By Golly I've Got It! (Epiphanies)

In “Araby,” by James Joyce, the narrator is a young boy with a crush on his friend’s sister. The boy does not speak to the sister, but followers her obsessively. He would pull down the blinds, look for her, and follow her, but never speak to her. In the boy’s opinion, the sister is angelic, and the only bright thing in his mundane life. The boy’s heart soared when the sister finally spoke to him, asking if he was going to Araby. She spoke of how much she wanted to go, but that she would be unable to attend. The boy sees this as his opportunity to impress the sister and gain her affection. He offers to buy her a gift from the bazaar, which he believes will show her how much he cares for her. The boy is excited, and glorifies the image of the bazaar in his mind. When his uncle finally gives him the money to go, the boy arrives late, and the stalls were beginning to close down. It is not the spectacular place he had imagined, and as he hurriedly searches for a gift to buy the sister, he has an epiphany. He says: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity (35).” In this moment, he realizes that there is no point in buying a gift for the sister. The sister only wants the material possession and it will not change her emotions towards the boy. The darkness of the bazaar helps convey this realization. It is as though everything the boy has hoped for has been turned out, like the lights in the hall. The lights represent the sister because she is this bright angle, and this idea has left the boy because he cannot gain her love, even by buying her gifts and making her his world. The boy’s paralysis is then that he cannot do anything to gain the affection of the sister, and must give up on this dream and move on.

Joyce also conveys the ideas of epiphany and paralysis in “Eveline.” In this story, a young woman is torn between staying at home with her family and leaving to start a new life with her beloved. When thinking of her deceased mother, she has an epiphany. She understands that she must leave with her lover if she wants any hope of escaping her mundane life. The two get ready to board the ship that will take them to their new life, but Eveline experiences a paralysis. While she realizes she must go will her lover, she is unable to. She thinks of her family and is unable to leave them and her former life behind. She continues to live out the reminder of her life alone in Dublin.

In both of these stories, the characters have an epiphany, realizing the truth of their situation. However, they both also experience paralysis, causing them to be unable to act upon their desires.