of James Joyce

"Araby" and the Writings of James Joyce Author(s): Harry Stone Source: The Antioch Review, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 375-410 Published by: Antioch Review, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4610703 . Accessed: 13/11/2014 19:12 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Antioch Review, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Antioch Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 'Ara of James by" and the Writings Joyce By HARRY STONE Love came to us in time gone by When one at twilight shyly played And one in fear was standingnighFor Love at first is all afraid. We were grave lovers.Love is past That had his sweet hours many a one; Welcometo us now at the last The ways that we shall go upon. -Chamber Music, XXX (written in 1904 or earlier). And still you hold our longing gaze With languorouslook and lavishlimb! Are you not wearyof ardentways? Tell no more of enchanteddays. -A Portraitof the Artist as a Young Man (1904-14). Lust, thou shaltnot commix idolatry. -Finnegans Wake (1922-39). * "We walk throughourselves,"says StephenDedalusin Ulysses. or for that matterhow Stephenis tryingto show how Shakespeare, any artist (creatorof "Dane or Dubliner"),forever turns to the HARRY STONE, Associate Professorof English at San Fernando Valley State College in California,has publishedwidely in the leading literaryreviewsand journalsof this countryand of Europe.He has just finished an edition of the UncollectedWritingsof CharlesDickens:Household Wordsand is completing a book entitledDickens and the Fairy Tale. 375 This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 376 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW themeswhich agitatehim, endlesslybodyingforth the few crucial events of his life. "Everylife is many days, day after day," says Stephen. "We walk through ourselves,meeting robbers,ghosts, But giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love. always meeting ourselves."Stephen'stheory may be an ingenious jeu d'esprit-though Joycehimself was heavilycommittedto such to Shakeviews.Butwhetheror not Stephen'swordsareappropriate speare,they are exactlyappropriateto Joyce.In his writings,Joyce was always meeting himself-in ways which must at times have beenbeyondhis consciousordinance-and the pagesof "Araby"are witnessto thatfact. For "Araby"preservesa centralepisodein Joyce'slife, an episode The boy in "Araby,"like the youthful he will endlesslyrecapitulate. Joycehimself,mustbeginto freehimselffrom the netsandtrammels of society.That beginninginvolvespainfulfarewellsand disturbing dislocations.The boy mustdream"no moreof enchanteddays."He mustforegothe shimmeringmirageof childhood,beginto seethings as theyreallyare.Butto seethingsas theyreallyareis only a prelude. Far in the distancelies his appointed(but as yet unimagined)task: to encounterthe realityof experienceand forge the uncreatedconscienceof his race.The whole of that struggle,of course,is set forth in A Portraitof the Artistas a YoungMan."Araby"is tlheidentical struggleat an earlierstage; "Araby"is a portraitof the artistas a youngboy. II nexus of "Araby"is not confinedto the The autobiographical struggleragingin the boy'smind, though that conflict-an epitome of Joyce'sfirst painfuleffortto see-is centraland controlsall else. Manyof the detailsof the storyare also rootedin Joyce'slife. The narratorof "Araby"-thenarratoris the boy of the storynow grown up-lived, like Joyce,on North RichmondStreet.North Richmond Streetis blind,with a detachedtwo-storyhouseat the blindend, and down the street,as the openingparagraphinformsus, the Christian Brothers'school.Like Joyce,the boy attendedthis school,and again like Joycehe found it dull and stultifying.Furthermore,the boy's surrogateparents,his auntand uncle,area versionof Joyce'sparents: the aunt,with her forbearance and her unexaminedpiety,is like his This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 377 mother;the uncle,with his irregularhours,his irresponsibility, his is like his father. love of recitation,and his drunkenness, The title and the centralaction of the story are also autobiographical.FromMayfourteenthto nineteenth,I894, while the Joyce family was living on North RichmondStreetand Joycewas twelve, Arabycameto Dublin.Arabywas a bazaar,and the programof the bazaar,advertisingthe fair as a "GrandOrientalFete,"featuredthe name "Araby"in huge exoticletters,while the designas well as the detailof the programconveyedan ill-assortedblend of pseudo-EastFor one shilling,as the ern romanticismand blatantcommercialism. programput it, one could visit "Arabyin Dublin"and at the same time aidthe JervisStreetHospital. matrix. But the art of "Araby"goes beyondits autobiographical The autobiographical strandssoon entwine themselvesaboutmore literarypatternsand enterthe fictionin dozensof unsuspectedways. For instance,embeddedin "Araby"is a story, "Our Lady of the Hills," from a book that Joyce knew well, The Celtic Twilight (1893) by WilliamButlerYeats."OurLadyof the Hills"tellshow a prettyyoung Protestantgirl walking throughthe mountainsnear Lough Gill was taken for the Virgin Mary by a group of Irish Catholicchildren.The children refused to accept her denials of divinity;to them she was "thegreatQueenof Heavencome to walk uponthe mountainandbe kind to them."Aftertheyhad partedand shehad walkedon for half a mile,one of the children,a boy,jumped down into her path and said that he would believeshe were mortal if she had a petticoatunder her dress like other ladies. The girl showed the boy her two skirts,and the boy's dream of a saintly epiphanyvanishedinto the mountainair. In his anguish,he cried out angrily,"Dad'sa divil, mum'sa divil, and I'm a divil, and you areonly an ordinarylady."Then he "ranawaysobbing." Probablyreverberating in "Araby"also are chordsfrom one of ThomasDe Quincey'smostfamousworks,"Levanaand Our Ladies of Sorrow."In "Levana,"Our Lady of Tears (she bearsthe additional title, "Madonna")speaksaboutthe child who is destinedto sufferand to see,a typeof the inchoateartist: "Lo!here is he whom in childhoodI dedicatedto my altars.This is he that once I made my darling.Him I led astray,him I beguiled,and from heaven I stole away his young heart to mine. Through me did he become This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 378 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW and throughme it was, by languishingdesires,that he woridolatrous; shippedthe worm,andprayedto the wormygrave.Holy wasthegraveto him; lovely was its darkness;saintlyits corruption.Him, this young idolater,I haveseasonedfor thee,deargentleSisterof Sighs!" He who is chosenby the Ladiesof Sorrowwill sufferand be cursed; he will "see the things that ought not to be seen, sights that are buthe will alsobe able abominable,and secretsthatareunutterable," to readthe greattruthsof the universe,and he will "riseagainbefore he dies."In this manner,says Our Lady of Tears,we accomplish the commissionwe had from God: "to plague [the chosen one's] heartuntil we had unfoldedthe capacitiesof his spirit." The ideas and images of "Levana"(witness the parody in Ulysses) had sunk deep into Joyce'simagination.His imagination had always sought out, always vibratedto, the Levanaesqueconstellation-a constellationthat fuses religion, sexuality, idolatry, darkness,ascension,and art. "Araby,"both in its centralidea and imagery-in the image of Mangan'ssister,in the its characteristic boy'sblind idolatry,and in the boy'sultimateinsight and dawning ascension-is cognatewith "Levana." Otherliteraryprototypesalsocontributeto "Araby."In "Araby" in as Joyce'slife, Manganis an importantname.In life Manganwas one of Joyce'sfavoriteRomanticpoets,a little-knownIrishpoet who from the Arabic pretendedthatmanyof his poemsweretranslations althoughhe was totallyignorantof thatlanguage.Joycechampioned beforethe him in a paperdeliveredas a Pateresquetwenty-year-old Literaryand HistoricalSocietyof UniversityCollege,Dublin, and championedhim againfive yearslater,in a lectureat the Universita Popolarein Trieste,as "the most significantpoet of the modern Celticworld,and one of the most inspiredsingersthat everused the lyric form in any country."In "Araby"Manganis the boy'sfriend, but, what is more important,Mangan'ssisteris the adoredgirl. In each lectureJoycediscussedMangan'spoetryin wordswhich could serveas an epigraphfor the boy'smute, chivalriclove for Mangan's sisterand for his subsequentdisillusionmentand self-disdain.In the latter lecture,Joyce describedthe female personathat Manganis constantlyadoring: This figurewhichhe adoresrecallsthe spiritualyearningsand the imaginaryloves of the Middle Ages, and Manganhas placedhis lady in a This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 379 world full of melody,of lights and perfumes,a world that grows fatallyto frame every face that the eyes of a poet have gazed on with love. There is only one chivalrousidea, only one male devotion, that lights up the faces of VittoriaColonna,Laura,and Beatrice,just as the bitter disillusion and the self-disdainthat end the chapterare one and the same. And one of Joyce'sfavoritepoemsby Mangan-a poem whoseinfluencerecursin A Portraitof the Artistas a YoungMan, Ulysses,and FinnegansWake-is "DarkRosaleen,"a love paeanto a girl who representsIreland (Dark Rosaleenis a poetic name for Ireland), physical love, and romantic adoration.In "Araby"Joyce took Mangan'sidealizedgirl as an embodimentof the artist's,especially the Irishartist's,relationshipto his beloved,and then,combiningthe image of the girl with other resonatingliteraryassociations,wrote his own storyof dawning,worshipfullove. III It is easyto follow the externaleventsof the story.A youngboy becomesfascinatedwith his boyfriend'ssister,beginsto dwell on her soft presence,and eventuallyadoresherwith an ecstasyof secretlove. One day the girl speaksto him-it is one of the few timesthey have ever exchangeda word-and askshim if he is going to Araby.She herselfcannotgo, she tells him, for she must participatein a retreat. The boy saysif he goeshe will bringher a gift. When he finallyvisits the bazaarhe is disillusionedby its tawdrinessand by a banalconversationhe overhears,and he buysno gift. Insteadhe feels "driven and deridedby vanity"and his eyesburnwith "anguishand anger.'? "Driven and derided,""anguishand anger"-these reactions seem far too strong.Indeedthey seem pretentiouswhen compared to the trivialdisillusionmentwhich causedthem. And they are pretentious,certainlythey are inappropriate,if related only to their immediateexternalcauses.But the boy is reactingto much more thana banalfairand a brokenpromise.He is reactingto suddenand deeplydisturbinginsights.Theseinsightsare sharedby the attentive reader,for by the end of "Araby"the readerhas beenpresentedwith all thathe needsin orderto resolvethe story'sintricateharmonyinto its componentmotifs. Most of those motifs,both personaland public,are soundedat once. The formertenantof the boy'shouse,a house stale with the This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 380 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW smell of mustinessand decay,had beena priestwho had died in the backdrawingroom.In a litterof old papersin a wasteroombehind the kitchenthe boy has found a few damp-stainedvolumes:"The Abbot, by Walter Scott, The Devout Communicant,and The Memoirsof Vidocq."The only additionalinformationJoycegivesus aboutthesebooksis that the boy liked the last volumebest because "its leaveswere yellow."The musty books and the boy's response to them are doublyand treblymeaningful.Joycechoseworks that would objectifythe themesof "Araby,"worksthatwould exemplify in the most blatant(yet unexpressed)mannerthe very confusions, veilings,andfailureshe was depictingin the priestand the boy.The booksand theirlurkingincongruitieshelp us arraignthe priestand understandthe boy.That the priestshouldleavea romanceby Scott with a religioustitle that obscuresthe fact that it is the secularcelebrationof a worldlyqueen,MaryQueenof Scots,a queenenshrined in historyas saintand harlot;a book of rules,meditations,anthems, and prayersfor Holy Week by a Protestantclergymannamed AbednegoSeller,a clergymanwho hadwrittentractsagainst"Popish Priests,"engagedin publishedcontroversywith a Jesuitdivine,and was eventuallyrelievedof his office;and a volumeof luridand often sexuallysuggestivememoirsby a notoriousimposter,masterof disguise, archcriminal,and police official-all this is a commentaryon the priestand the religionhe is supposedto represent.At the same time this literarydebrisobjectifiesthe boy'sconfusions. That Scott'sunblemishedromanticheroine,an idolizedCatholic queenby the name of Mary,shouldalso be (though not to Scott) a "harlotqueen,"a passionatethrice-marriedwoman who was reas the "Whoreof Babylon," gardedby many of her contemporaries as a murderesswho murderedto satisfyher lust-this strangedissonance,mutedandobscuredby Scott'spresentation, is a versionof the boy's strikinglysimilar and equally muted dissonances.That the deadpriest'sbookof devotionsis a Protestantmanualby a man bearing the significantname,AbednegoSeller-a name which combines in equalpartsancientreligiousassociations(in particularassociations of refusingto worshipa golden image and of a faith strongenough to withstanda fieryfurnace)with an ironicallyincongruousmodern surnamethat has to do with selling and commercialism-thisjuxta- This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 38I position,also, is appropriateto the boy: it typifiesone of his fundamental confusions. That Vidocq shouldescapefrom a prisonhospitaldisguisedin the stolenhabitof a nun, a veil over his face; that he should then assista good-naturedcure in celebratingmass,pretendingto make the signsand genuflectionsprescribedfor a nun-this is a versionof what the boy will do. That The Memoirs should also containthe historyof a beauty"whoseemedto havebeen createdas a modelfor the divine Madonnas which sprang from the imagination of Raphael,"whose eyes "gaveexpressionto all the gentlenessof her soul," and who had a "heavenlyforehead"and an "etherealelegance"-but who, from the age of fourteen,had been a debauched prostitutewho was ultimatelycaught by the police because,in the midst of committinga robbery,she and her accomplicebecame utterly engrossedin fornicatingwith one another-this, also, is a version,a grotesqueextension,of the boy'sconfusions.The boy does not know, can not face, what he is. He gazes upon the things that attractor repel him, but they are blurredand veiled by clouds of romanticobfuscation:he likes The Memoirs of Vidocq best not becauseof what it is, a volumeof excitingquasi-blasphemous criminal and sexualadventures,but becausehe finds its outwardappearance, its yellowingleaves,romanticallyappealing.The boy,like the priest, or Vidocq'scharacters,or disguise-madVidocqhimself,is, in effect, an imposter-only the boy is unawareof why he feels and actsas he does;the boy is an imposterthroughself-deception. Joyce,in accordance with hispracticethroughoutDubliners (and for that matter,in accordancewith his methodthroughouthis writings) includedthesebooksso that we would make such generalizations aboutthe priestand the boy. This is clear,not merelyfrom his habitualusagein suchmattersor from the ironicsignificanceof the books themselves,but from the highly directiveimportof the sentenceswhich immediatelyfollow these details.These sentencestell us that behind the boy's house was a "wild garden"containinga "centralapple-tree"-imageswhich stronglysuggesta ruinedEden and Eden'sforbiddencentralappletree,a treewhich has to do with man'sdownfalland his knowledgeof good and evil: fundamental themesin "Araby."The last of the sentencesis artfullyinconclusive. This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 382 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW "He had,"concludesthe narrator,"beena very charitablepriest;in his will he had left all his moneyto institutionsand the furnitureof his house to his sister."Joyce'sambiguitysuggeststhat the priest's charitymayhavebeenas double-edgedas otherdetailsin the opening paragraphs.Yet the possibilityof an incongruityhere never occurs to the boy. As usualhe fails to examinebeneaththe veneerof outwardappearances; he failsto allowfor the possibilityof a less public, more cynical interpretationof the priest'scharity.If this worldly priesthad been so "verycharitable"why, at his death,was he able to donate"all his money"to institutions?His charity,so far as we know aboutit, beganat his death. These and otherambiguouslywordedironieshad alreadybeen soundedby the threeopeningsentencesof "Araby."Joycebeginsby telling us that North RichmondStreetis blind. That North Richmond Streetis a deadend is a simplestatementof fact; but thatthe streetis blind, especiallysince this featureis given significantemphasisin the opening phrasesof the story,suggeststhat blindness playsa rolethematically.It suggests,as we latercometo understand, that the boy alsois blind,that he has reacheda deadend in his life. Finally, we are told that the houses of North Richmond Street "consciousof decent lives within them, gazed at one anotherwith brown imperturbable faces."These words, too, are ironic. For the boy will shortlydiscoverthat his own consciousness of a decentlife within has beena mirage;the imperturbable surfaceof North Richmond Street(and of the boy'slife) will soon be perturbed. In theseopeningparagraphs Joycetouchesall the themeshe will later develop: self-deludingblindness, self-inflatingromanticism, decayedreligion,mammonism,the coming into man'sinheritance, and the gulf betweenappearanceand reality.But these paragraphs do more: they link what could have been the idiosyncraticstoryof the boy,his problemsand distortions,to the problemsand distortions of Catholicismandof Irelandas a whole.In otherwords,the opening paragraphs(andone or two othersections)preventus frombelieving that the fault is solelyin the boy and not, to some extentat least,in the world that surroundshim, and still morefundamentally,in the natureof manhimself. This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 383 IV The boy,of course,contributesintricatelyto his own deception. His growing fascinationfor Mangan'ssisteris made to conveyhis blindnessand his warringconsciousness.Joycesuggeststhese confusionsby the mostartfulimages,symbolisms,and parallelisms.The pictureof Mangan'ssisterwhich first sinks unforgettablyinto the boy'sreceptivemind is of the girl callingand waitingat her doorstep in the dusk, "herfigure definedby the light from the half-opened door,"while he playsin the twilightand then stands"bythe railings looking at her.""Herdress,"he remembered,"swungas she moved her bodyand the soft ropeof her hairtossedfrom side to side." This highlyevocative,carefullystaged,andcarefullylit scene-it will recur throughoutthe story with slight but significantvariations-gathers meaning as its many detailstake on definitionand thematicimportance.That importancewas central to Joyce, and versionsof the scene occur often in his writings.As his Mangan essay(1902) indicates,he had earlychosenthe adoredfemale as an emblemof man'svanity,an emblemof falsevisionand self-delusion followed by insight and self-disdain.The female who appearsin "Araby"(she appearsagainand againin his otherwritings) is such is of an emblem.The prototypicalsituationin all theseappearances a male gazing at a female in a dim, veiled light. There are other features:the male usuallylooksup at the female;he often finds her standinghalf obscurednearthe top of some stairsand by a railing; he frequentlynoticesher hair,her skirts,and her underclothes.But though the scene variesfrom appearanceto appearance,the consequencesare alwaysthe same.The male superimposes his own idealized vision upon this shadowyfigure, only to have disillusioning reality(which has been thereunregardedall the time) assertitself and devastatehim. Joycefound this scene-with its shiftingaureola of religious adoration,sexual beckoning,and blurred vision-infinitelysuggestive,and he utilizedit for majoreffects. The prototypicalsceneoccursin Joyce'swritingsbefore"Araby" (1905). AroundI904, in Chamber Music,XXX,he depictedfirst- love as a "timegone by when one at twilight shyly playedand,one in fear was standingnigh," and then added punningly that "we were gravelovers"and "loveis past."Later(aroundI907), in "The Dead,"he drew anotherambiguouslover.GabrielConroystandsin This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 384 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW a darkhall at the foot of a darkstaircaseand gazes up throughthe gloom at a listeningwoman. His eyes linger on her shadowyskirt and shadowyform.The woman (who provesto be his wife, Gretta) is leaning on the stair railings.He is entrancedby the grace and mysteryof her attitude,"asif she were a symbolof something."But what, he asks, is a listeningwoman, standingon the stairsin the shadow,a symbolof ? Then, with a blindnessthat will laterbe filled with terribleirony,he thinkshow he would paint her if he were a painter:he would captureher in that attitude-leaning on the railings on the dark staircase-andhe would featureher hair and her skirt.He would call the pictureDistantMusic.Gabriel'stitle is as deceptiveas Gretta'spose. But insight and disillusionmentare not far off. Gabrielwill soon find out what distantmusic reallymeans to his wife and to himself,and his life will neveragainbe the same. In A Portraitof the Artistas a YoungMan (I904-I4) the prototypicalsceneis conveyedthroughtwo girls.StephenseesEmma,his beloved,standingunder a grey "veiledsky" on the stairsof the library.He alreadydoubtsher constancy,and he takes "his place silentlyon the step below . . . turning his eyes towardsher from time to time."Whilehe gazesat her,she andherfriendsstandposing their umbrellasseductivelyand "holding their skirts demurely." SomedayslaterStephenis againstandingon the stepsof the library. The light has wanedand he can hardlysee. Suddenlyhis belovedis beforehim. He watchesas she descendsthe stepsof the libraryand bows to his supplanter,Cranly."Shehad passedthroughthe dusk. And thereforethe air was silent savefor one soft hiss that fell. . Darknesswas falling."But thoughStephenfeels Emmabetrayshim, he uses her shadowyimage to createthe "Villanelleof the Temptress"-the only work of art he producesin A Portrait,and a poem which dwells on lures, fallen seraphim,chalices,longing gazes, lavishlimbs,andthe end of enchanteddays. These momentsor vignettesfrom a fall, a fall which leads to insight and creation,are juxtaposedto an earlierepisodein A Portrait.In the earlierscene,as Stephenstrollson the seashore,he hears the symboliccall to his destiny,the summonsto becomean artist.At this moment,in the "veiledgreysunlight,"he seesa fair-hairedbirdlike girl wading in the sea, her slateblueskirts raised about her thighs, her softhued flesh girded by the "white fringes of her This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 385 drawers."She feels the "worshipof his eyes,"and suffershis gaze, bendinghereyestowardsthe stream."HeavenlyGod!"criesStephen to himself. In the "holy silence of his ecstasy,"while "her image" passes"intohis soul for ever,"he commitshimself"to live, to err,to fall, to triumph,to recreatelife out of life!"But the ecstaticepiphany of the wading girl is soon deflated-not merelyby the wasted sky and the grey sandwhich end the scene,but by the cold realityof its cognate, Emma's betrayal,to which the epiphany is juxtaposed. Paradoxically,the annunciatoryvisit of the birdgirlheraldsonly a hope; it is deflation,the beginning of betrayal,which stimulates creation. Joyce'srejectionof the romanticvisionof the wadinggirl-and his continuedinterestin the voyeuristicsceneof a male gazing at a shadowyfemale-is carriedeven furtherin the "Nausicaa"episode of Ulysses (I914-21) where he parodies this recurring scene with merciless brilliance.As the "Nausicaa"episode opens, dusk is falling. Bloom is sitting on Sandymount strand while a Benediction service (celebrated before a men's retreat) is going on in a nearby church. Bloom, too, is a celebrant; he is engaged in fervent devotions. He is gazing at Gerty MacDowell, "literally worshipping at her shrine." Gerty is eighteen and a virgin. From the nearby church, hymns of veneration ascend for the Host, for the Body, canticles of praise for Our Lady, for the Virgin Mary. Bloom concentrateson Gerty, who is enpedestaled on a rock by the water's edge. As he watches her settle her hair, swing her legs, and lift her skirts, his excitement grows. From the nearby Mirus bazaar (that is, "Wonderful"or "Perfumed" bazaar) which is raising funds for Mercer's hospital, a display of fireworks begins. Gerty uses the excuse of the fireworks to tempt Bloom, leaning back farther and farther, lifting her skirts higher and higher, and allowing him to see her thighs and her drawers. At almost the same moment, a hymn of adoration swells from the church; the priest kneels and looks up at the Blessed Sacrament, glorified now in the round ray-begirt opening of the monstrance, and displayed on high for all the venerating men to see. At this point Bloom's private service of veneration (like the one in the church) is coming to its conclusion. While Gerty lifts her skirts and displays herself, he masturbatesto a climax. But having induced one deflation, he is about to undergo another. He realizes that Gerty is not This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 386 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW what she seemedto be; she is a cripple,a lame, limping versionof his self-inflateddream.And there are furtherabasements.Bloom's mind constantlycirclesbackto the humiliating(yet strangelyexciting) event of that afternoon:how Molly, his wife, displayedher lavishbodybeforeBlazesBoylanand broughtthat ardentloverto a moreintimateclimax."Thinkyou'reescaping,"musesBloom,"and run into yourself."But now the distantmusic, the sacredincense, and the rapturouswords "holy Mary holy virgin of virgins"have fadedon the darkeningair. The clock on the mantelof the priest's house concludes the deflation by uttering Shakespeare'sabsurd "wordof fear." Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Afterthe publicationof Ulysses,Joyceexplainedthathis method of writingin the "Nausicaa"episodewas tumescenceand detumescence;that the colorsassociatedwith the scenewere blue (the color of the Virgin Mary-Gerty, a virgin who favorsblue, is a parodic form of the Virgin Mary) and grey (the color of dusk); that the symbolof the chapterwas the Virgin; that the organsinvolvedin the episodewerethe nose (perfumeand incenseaboundin the scene) and the eye (voyeurism);and that the art includedin the section was painting. V "Araby"is a version-perhapsthe most primordialversionin Joyce-of this obsessivelyrepeatedscene.For in "Araby"the image of the worshippedgirl is coterminouswith, is a metaphorof, the entirestory.The boy in "Araby,"like Gabriel,will soon see that the portraithe has created-a romanticportraitthat one might call YoungAdoration-is a mockery,and his life will neveragainbe the same.In "Araby"thatportraitis of a girl in the duskat her doorstep calling and waiting at her half-openeddoor,her figure definedby the light behind her. The pictureis also of a boy standingby the railingslooking up at her worshipfully.The suggestionsevokedby the sceneareof two utterlyopposedsorts.On the one handthe image calls up associationsof religiousworshipand spiritualadoration- This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 387 the boy at the altarrailingveneratinga softlylit statueof the Virgin Mary-associationswhich will soon be powerfullyunderlinedand elaborated.On the other hand, the image also suggestsa seductive girl, even a harlot,callingand waitingat her half-openeddoor-the boy staresat her outlined figure, her swaying dress, her moving body,and her softly swinginghair-and thesesuggestions,too, will soonbe underlinedandelaborated. Lastlythe imagesuggestsIreland, a countrytraditionallypersonifiedin Irish literatureas a beautiful girl who is worshippedwith mysticalfervor.The two most famous literaryembodimentsof this personification are Cathleenni Houlihan and Dark Rosaleen,the lattergiven its definitivepopularform in "DarkRosaleen,"the poem by Manganthat Joyceknew so well. In "Araby"Mangan'ssister is adored and worshippedas Dark Rosaleenis in Mangan'spoem, a parallelwhich many Irishreaders wouldnoteat once,and a parallelwhichhelpssuggestthatMangan's sisteris an embodimentof Ireland,is a new and more equivocal Dark Rosaleen.In "Araby"the girl is known only as Mangan's sister,an awkwardand unaccountable substitutefor a name (Mangan, the boy, is of no importancein the story) until one realizes that the circumlocutionis designedto catch the reader'sattention and directhis associations.Once the Mangan-"DarkRosaleen"associationsarecalledup, the parallelsbecomechargedwith meaning. For Mangan'spoem containsthe same blend of physicallove and religiousadorationthat Joyce makes the boy show for Mangan's sister.DarkRosaleenhas "holy,delicatewhite hands,"is "myvirgin flower,my flower of flowers,"and can make the lover "kneel all night in prayer."Dark Rosaleen'sname is like "lightningin my blood";Mangan'ssister'snameis "likea summonsto all my foolish blood."The poemexactlydepictsthe boy'sunrest,his obsessivefocus on the girl,his fusionof queenand saint,and his strangeholy ardor: All day long, in unrest, To and fro, do I move. The very soul within my breast Is wastedfor you, love! The heart in my bosom faints To think of you, my Queen, My life of life, my saint of saints, My Dark Rosaleen! My own Rosaleen! This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 388 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW To hear your sweet and sad complaints, My life, my love, my saint of saints, My Dark Rosaleen! Joycebegins,then, with a subtlyevocativeblend of spirituality, sexuality,and nationality;he immediatelygoes on to developeach motif in concertwith the others.The boyremembersMangan'ssister as a "brownfigure,"and everymorning,in an unvaryingritual,he himselfbeforeher image,lying on the floorin the actuallyprostrates front parlorand waiting for her to emerge so that he can follow her. This ritualisticabasementand prostrationis appropriateto the boy'srapidlydevelopingobsession.Like De Quincey'syoungboy,he has had his heart stolen away; he, too, has become idolatrous; throughthis girl, "by languishingdesires,"he has, all unknownto himself,"worshippedthe worm, and prayedto the wormy grave." For the boy has begun to worshipMangan'sdark sisteras all that is spiritualand holy and romantic;he has begun to utilize her idolatrouslyas an intercedingsaint,as a charmagainstthe commercialism and materialismof the market place. When on Saturday his auntin her marketing,the "image" eveningsthe boyaccompanies of Mangan'ssisteris alwayswith him. The languageof the passage suggests that unconsciously,from the boy's point of view, two warringservicesarebeingconductedin the marketplace:the world's servicein worshipof mammon,and the boy'sholy servmaterialistic ice in worshipof his mild madonna.The "flaringstreets"are filled with their propervotaries:drunkenmen, bargainingwomen, and cursinglaborers;they are also filled with an appropriateliturgical music:the "shrilllitanies"of shopboys,the "nasalchanting"of street singers.In this materialisticworld, so hostile to all that the boy imagineshe believesin, he keeps himself inviolateby invokinghis own secretserviceof worship.That servicetransmutesthe stubborn commonplacesof everydaylife into holy artifacts,holy strivings, and holy deeds of chivalry.The image of Mangan'ssisterbecomes his sacredchalice;he guardsit as he makeshis way throughthe alien marketplace."I imagined,"he says,as he walks one Saturdayevening throughthe marketplace,his mind fixed on the holy "image" of Mangan'ssister,"thatI boremy chalicesafelythrougha throng of foes." This religiousimagery continuesto clothe and veil his impulses.He soon finds himself veneratinghis lady in "strange This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 389 prayersand praises."His eyes often fill with tears,emotion floods from his heart;he wondershow he could ever tell her of his "confusedadoration." One evening,while in this excitedstateof sensualreligiosity,the boyentersthebackdrawingroomin which the priesthad died.Thus begins the firstof two vigils the boy will keep for Mangan'ssister. The boy is aboutto lose himselfin an ecstasyof devotion,and Joyce wants us to see that the boy is tenantingthe sameroomsand worshippingat the sameshrinesas the deadpriest;that is, that the boy, like the priest,has begunto mix devotionwith profanation,spirituality with materialism.The eveningis dark and rainy.Through a brokenpanethe boy hears"therainimpingeupon the earth,the fine incessantneedlesof waterplayingin the soddenbeds."The collocation of images is part of a clusterthat Joyceused throughouthis writings to suggest earthinessand bodily appetites (just before Mangan'ssister'sfirstappearance Joyceassociatedthe boywith "dark drippinggardenswhere odoursarosefrom the ashpits,[and] the dark odorousstables")and now, watching the rain and the earth and the sodden beds through his brokenwindow, the boy again begins his confusedadorations.Below him gleams "some distant lampor lightedwindow"-Joycecontinuesto light his specialscenes in waysequallysuggestiveof a sanctuaryor a brothel-and then the blind boy, living on his blind street,looking through his broken window,sayswith deepestirony:"I was thankfulthat I couldsee so little." In a moment the boy will be invoking love incarnate;senses veiled,swooningin self-delusion,palmspressedtogetherin devotion, he will murmurhis ferventprayers.Joyceconveysthis tremulous sublimation-howthe boy veilshis sensualresponsesin the garment of religiousritual-by the most artfullydirectivelanguage."All my senses,"saysthe boy,"seemedto desireto veil themselvesand,feeling thatI was aboutto slip from them,I pressedthe palmsof my hands togetheruntil they trembled,murmuring:'O love! 0 love!' many times."Everyphraseis loadedwith ironic meaning.The boy does not realizehow truly his sensesare veiling themselves(or for that matter,in what mannerthey are being veiled), nor does he understand,in the context,the religiousconnotationsof the word "veil," or the physicalconnotationsof the word "desire";and slippingfrom This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 390 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW his sensesis what he emphaticallyis not doing as he tremblingly invokesLove. The next sentencein the story,one which begins a new paragraph, is short and disconcerting:"At last she spoke to me." The abrupttransitionless juxtapositionof the boy'sswooninginvocation of Love, palms pressedprayerfullytogether,and the girl's sudden apparitionis purposelyambiguous.Without saying so-without, that is, introducingthe supernaturalby having the girl materialize beforehim upon his prayerfulinvocation(for the remainderof the passagemakesit clearthat the girl did not speakto him that night), Joycesuggests,at leasthe gainsthe effect,that a visitation,an epiphany,hasindeedoccurredasa resultof the boy'sinvocation.Butwhom has the boy invoked? Love? The Virgin? His Lady? Ireland? Levana?A harlot?He is too confusedto know.The girl'sfirstwords to him-"Are you going to Araby?"-confoundhim. It will be a "splendidbazaar,"she tells him; she would "love"to go, but she must attenda retreatin her convent.The boy is "so confused"he does "notknow what to answer."His confusionis understandable. For herein epitomearecorrelatives of the verythingsthathaveconfused and will continueto confusehim: materialism(the splendid bazaar),sensuality(love), and spirituality(the conventretreat). As Mangan'ssisterspeaksto him, she turns a "silverbracelet roundand roundher wrist."The boy stands"aloneat the railings," gazing at this Madonnaof the SilverBracelet."Sheheld one of the spikes, bowing her head towardsme. The light from the lamp oppositeour doorcaughtthe white curveof her neck,lit up her hair that restedthere and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell overone side of her dressand caughtthe white borderof a petticoat,justvisibleas she stoodat ease." This wonderfullyevocativescene strikes the chords of commingled spirituality,sensuality,and materalismwith increasing force.That comminglingis centralto "Araby";it is also centralto Joyce'slife. As the storyof his life makesclear,Joycewas a materialist, a man of almostparanoiaccupidityand selfishness.He was alsoa personstronglyattractedto the spiritualand the sensual.He told his brother,Stanislaus,thathis chiefreasonfor not becominga priest was thathe couldnot remainchaste.In A Portraitof the Artistas a YoungMan we learn of the darkways and darkladiesthat so early This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 391 summonedhis "foolishblood."When StephenentersNighttownfor his firstvisitto a prostitute,he is seizedby a trembling,his eyesgrow dim, the yellow flaresof gas burn "as if beforean altar,"and the peoplenear the doorsand in the lighted halls seem "arrayedas for some rite."That Joyceshould renderthe loss of virginityas a religious rite is consonantwith his outlook and his method. In his writingswe are constantlyprivy to the perversewarfareof sacred and profanelove, to the clamorousintermixingsof doctrineand experience.In Ulysses,when Stephensetsoff for Nighttownand the bawdyhouses,he thinks, "We . . . will seek the kips where shady Maryis." And in FinnegansWake Joycewas fond of introducing such meldings as "Merryvirgin,""marrimount,""Hollymerry," and "hellmuirries." "fingringmaries," One of the memorablescenesin A Portrait-it is a scenewhich dwells on the blasphemousconjoiningof sacredand profaneloveis that in which Stephen,fresh from the stews and with the savor of a harlot'skisseson his lips, kneelsreverentlyat the altarto lead his sodality in their Saturdaymorning devotionsto the Blessed Virgin Mary: Her eyes seemed to regard him with mild pity; her holiness, a strange light glowing faintly upon her frail flesh. . . The impulsethat moved him was the wish to be her knight. If ever his soul, re-enteringher dwelling shyly after the frenzy of his body's lust had spent itself, was turned towardsher whose emblemis the morning star, "brightand musical,telling of heaven and infusing peace,"it was when her names were murmured softly by lips whereon there still lingered foul and shameful words, the savouritself of a lewd kiss. This deceptivefusion of knightly chivalry,spiritualdevotion, and desecratinglust (all carefullylit)-it is Joyce'srecurrentfusion, the fusionwhich reachesits culminationin the "Nausicaa"episode of Ulysses-had occurredeven earlierin yet anotherevocation(in this casea strikingpremonitionratherthan a laterextrapolation)of Mangan'sshadowysister.Betweeni9oo and 1903,thatis, a few years before writing "Araby,"Joyce added to his slender collectionof Epiphaniesa scenein which the pose,the lighting,the physicalfeatures,the language,the connotations(the madonnaallusion,and the conjoiningof ape and martyrs'legends,for example)-all prefigure"Araby."Here is the epiphanyin its entirety: This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 392 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW She stands,her book held lightly at her breast,readingthe lesson. Against the dark stuff of her dress her face, mild-featuredwith downcast eyes, risessoftlyoutlinedin light; and from a foldedcap, set carelesslyforward,a tassel falls along her brown ringlettedhair . . . What is the lesson that she reads-of apes, of strange inventions,or the legendsof martyrs?Who knows how deeply meditative,how reminiscent is this comelinessof Raffaello? Theserecurrentcomminglingshelp us establishthe meaningof "Araby";they show us that these fusions are intentional,that the auraof worshipand desire,romanticismand corruptionthat Joyce castsoverMangan'ssisteris at the heartof "Araby." VI All women,for Joyce,areEves:they temptand they betray.He constantlyfashionshis women, fictionaland real-Mangan'ssister, Gretta,MarySheehy,Emma,Nora, Molly-into exemplarsof this idea.By the sametoken,men, in theiryearningto worship,contrive (perhapseven desire) their own betrayaland insuretheir own disillusionment.This paradox,which embodiesJoyce'spersonalneeds and experiences,is at the center of Exiles. It also helps shape A Portrait,Ulysses,andFinnegansWake.In the latterwork the notion is universalizedand multiplied.One of the primalformsof woman in FinnegansWakeis woman as temptress.She is portrayedmost clearlyas Isabel,the daughterof HCE and Anna Livia,and as the Maggiesor Magdalenes(who appearin dozens of permutations: maudelenian,Margareena, MarieMaudlin,etc.), the two girls whlo temptedHCE to his fall in PhoenixPark,and who areoften merged with Isabel.This archetypaltemptressand goddess,blending and changingin a flux of proteanmetamorphoses(she is also Issy,Issis, Ishtar,Isolde-as Isolde of Ireland,an embodimentof Ireland) is frequentlyreferredto as "Ysold,""I sold,""Issabil,""eyesoult,"and "eyesalt."As her godlikerole and legendarynamesimply,she combines worshipfullove and sexual appeal (Isolde), with inevitable commercialismand betrayal(I sold), with bittergrief and disillusionment (eyesalt)-the combinationand progressionwe also find in "Araby." What Joyceis saying in "Araby"becomesmore preciseas the detailsaccumulateand fall into patterns.This secondevocationof This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 393 the carefullylit figure of Mangan'ssister,now in the guise of the Madonnaof the SilverBracelet,is worthexaminingonce more,this timein the contextof whatwe havejustbeentracing: While she spoke she turned a silver braceletround and round her wrist.... I was alone at the railings.She held one of the spikes, bowing her head towardsme. The light from the lamp oppositeour door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that restedthere and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell over one side of her dress and caughtthe white borderof a petticoat,just visibleas she stood at ease. This second evocationof Mangan'ssister is again filled with strangeharmonies.On the one hand the passagecalls up Mary Magdaleneand the BlessedVirgin Mary (both were presentat the crucifixion)and soft overtonesof a tenderand dolorouspieta';one easily extractsand then extrapolatesthe appropriateimages-the patienthandon the cruelspike,the gentleheadbowedsubmissively, the mild neck archedin grief. But a coequaland co-ordinatepattern in the sceneis the harlotryassociationsof MaryMagdalene,who, in Catholicliturgy,is specificallyassociatedwith exotic Near Eastern imagery,bracelets,and crossingthe city in searchof her love-all strongelementsin "Araby";while on the more personallevel the name "Mary"is also the name of the girl Joyceregardedas his original"temptress" and "betrayer"-MarySheehy;and perhaps,at the same time, this "shadyMary"patternis connectedwith the harlotryassociationsof still anotherMary,the "harlotqueen,"Mary Queen of Scots,the heroineof the dead priest'sbook, The Abbot, who was executedin her petticoat.In any case,the negativepattern incorporatedin the shadowy image of Mangan'ssister combines hints of commercialismand sensualitywith connotationsof sexuality and betrayal-the turning and turning of the silver bracelet,the head bowing toward the boy, the white curve of the bare neck, the soft hair glowing in the light, the side of the dress accentuated by the dim glow, the white border of the petticoat just visible beneath the dress (one recalls the dream-shatteringpetticoat of the false Protestant madonna in "Our Lady of the Hills"), and the whole figure standing at ease in the dusk. The boy now makes his pledge. "If I go," he says, "I will bring you somnething."The consequences of his pledge are immediately apparent."What innumerablefollies," writes the narratorin the very This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 394 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW next sentence,"laidwaste my waking and sleepingthoughtsafter that evening!"The shadowy"image"of Mangan'ssisterconstantly comesbetweenhim andeverythinghe undertakes;his schoolmaster, puzzled and then exasperated,hopes that he is "not beginningto idle"-a phrasewhich again, now punningly,underlinesthat the boy,like De Quincey'syoungboy,has indeedbegunto worshipfalse idols,thathe is well on his way to Araby. Araby-the very word connotesthe natureof the boy's confusion.It is a wordredolentof the lush East,of distantlands,Levantine riches, romantic entertainments,mysteriousmagic, "Grand Oriental Fetes."The boy immerseshimself in this incense-filled dreamworld.He tells us that "thesyllablesof the word Arabywere called to me throughthe silencein which my soul luxuriatedand castan Easternenchantmentoverme."That enchantment,or to put it anotherway, Near Easternimagery(usuallyin conjunctionwith femaleopulenceor romanticwish fulfillment),alwaysexcitedJoyce. It reappearsstronglyin Ulyssesin a highly intricatecounterpoint, which is sometimesserious(Molly'sMoorishattributes)and sometimesmocking (Bloom'sdreamof a MessianicNear Easternoasis). Butthe boyin "Araby"alwaysinterpretstheseassociations, no matter how disparateor how ambiguoustheyare,in one way: as correlatives of a baroquelybeatificway of living. Yet the real,brick-and-mortar Arabyin the boy'slife is a bazaar,a market,a placewhere money and goods are exchanged.The boy is blind to this realitylurking beneathhis enchanteddream.To the boy, his lady'ssilverbracelet is only partof her Easternfinery;his journeyto a bazaarto buy her an offeringis partof a romanticquest.But from this pointon in the storythe masqueradingpretensesof the boy-and of his church,his land, his rulers,and his love-are rapidlyunderlinedand brought into a conjunctionwhich will piercehis perferviddreamworld and put an end to "enchanteddays." The boy has arrangedwith his aunt and uncle that he will go to the bazaaron Saturdayevening,that is, on the eveningof the day speciallyset asidefor venerationof the Virgin Mary.Saturdayevening arrivesbutthe boy'suncleis latefromworkandtheboywanders at looseends throughthe emptyupperreachesof his house.In the "highcold emptygloomyrooms"he beginshis secondvigil. Off by himself he feels liberated.He goes from room to room singing. This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 395 Hidden, he watcheshis companionsplay and listensto theirweakened, indistinctcries. Then he leans his foreheadagainst a cool window pane and looks over at the "darkhouse"where Mangan's sisterlives."I may have stoodtherefor an hour,seeingnothingbut the brown-cladfigurecastby my imagination,toucheddiscreetlyby the lamplightat the curvedneck, at the hand upon the railingsand at the borderbelow the dress." When he goes downstairsagain he is broughtback from the isolatedworldof his imaginationto the ordinaryworldof his everyday life. He finds Mrs. Mercersitting at the fire. "Shewas an old garrulouswoman,a pawnbroker's widow,who collectedusedstamps for some pious purpose."The sentenceis packedwith ironicmeaning. The old lady'sname-Mercer, that is, merchandise,wares, a small-waredealer-links her to the commercialfocus of the story. That her husbandwas a pawnbrokersharpensthis focus,introducing as it does commercialismin its most abhorrentform from the church'spointof view-commercialismas usury.But thatthe church accepts,even lives on, this same commercialismis also made clear: for garrulousold Mrs.Mercer(anotherembodimentof Ireland)is a piouswomanwith piouspurposes;ironically,she expressesher piety in good worksthat dependupon emptymechanicalacquisitiveness: she collectsused stamps.(One recalls,in this connection,the "pious purpose"ofthe actualArabybazaar-to collectmoneyfor a hospital; and one also recallsthat the "Wonderful"or "Perfumed"bazaarin Ulysses-the bazaarthat allowedBloomto gaze worshipfullyunder Gerty'sskirts while a choir celebratedthe Host and hymned the Virgin Mary-was an attemptto collect money for another"pious purpose,"for a hospitalnamed"Mercer's.") Joyceis saying,in effect, thateverydayreligionand pietyin Irelandarebaseduponself-deluding and mindless materialism.When Mrs. Mercer'sunexamined commercialreligion is rememberedin conjunctionwith the boy's and then the deadpriest's(one recallsthatthe priest'sbookof heretical devotionswas by a man named "Seller")-we get some idea of how insidiouslymammonisticis Ireland'sreligiousbankruptcy. The boy will soon have some insightinto this and other bankruptcies,but at the momenthe is taut with frustratedanticipation. "I am afraid,"sayshis aunt,when his unclestill fails to appear,"you may put off yourbazaarfor this night of Our Lord"-counterpoint- This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 396 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW ing "bazaar"and "OurLord,"money and religion.Then, at nine o'clock,the uncle finally returns,tipsy and talking to himself. He has forgottenthe bazaar,and he triesto put the boy off, but the aunt insiststhat he give the boy money for the bazaar,and he finally agrees,afterthe boy tells him twice that he is going to Araby.The word "Araby"setsthe uncle'smind working.He asksthe boy if he knows The Arab'sFarewellto His Steed,and as the boy leavesthe room,the uncleis aboutto recitethe openinglinesof the poemto his wife. Thoselinesneverappearin the story,but theyarefraughtwith thematicsignificance: My beautiful,my beautiful!that standethmeeklyby, With thy proudly-archedand glossy neck, and dark and fiery eye! Fret not to roamthe desertnow with all thy winged speed; I may not mount on thee again!-thou'rt sold, my Arab steed! The notionof betrayal,of somethinglovedand beautifulbeing sold for money,of somethingcherishedand dependedupon being lost forever,is centralto whathasalreadyhappenedin "Araby"andwhat is about to take place. But the poem goes on with even greater cogency: The strangerhath thy bridle-rein,thy masterhath his gold;Fleet-limbedand beautiful,farewell!-thou'rt sold, my steed,thou'rtsold! This cogency-turning the bridlereinsoverto a foreignmaster for money,sayingfarewellto a beautifulpart of the past-has another and even more startlingappropriateness. For the poem is by CarolineNorton, a great beautyand a memberof a famous Irish family (her grandfatherwas RichardBrinsleySheridan),who was suedfor divorceby her husband,the Hon. GeorgeChappleNorton, on the groundsthat she had committedadulterywith Lord Melbourne,thenHome Secretarybutat the timeof the suitin I836 prime ministerof GreatBritain.As Home Secretary,LordMelbournehad been the ministerresponsiblefor Ireland,and in I833, while still Home Secretary,he had supportedthe CoercionBill, a bill of great severityaimedat Irishnationalists.The trial which ensued-one of the most notoriousin the nineteenthcentury-was used by Dickens in the breach-of-promise suit in Pickwick,by Thackerayin the Lord Steyne-BeckySharprelationshipin VanityFair, and by Meredith in someof the climacticscenesof Diana of the Crossways.The jury This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 397 foundfor the defendants,but chieflyon groundsotherthan Caroline Norton'sconstancy.The defendantswon afterconclusivetestimony was introducedshowingthat Nortonhad been the chief advocateof his wife's liaisonwith Lord Melbourne,that he had initiatedand perpetuatedthe liaisonas a meansof advancinghimself,and that he had brought suit only after he had suffered reverses in that advancement. That an Irish woman as beautifulas CarolineNorton should have been sold by her husbandfor English preferments;that she shouldhave been sold to the man who, in effect,was the English rulerof Ireland;that she, in turn,shouldhave been partyto such a sale; that this very woman, writing desperatelyfor money, should composea sentimentalpoemcelebratingthe traitoroussaleof a beautiful and supposedlylovedcreature;and that this poem shouldlater be cherishedby the Irish (the uncle'srecitationis in character,the poem was a popularrecitationpiece, it appearsin almost every anthologyof Irishpoetry)-all this is patentlyand ironicallyappropriateto whatJoyceis saying. So alsois the next scenein "Araby."The boy leaveshis houseon the way to Araby with a florin,a piece of silver money, clutched tightlyin his hand.That Joyce,out of all the coinsand combinations of coins availableto him, chose to have the boy clutch a florin is doublymeaningful.The originalflorin,the prototypeof all future coinsbearingthatname,wasa gold coin,famedfor its purity,minted in Florencein I252. It receivedits name, "florin,"that is, "flower," because,like manyof its progeny,it borea lily, the flowerof Florence and of the Virgin Mary,on one side. On the other side it bore the figure of Saint John the Baptistin religiousregalia,a man who gave his life rather than betrayhis religion. The florin the boy clutches,however,is a silvercoin mintedby the Englishwith a head of QueenVictoriaon one side and the Queen'scoatof arms(including the conqueredharpof Ireland)on the other.Owing to the fact that the customary"Dei Gratia,F.D." ("by the grace of God, defender of the faith") was omitted from the coin when originally issued in I847, it becameinfamousas the "Godlessand Graceless Florin"and arousedsucha popularoutcrythat it had to be calledin beforethe yearwas out.As a result,the Masterof the Mint,a Roman Catholic,was dismissed,and a few years later a new but almost This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 398 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW identicalflorin was issued with the usual motto. The malodorous genesisof the Englishcoin, its associationwith a Catholicscapegoat, and the restitutionof a mottowhich,from an IrishCatholicpointof view, made the coin as idolatrousand offensiveas the Godlessversion-all thisis ideallysuitedto Joyce'spurpose. For the duped boy is now acting out his betrayalin the most emblematicway. We recallthe intricateliturgyof his self-delusion. Despisingthe marketplace, he had summonedand protectedthe image of Mangan'ssisteras a holy chalice antitheticalto all such worldlycommerce;mistakinghis impulses,he had transformedhis sexualdesiresinto prayersand praisesfor the Virgin,into worshipful Catholicdevotions.That the boy who immersedhimself in such ceremoniousself-deceptionshould be hasteningto buy at a bazaar (where,incidentally,he will meet his Englishmasters)and that he shouldbe clutchingan Englishflorin,an alien and notorioussilver coin sans Virgin'slily and sans Catholicsaint but bearinginstead symbolsof his and Ireland'sservitudeand betrayal,is, of course, supremelyironic. Thatironycontinuesandexpandsin whatfollows.It is Saturday night.The boy tellsus that"thesightof streetsthrongedwith buyers andglaringwith gas recalledto me the purposeof my journey."The flaringstreets"throngedwith buyers"and the clutchedsilver coin call to the reader'smind a purposefar differentfrom that which the boy thinkshe is pursuing.The sights,the words,the Saturdayevening, the silverflorin,alsorecallthat the last time the boy went into the flaringstreetsshoppingthroughthrongsof buyerson a Saturday night,he had said,speakingparticularly of thosebuyers,"I imagined that I boremy chalicesafelythrougha throngof foes."They recall also thatSaturdayis the day most particularlydevotedto veneration of the BlessedVirgin Mary.We now see clearlywhat the boy bears througha throngof foes, what his chaliceis: it is not the imageof a ,mild spiritualmadonna,it is money, the alien florin of betrayalbetrayalof his religion,his nation,his dreamof supernallove; he, like his country,has betrayedhimselffor the symbolicpieceof alien silverhe clutchesin his handas he hurrieson to Araby.We alsobegin to get a betternotionof who the shadowymadonnais that he worshipswith suchfebrilespirituality.We recallthathe is rushingheadlong to a bazaarto buyhis ladya token (he, too, is one of the throng This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 399 of buyers),and then we recall how his madonna-could she be a false,sensual,materialisticmadonna,a projectionof his own complicatedself-betrayal?-"turneda silverbraceletroundand roundher wrist." The boy at last arrivesat the largebuildingwhich displays"the magicalname"of Araby.In his hasteto get into the closingbazaar, he passesthrougha shillingratherthana sixpennyentrance,handing the gatekeeperhis silvercoin as he goes throughthe turnstile.The interiorof the building is like a church. The great centralhall, circledat half its heightby a gallery,containsdarkstalls,dim lights, and curtained,jar-flankedsanctuaries.Joycewants us to regardthis templeof commerceas a placeof worship."I recogniseda silence," saysthe boy as he standsin the middleof the hall, "likethat which pervadesa churchaftera service."The serviceis, of course,the worship of mammon,and Joyce,by his use of religiousimageryhere and throughoutthe story,lets us see both that the money-changers are in the temple (if one looks at the bazaaras a correlativeof the church),and thatthe reallydevoutworshipwhichgoeson in Ireland now, goes on in the marketplace:the streetsthrongedwith buyers, the shrill litaniesof shopboys,the silver-braceleted madonnas,the churchlikebazaars.Even he who imaginedthat he borehis chalice safely througha throng of foes finds himself in the temple of the money-changersready to buy. Shocked,and with growing awareness,the boy beginsto realizewherehe is and what he is doing. In the half-darkhall,as the bazaarclosesandthe remaininglightsbegin to go out, he watchesas two men work beforea curtainlit overhead by a seriesof coloredlampsupon which a commercialinscriptionis emblazoned.The two men "were counting money on a salver.I listenedto the fall of the coins."The boy also has fallen. We recall the "wildgarden"with its "centralapple-tree," that the words"falling" and "fell"arecrucialto the descriptionof Mangan'ssisterduring her epiphanybefore the boy, and that the word "fall"again recurs-again in connectionwith money-when the boy, in his penultimateaction,an actionreminiscentof how Judaslet the silver of betrayalfall upon the ground after his contrition,allows "two penniesto fall againstthe sixpence"in his pocketas he finallyturns to leave the bazaar.But right now the fallen boy is witnessingthe counting of the collectionbefore the sanctuaryof this church of This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 400 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW mammon(the curtain,the salver,the lamps,the inscriptionall suggest simultaneously the sanctuaryof a Catholicchurch);he is listening to the musicof thisserviceof mammon,the clink of falling coins. The boy is so stupifiedthat he can rememberonly "with difficulty why [he] had come." His shock and his disillusionmentare not yet over. He sees a young salesladystandingat the door of one of the dark stalls.The reader,like the boy, instantlyfeels that he has viewed this scene before: the girl standing in the doorway,the dim lighting, the churchlikeatmosphere.Then, suddenly,the readerrealizesthat the sceneenforcesa crucialjuxtaposition;thewaitingsalesgirlis a parody of the boy'sobsessiveimage of female felicity,she is a counterpart (an everyday,commercialcounterpart)of Mangan'stenebroussister. The boy lookssteadilyat this vulgaravatarof his longings;and then his other vision-his vision of a comely waiting presence,of a heavenlydolorouslady-dissolves and finally evaporates.The boy, at last, glimpsesrealityunadorned;he no longer deceiveshimself with his usualromanticizing.For the moment,at least,he trulysees. Therebeforehim standsa dull, drab,vacuoussalesgirl;she is no mild Irish madonna,no pensivepieta2,no mutely beckoningangel. He listensas she talksand laughswith two younggentlemen;the three of themhaveEnglishaccents: "0, I never said such a thing!" "O, but you did!" "O, but I didn't!" "Didn't she say that?" "Yes, I heard her." "O, there's a . . . fib!" This snippetof banalconversationis Joyce's,the boy's,and now the reader'sepiphany-the word "epiphany"used here in Joyce's specialliterarysenseof "asuddenspiritualmanifestation,whetherin the vulgarityof speechor of gestureor in a memorablephaseof the mind itself"-and the conversation the boy overhearsbearsan unmistakableresemblanceto a well-definedtype of epiphanywhich Joyce recorded(bald exchangesof fatuous,almost incoherentconversation), severalexamplesof which have survived.But what we have here is the epiphanysurroundedby all that is neededto give it significance;the privatequidditashas been transformedinto a public This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 40I showingforth; the artist,the priestof the eternalimagination,has transmuted(to paraphraseanotherof Joyce'sreligiousmetaphors) the dailybreadof experienceinto the radiantbodyof everlivingart. For what the boy now sees,and what we now know he sees,is that his worshippedmadonnais only a girl, like the ordinarygirl who standsbeforehim, that his interestin his madonnais akin to the gentlemen'sinterestin the youngladybeforethem,and thattheir pedestrianconversationabout fibbing-the very word is a euphemism for "lying"-is only a banal version of his own intricate euphemisms,his own gorgeouslying to himself.Like the Catholic boy in Yeats'"OurLadyof the Hills,"who sobsin anguishbecause his visionof a palpablemadonnamust give way to the realityof an ordinaryProtestantgirl, the boy in "Araby"can now also cry out angrily,"I'ma divil,andyouareonly an ordinarylady." That this ordinarylady is an Englishlady is anothershattering part of the boy's painful epiphany.The English accentsare the accentsof the rulingrace,the foreignconquerors-Joycemakesmuch of this notionin A Portrait and morein Ulysses-and now the boy begins to understandthat England, this nation which rules over him, is quintessentiallyvulgar,the servantpar excellenceof mammon. Englandis one with Irelandand Ireland'schurch,and the boy is one with all of these.He has felt the first stirringsof desireand convertedthem into masqueradingreligiosity;he has wantedto go shoppingat a bazaarand has told himselfthat he is makingan enchantedjourneyto fetch a chivalrictoken; he has been exposedto the debasedvulgaritiesof The Memoirs of Vidocq and has admitted only that he liked its yellow pages.Yet he is no worsethan the rest of Ireland-its dead priests (part of a dying church), its Mrs. Mercers,its faithlessdrunkensurrogatefathers-and for thatmatter, no worse than Ireland'srulers.Irelandand Ireland'schurch,once appropriately imagedasa romanticladyor a sorrowfulmadonna,has now becomecuckqueanand harlot-she is sold and sellsfor silver. Joycereturnedto thisthemeagainandagain,oftenwith startling repetitionsof detailsand symbols.In Ulysses, for example,Ireland appearspersonifiednot as a young girl, but as an old milkwoman. She enters and leaves Ulysses in a page or two, yet within that crampedspace,and despitethe vastdifference,on the realisticlevel, betweenthe role she mustplayin Ulysses and the rolesof thosewho This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 402 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW appearin "Araby,"Joycemanagesto associateher with manyof the featuresthatcharacterizeIrelandand Ireland'sbetrayal idiosyncratic in "Araby."In Ulyssesthe old milkwomanis depictedas "an immortalservingher conqueror[Haines,the Englishman]and her gay betrayer [Mulligan, the Irishman], their common cuckquean." Mulligansingsa song abouther "hisingup her petticoats";she tells him sheis ashamedshe mustspeakin foreignaccents;she is depicted "slippingthe ring of the milkcanon herforearm"(the silverbracelet again); andshe is paidby Mulliganwith a silverflorin. VII Otherelementsin "Araby"are also connectedto patternsthat transcendthe immediateaction.The two most crucialeventsin the story,the two vigils,harmonizewith specificoccasionsin the Roman Catholicliturgy.The first vigil-the one in which Mangan'ssister appearsafterthe boy'sinvocation,"O love! 0 love!"'-suggeststhe Vigil of the Epiphany.The most strikingpassagein that Vigil tells how "inthosechildishdaysof ourswe toiledawayat the schoolroom tasks which the world gave us, till the appointedtime came"-a passagewhich is exactlyappropriateto how the boy, after his first visitationor epiphany(that is, afterMangan'ssisterhas appearedto him and directedhim to Araby-just as in the originalEpiphanyan angel appearedto Josephdirectinghim to go from Egypt to Israel) feels about the schoolroomtasks ("child'splay, ugly monotonous child'splay") while he waits for the time of his journeyto Araby. But the "appointedtime"spokenof in the Vigil is the time of the journeyto Israeland of the coming of the spiritof Jesus,not of a trip to Araby;it is the time when the spiritof Jesuscriesout to a child, "Abba,Father,"and he becomesno longer a child, a slave, but a son of God,entitledto "theson'sright of inheritance." For the boyin "Araby"thatcryandthatinheritanceturnout to be far different fromwhathe believedthem to be-he comesinto a majority,but it is the disillusioningmajorityof the flesh,of all the sonsof Adam, not of the spirit;he makeshis journey,but it is a journeyto Egypt, to Araby,to the marketplace,not backto the Holy Land. These reverberatingliturgicalharmoniesare continuedin the boy'ssecondvigil-the one he keeps during his long evening wait, and then duringhis journeyto and sojournin Araby.The connec- This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 403 tions here are with Holy Week (especiallythe Passion) and with Holy Saturday(the night beforeEasterSunday). In "Araby"the trip to the bazaartakes place on a Saturdaynight; the boy's aunt refersto the Saturdaynight in questionas "thisnight of OurLord," an expressionwhich can be appliedto any Saturday(or Sabbath) the pre-eminentSaturday night,but which callsup mostparticularly "nightof Our Lord,"that is, Holy Saturday.The serviceappointed for this occasionis the Massof Holy Saturday.This Mass,owing to its greatbeauty,andespeciallyto the richsymbolismof the Tenebrae, haunted Joyce. (The whole of Book IV of Finnegans Wake, for example, takes place in the instant between Holy Saturdayand EasterSunday.) The Mass of Holy Saturdaywas the only Mass Joyceregularlytriedto witnesslaterin life, alwaysleaving,however, beforecommunion.Centralto this Massis the imageryof light and darkness,the extinguishingof the old lights and then the rekindling of new lights from new fire. On the other hand, prominentin the Passionis the notion of betrayal:Peter'slying threefolddenial of Jesus,and Judas'sellingof Jesusfor thirtypiecesof silver.The idea of profoundbetrayal,thenthe adumbration of awakeningandrising, all combinedwith imageryof light and dark,and the whole counterpointedwith liturgicalovertones,informsthe conclusionof "Arabv." The boy, for instance,comes to Arabywith silverin his hand (with the idolatroussuccessorto the GodlessFlorin, it will be remembered);and he watchesas the moneyof betrayal(his and his nation's) falls clinking on the salver.Like Peter'slying threefold denialof Jesus,the banalconversationaboutlying that the boy overhearsalsoinvolvesa threefolddenial(the girl deniesthreetimesthat she saidwhat she is accusedof saying).The foreignEnglishaccents continuethe parallel,for Peter,like the English,is a foreigner,and his denialsinvolvehis accent."Eventhy speechbetraysthee,"he is told. When Peter recognizedhis betrayal(at the crowing of the cock) he "weptbitterly";when the boy recognizedhis (at the call that the light was out) his "eyesburnedwith anguishand anger." In the servicefor Holy Saturdaythe lightsareextinguishedand then relit; in the servicethe boy witnessesthereis no rekindling,the boy merelygazes "up into the darkness."And yet, of course,here too a new light is lit; for thoughan old faith is extinguished,we witnessa dawning. This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 404 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW These liturgical and religious parallelsand disparities(one couldlist othermuchmoresubterranean ones:the storyof Abednego is told in extensoin the Holy SaturdayMass,and AbednegoSeller's hereticalDevout Communicantis a manualfor Holy Week), these parallelslie unobtrusivelyin the background.They are not meant to be strictlyor allegoricallyinterpreted;they are meant to suggest, to hint, perhapsto condition.Unconsciouslythey tinge our associations and responses;they also harmonizewith the more explicit motifsof the story. The boy standingin front of the young lady'sshadowybooth, listeningto her banteringinanities,perceivesall these significances only dimly. He is shocked,hurt, angered;but he intuitivelyfeels, and will later understand,what the readeralreadycomprehends. Yet even in his dim awarenesshe is ready to make one decision. While still at the "darkentrance"of the young lady'sstall, he tells her he is no longerinterestedin "herwares."He lets the two pennies fall againstthe sixpencein his pocket;he has come to buy, but he hasnot bought.Someonecallsthatthe light is out.The light is indeed out. Like De Quincey'syoung boy, the boy in "Araby"has been excluded from light, has worshippedthe "lovely darkness"of the grave;he has (in the wordsof ChamberMusic,XXX) been a "gravelover."But againlike De Quincey'syoungboy, at last he has seen.He has risenagainbeforehe has died; he has begunto unfold "the capacitiesof his spirit."As ChamberMusic,XXX, has it, he welcomesnow "theways that [he] shall go upon."For the boy has caughta glimpseof himselfas he reallyis-a huddled,warring,confused paradoxof romanticdreams,mistakenadorations,and mute fleshlycravings-and one portionof his life, his innocent,self-deluding childhood,is now behindhim. In his prideand arrogance,and, yes, in his purityand innocencetoo, he had imaginedthat he bore his chalicesafelythrougha throng of foes; instead,he had rushed headlongtowardthatwhich he thoughthe most despised.In a land of betrayers,he had betrayedhimself.But now he understandssome of this; and now, raisinghis eyes up into the blackness,but totally blind no more-the Christlikefusionhereof ascent,of sight,and of agony is all-important-hecan say, "Gazingup into the darknessI saw myselfas a creaturedrivenand deridedby vanity;and my eyes burnedwith anguishand anger." This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 405 VIII Joycehas succeeded,here,in taking the raw, ratherhumdrum, unpromisingfactsof his own life and transformingthem into abiding patternsof beautyand illumination.He has taken a universal experience-amoreor lessordinaryexperienceof insight,disillusionment, and growth-and given it an extraordinaryapplicationand import.The experiencebecomesa criticismof a nation,a religion,a civilization,a way of existing; it becomesa grapplinghook with which we can scale our own well-guardedcitadelsof self-delusion. Joycedoes all this in six or seven pages. He managesthis feat by endowingthe simplephrasesand actionsof "Araby"with multiple meaningsthat deepen and enlargewhat he is saying. The imageof Mangan'ssisteris a casein point.Joycetakesthis shadowyimage,this darkscenewhich fascinatedand obsessedhim and which he returnedto againand again,and shapesit to his purposes. He projectsthis image so carefully,touchesit so delicately and skillfully with directiveassociationsand connotations,that it conveys simultaneously,in one simple seamless whole, all the warringmeaningshe wishesit to hold-all the warringmeaningsit held for him. The pose of the harlotis also the pose of the Virgin; the reveredLady of Romance (kin to Vittoria Colonna, Laura, Beatrice,Levana,Dark Rosaleen,and the belovedof any artist) is alsoIrelandandat the sametimea vulgarEnglishshopgirl.One need not belaborthe point.Thesemeaningsareconveyednot merelyby the and evocationsof the chief images-of Mangan'sdark juxtapositions sisterand the English shopgirl,for example-but by the reiterated patterns,allusions,and actionswhich bind the whole work together: the dead priest'scharitableness, Mrs.Mercer'sused stamps,the fall of money on the salver;Araby,Easternenchantment,the knightly questfor a chivalrictoken; the swayingdress,the veiled senses,the prayerfulmurmur,"O love! 0 love!"Scarcelya line, an evocation, on object-the centralappletree,the hereticalbook of devotionsby Abednego Seller, "The Arab'sFarewell to His Steed,"the blind street-but addsits harmonyto the whole and extendsand clarifies the story'smeaning. The test of an explanationis its utility-how many facts can it orderand makemeaningful?The conceptionof "Araby"embodied in this essayaccountsfor thornydetailsas well as largermotifs.The This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 406 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW conceptionalso sheds light on recurrentscenes,ideas,and patterns in Joyce'swritings;for example,it makes intelligiblea heretofore impenetrablepassagein FinnegansWake.That passage,in turn, is partof a longersectionwhich is amenableto similarexegesis,a section which containslines such as "Neverplay lady'sgame for the Lord'sstake";"Lust,thou shaltnot commixidolatry";and "Collide with man,colludewith money."Buthereis the passageitself: Rememberthe biter'sbitters I shed the vigil I buried our Harlotte Quai from poor Mrs Mangain'sof BritainCourton the feast of MarieMaudlin. Ah, who would wipe her weeperdry and lead her to the halter? Sold in her heyday,laid in the straw, bought for one puny petunia.Moral:if you can'tpoint a lily get to henna out of here! In the light of what we know about"Araby,"and payingattention only to those meaningswhich are pertinentto "Araby,"the passagemight be freelyconstruedas follows: Rememberthe bitter tearsI shed,I the biterwho wasbitten,in thatsecretand buriedvigil I kept-all was later shed and buried-for the Harlot Queen, for MaryQueenof Scots,for Mangan'ssister,who lived, as all Ireland does, underthe rule of Britain'sCourt.These and others,blended together,I veneratedin my maudlin,sentimentalway, as I alsoveneratedMaryMagdalene,saintand prostitute(a weeperwho wiped her weeping dry). To what end?-sacramental? (altar), noose or enslavement?(halter), or merelya dead end? (halt her)? Ireland and Ireland'sreligionwas sold in its heyday.,laid low and prostituted in the straw,sold for one puny penny,for a petunia.Moral:if you can'tacceptIreland'sreligion(lily), if you can'tpaintthe lily (that is, gild the lily, romanticizeIreland,coverall with a veneerof goldwith a pun on "pointillism," and with sexualovvertones), at leastyou can get the falsedye (henna) out of her,and get the hell (Gehenna) out of here! Obviouslythis is a bald transcription of somethingmuch richer and,much more subtle.Obviously,too, the passageis wed to the patternsof Finnegans Wake, so that from the point of view of "Araby,"the passageis overlaidby considerations extraneousto the story. (For example,"HarlotteQuai"-that is, "CharlotteQuay"and "BritainCourt"are also actualplacesin Dublin.) But though "Araby"is not the raisond'e'treof the passage,it providesa key to the passage.Formostof the meaningsin the passageareso condensed This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 407 readonly in the light of their and private,they can be satisfactorily detailed much plainerand more conjunctionin "Araby."How then does the passagecome to be in FinnegansWakeat all? It is there becauseit is tied to a seriesof eventswhich shapedsome of Joyce's fundamentalinsightsand concerns.Eventuallythat clusterof events and associations,given earlyliterarycoherencein "Araby,"became both matrixand correlativefor such concerns.We see the clusterin FinnegansWakeas we see it in all his writings.Joyce,in truth,was alwayswalkingthroughand meetinghimself. We have alreadynoticed that some portionsof those original eventsandassociations canbe identified;otherportionswe candetect only as theyfilteragainand againthroughJoyce'ssuccessivefictions. In Finnegans Wake these fragmentsof events and associations, truncatednow and fantasticallyjumbled,havesuffereda strangesea change,but they arestill discernible,sometimesall the moreso, and sometimesall the plainerin import,becauseof their laboriousencrustationsof meaning. For one thing, as in "Araby,"the name "Mangan"(this is the only time it occursin Finnegans Wake) again appearsin female guise,now as "MrsMangain."The changedspellingof the name is significantbecauseit underlinesthe mercenaryand sexualelements (Man-gain)which had playedso largebut so implicita role in the boy'sconfusedadorationof Mangan'sdarksister.At the sametime a whole group of associationssoundedin "Araby"are also sounded here."HarlotteQuai"and"MarieMaudlin"area recrudescence of the virgin-harlotfusion embodiedby Mangan'ssister,the fusion of the "harlotqueen"(MaryQueenof Scots) with MaryQueenof Heaven and MaryMagdalene."BritainCourt"again suggestscourtingBritain as well as submittingto Britishrule."VigilI buried"refersonce more to the secretvigils the boy devotedto his false madonna,and to the ultimatedeflationand burial of that self-deludingidolatry. While "biter'sbitters"is anotherversionof the boy's"anguishand anger";as Joyceput it in his essayon Mangan,it is "thebitterdisillusionand self-disdain"which must end all such romanticprojections; or, once again, as he put it in Ulysses,it is the "agenbiteof inwit."(Note the strikingrepetitionof words,meanings,andsounds, here-"anger," "anguish,""agenbite,""biter's,""bitters,""bitter," "inwit"-as thougha constellationof soundshad becomeweddedto This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 408 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW the archetypalevent.) In a similarmanner,the comminglingof sex, sellingone'sself for money,and beingbroughtlow which is so central to "Araby"is epitomizedin, "Soldin her heydey,laid in the straw,boughtfor one punypetunia."The sexualelementis conveyed by "soldin her heyday"(punning on "hayday"),and "laidin the straw"(that is, made love to in the straw-"hayday"again), while engraftedupon the same words is the idea of selling one's self for money: "soldin her heyday,"and "boughtfor one puny [that is, one penny"]petunia"(with a pun on pecunia).And all this is conjoined with the ultimatedeflation,the idea of being broughtlow: "laidin the straw"-a remarkwhich, in the context,appliesto Ireland and the Catholicreligionas well as the narrator. The last sentencein the passageis also packedwith additional meaningsanalogousto thosein "Araby."The lily is the predominent in Catholicsymbolism, flowerof Catholicism,but moreparticularly, it is the flowerof the Virgin Mary.On the other hand, the plant, henna,in additionto producinga dye, that is, a maskingsubstance, alsoproducesa white flowerconnectedwith Mohammedanreligious symbolismand used, like the dye, in Mohammedanreligiousand eroticrites-the word"henna"itself is of Arabicorigin.Hence,in a manneranalogousto the end of "Araby,"the line impliesthat Irish Catholicism,and in particularthe worshipof the Virgin Mary,is dyed or adulteratedby money,sex, and "Arabian"exoticism;or to put it anotherway, if one can'thave a religiondevoidof henna,if one isn'tallowedto paintthe lily unlessone gilds it, one must leave the religionand the country.But this statement,thoughits implications and even its images are redolent of "Araby,"goes beyond "Araby."For in Finnegans WakeJoyce is looking back; he can conveyhis moralfromthe distantpinnacleof exile and achievement. In "Araby"the boy hasjustdiscoveredthat he is confusinglilies and henna;in his momentof anguishhe cannot yet see thathe mustgild the lily or get out. Ix Joyce'sart in "Araby,"and in many of his otherwritings,may be likenedto a palimpsest.Perhapsmore than any artistof his era he was willing,for the sakeof his over-alldesign,to obscure,even to wipe out rich nuancesand powerfulironies.But at the same time, This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ARABY" AND JOYCE 409 and againperhapsmorethananycontemporary artist,he was careful to lacquerhis imagesand actionswith layerafterlayerof translucent, incrementalmeaning.The finishedpalimpsestis richwith shimmering depths,strangeblendings,and tantalizinghints: heresomething has been rubbedout, there a few faint lines coalescemeaningfully and then dwindle away, while in the center a figure, distinct,yet mergingwith myriadsof dim underforms,swims slowly into focus and thenturnsanddissolvesandre-formsbeforeourgaze.Abednego Seller drops out of view, only the misleading,enigmaticDevout Communicant remains;England'ssilver florin gleams brightly in the boy'stight grasp,the ancientgolden lily and golden saintglimmer darklyin the shadeddepths; Saturdayevening shoppingtrips and "thisnight of Our Lord"stand boldly in the foreground,the liturgicalengramsof which they are a partloom faintlyin the distance. Mangan'sshadowy sister-a version of the darkling siren Joycedrewso often-is limnedand limnedagain.Harlotand virgin, temptressand saint,queen and shopgirl,Irelandand England-she is a miracleof blendings,mergings,andmontages.Whilea multitude of harmonizingdesigns,some clear, some dim, some just faintly discernible-MaryQueen of Scots,"OurLady of the Hills," Dark Rosaleen,a criminal dressedas a nun, Levana, Easternbazaars, Caroline Norton, and idolatrousvigils-complete the deceptive palimpsest. In Dublinerswe sometimesbecome fascinatedby the more legible figuresin the palimpsest.But the more obscurefiguresare theretoo, and Joyce,by his reticences,encouragesus to seek them. We know at the end of "Araby"that somethingdevastatinghas occurred,and we would like to know exactlywhat it is. Ultimately, the full radianceof sight,of meaning,is ours,not the boy's.He has caughta glimpseof reality,of himself as he reallyis; he can reject the old encumberingvision, he can decide to dream"no more of enchanteddays,"but he can not yet fashiona new life. As the story has it, the light is out; the boy must grapplein the dark. But like blindOedipus,in the darkthe boy finallysees:his momentof illumination is given to him as he gazes "up into the darkness."That momentof blindingsight is also the momentof artisticvision,of the unfoldingof "thecapacitiesof [the] spirit";not merelybecause the momentis laterseenand reseenwith the clarity,the penetration, This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 410 THE ANTIOCH REVIEW the richramificationof the artist'seye,but becausethe momentitself is a sine qua non for the artist'seye. The boy'send is his beginning; he haswalkedthroughand met himself. "Araby"is the renderingof a quintessentialmoment (and for Joyce,the quintessentialmoment) in a portraitof the artist as a young boy. It is as thoughthe boy of the storyhas come to the end of a well-lighteddead-endroad.He now confrontsa tangleof dark paths. Perhapsone of those paths will eventuallylead him to a brighterroad and to a wider, steadiervision of the surrounding countryside.The boy has not yet chosenthe path he will follow; he may very well choosethe wrong path. But at leasthe has seen that his own comfortablewell-wornroad,well-lightedand throngedwith travelersthough it is, is a dead end. That insight makes further travelpossible;he can "welcome. . . now at the last the ways that [he] shall go upon."North RichmondStreetis blind, but Dublin perhapshasthoroughfares, and if not Dublin,then,as the conclusion of A Portraittells us, the beckoningroadsof all the world beyond Ireland:"whitearmsof roads"leading"beyondthe sleepingfields to what journey'send?" This content downloaded from 74.217.196.17 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:12:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions