“Araby ”

What is the theme of the story “Araby”?

Ans. The theme of the story “Araby” is that the subjective feelings of a person and the objective
world are two opposing things. There is no agreement between them. First, we do not understand
this disagreement, but later we come to understand that, and we are disillusioned. Then we are
sad and dejected. When we read the story carefully, we see the subjective feelings of a schoolboy.
He is in love with his fried’s sister. To him his subjective feeling of love is the only reality. All
other things have no importance for him. To him the serious work of life is child’s play. He keeps
on thinking about her all the time. Even when he goes to market, he thinks about her. In the
classroom, he cannot pay attention to his studies. Nothing is important for him now. He usually
weeps without knowing why he is weeping. These are the subjective feelings of the boy. This is
his illusion. His objective world is that he is just schoolboy. Perhaps he is an orphan too. His
uncle is his patron. He should not have promised the girls that he would bring something or her.
He cannot bring anything for her, because he is himself dependent on his uncle. We see that is a
great disagreement between his subjective feelings and the objective world. First, he does not
understand this disagreement, but later he comes to understand that and he is disillusioned. Then
he is sad and dejected. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we wish for such things as are out of
our reach. We keep on thinking about them, but at the end, we are disillusioned.
the central theme throughout the story is loss of innocence, both in the narrator’s belief in religion
and his understanding of romance. His religious training led him to place all his faith and
devotion in Mangan’s sister, but upon the unsuccessful conclusion of his quest for her gift he
realizes that the journey and his infatuation were all for naught. Intertwined with this theme about
the loss of innocence is the theme of idealism. The narrator is overly-idealistic about his
adoration of Mangan’s sister, and this extends further to his idealism about Araby. This
idealization only makes the narrator’s imminent fall more painful and highlights the manipulated
way he has been taught to view religion and, subsequently, the world.
Loss of innocence: The progression of the story is tied to the beginning of the narrator’s
movement from childhood to adulthood. In having his dreams of Araby disappointed, the narrator
realizes that reality will not always correspond with what he wishes for.
Religion, public and private: Joyce draws a distinction between the public tradition of Irish
Catholicism and the narrator’s private experiences of ecstasy and reverence, which relate to his
experiences of love.

Q.What are symbolic meanings of the deserted train and dark bazaar in
the story “Araby”?

Ans. The deserted train and the dark bazaar have great symbolic meanings in the story “Araby”.
The deserted train is one of the means that can take him to his most serious place ‘Araby’. It also
symbolizes gloom and a kind of disappointment that the schoolboy is going to face.
The dark bazaar symbolizes the narrator’s ignorance. He promises to the girl that he will bring
something for her from “Araby”. He does not know that he cannot buy a gift for the girl with his
little money. Therefore, the darkness of the bazaar shows his ignorance. The darkness of bazaar
also symbolizes the bitter realities of life. It is a reality that he is immature and inexperienced and
does not know anything about the power of money. Therefore, by looking into the darkness, he
realizes his foolishness. This darkness also symbolizes that we cannot fulfill all wishes. Various
things that are out of our reach and we cannot get them. Therefore, we see that the deserted train
and the dark bazaar are highly symbolic

The irony:
The irony is that the narrator begins to awaken at the beginning of the story, but he
cannot truly ''see'' until the end. His growth throughout the story is defined by
blindness. The vanity(‫ )غرور‬of the world removes his blinders, so to speak. His
expectations for adulthood are shattered.

The setting:

For most of the story, the setting is considered dark, and gloomy. This is, unless the
friends sister is in view of the narrator.

When he is at the Bazaar it has a lighter Mediterranean feel to it.

This could have deeper meaning, such as a sense of loneliness or abandonment when he
isn't around her. It could also mean that he feels a sense of belonging when he is around
her.

The point of view:

The narrator of "Araby" is written with a first-person perspective.

The boy in "Araby" is a singular, first-person narrator. He tells the story from
only his perspective, rather than including the perspective of a group.

He's also a limited narrator. A reader is unable to know the thoughts..

Araby Characters
 The narrator. The protagonist of the story, a young, imaginative boy who
lives with his aunt and uncle. ...
 The narrator's uncle. ...
 The narrator's aunt. ...
 Mangan's Sister(is the recipient of the narrator’s affections. She seems
unaware of the narrator’s feelings for her)
 The priest. ...(‫)الكاهن‬
  Mrs. mercer
 Young female shopkeeper.

The main characters in “Araby” are the narrator and Mangan’s sister.

The narrator is an unnamed young boy. Over the course of the story, he
transforms from an idealistic child into a burgeoning adult as he is forced to
face the often disappointing realities of life. the narrator demonstrates to be a
dynamic character because he starts as being obsessive and naïve and then
becomes wise at the end.

Mangan’s sister is the recipient of the narrator’s affections. She seems unaware
of the narrator’s feelings for her.

The minor character:

Minor Characters

Mangan

The narrator’s friend from school, possibly based on the Irish romantic poet,
James Clarence Mangan. He lives across the street from the narrator and often
plays in the street with him and the other boys before dinner.
“The lady with the dog”

The theme:

'The Lady with the Dog,' Dmitri and Anna weave their own tangled webs to cover their
affair, and the difficulties of such deception are what form the story's main thematic
focus.

For Gurov, this sort of dishonesty is commonplace. He admits early in the story that 'he
had begun being unfaithful to (his wife) long ago - had been unfaithful to her often. . .'
However, despite Dmitri's comfort level with deception, he runs into a problem, since
Anna clearly takes issue with the practice. Wracked with guilt but also by her own desire
to find happiness, Anna eventually plays her own role in the ruse, feigning a medical
condition as an excuse to visit Moscow. However, as the story ends, it's evident that the
weight of their deception is still heavy on Anna, leading both to realize just how difficult
false acts performed, even in the name of true love, can be.

The point of view:

While the story does focus largely on Gurov, his perspective, his thoughts, and his story, the
narrative voice of "Lady with the Dog" is allowed total omniscience.(Omniscient third-person
point of view) Check out the story's final scene. First, we're given access to Anna's thoughts: "She
was crying from emotion, from the miserable consciousness that their life was so hard for them;
they could only meet in secret, hiding themselves from people, like thieves! Was not their life
shattered?" (4.11). Then, we jump back to Gurov's perspective: "It was evident to him that this
love of theirs would not soon be over, that he could not see the end of it" (4.13).

What is the conflict in the lady with the dog?

The conflict in "The Lady With the Dog" is that Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov is a serial
philanderer who looks down on women as inferior beings he calls "the lower
race," but at the same time, he cannot get along for "two days" without one.

The symbolism:

Anna has a white dog, which symbolizes her innocence and youth before she has the affair. Later,
Chekhov uses grey to represent Gurov's uncertainty in himself when he goes to visit Anna. One
physical symbol in the story is the fence(‫ )السور‬outside Anna's home, which symbolizes how she
feels trapped(‫ )محاصرة‬in her marriage.

The setting:

Rejuvenating Resort: Setting in 'The Lady with the Dog'

Although Chekhov's short story has scenes in Moscow and Anna's hometown, the
primary location for 'The Lady with the Dog' is Yalta - a popular seaside resort city that
played a major role in the love lives of both the author and his protagonist.
The irony:
In the short story, “The Lady With the Pet Dog,” Anton Checkov uses irony when he allows the
womanizer Gurov to finally fall in love and build a relationship when he is growing old. But
despite their love for one another, the relationship brings them sadness rather than joy.

Characterization:
Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov
Dmitri Gurov is the protagonist of The Lady with the Dog. An unhappily married banker
on vacation by himself in Yalta when he meets Anna, he decides to start an affair with
her more out of boredom than anything else. He is closer to 40 than 20, with two sons and
a daughter at home, as well as a history of womanizing. Dynamic character, round
character.
Anna Sergeevna Von Dideritz
Anna is the titular character of the story, the Lady with the dog. She travels to Yalta
ostensibly (‫ )ظاهريا‬for vacation her husband will join later on. Instead, she begins an
affair with She is described as fair-haired, with charming grey eyes, of medium height,
and, most importantly, young. Round character
What happens to Gurov and Anna at the end of the lady with the dog?
She and Gurov quickly become friends and then lovers. Afterwards, Anna considers
herself a fallen woman, and with shame assumes that Gurov will never respect her again.
Gurov finds himself bored by her concerns. The affair continues, but ends abruptly
when Anna is summoned back home by her husband.

Love: Love is central to Chekov’s narrative. The love between Gurov and Anna
is the driving force behind their extramarital affair and their struggle to decide on
a future course of action. Chekov does not resolve this conflict within the story.
His goal was to display a ‘slice of life,’ without an easily digestible resolution.
Some may read Gurov and Anna’s infidelity as an example of hypocrisy,
immorality and a lack of respect for the institution of marriage. Others may read
Gurov and Anna’s actions as a plea for freedom, outside rigid societal
expectations. By refusing to provide a solid conclusion, Chekhov leaves the
message of his text open to interpretation.

s they struggle with the difficulties of deception -

‫ الحب بين جوروف وآنا هو القوة الدافعة وراء عالقتهما خارج نطاق الزواج‬.‫ الحب أساسي في سرد تشيكوف‬:‫لحب‬
‫ كان هدفه عرض‬.‫ تشيكوف ال يحل هذا الصراع داخل القصة‬.‫وكفاحهما التخاذ قرار بشأن مسار العمل في المستقبل‬
‫ قد يقرأ البعض خيانة جوروف وآنا كمثال على النفاق والفسق وعدم‬.‫"شريحة من الحياة" بدون دقة سهلة الهضم‬
 ‫ خارج التوقعات‬، ‫ قد يقرأ اآلخرون تصرفات جوروف وآنا على أنها نداء من أجل الحرية‬.‫احترام مؤسسة الزواج‬
‫ يترك تشيخوف رسالة نصه مفتوحة للتأويل‬، ‫ من خالل رفض تقديم نتيجة قوية‬.‫المجتمعية الصارمة‬

Public and Private Life: Love also pushes Gurov and Anna to consider the
dichotomy between public and private life. The public life encompasses all the
trappings of societal expectations—family life, marriage, ambition, reputation—
while the private life is a truer reflection of inherent beliefs, feelings, and desires.
Due to the inconclusive nature of the narrative, we are left wondering whether
Chekhov’s characters will consider to obey this rigid division, or they will sacrifice
his public reputation for love.

Expectation and Reality: The change that occurs in the two main
characters can be seen as a kind of shift from innocence to experience,
from expectation to reality. Each lover has an initial idea of what the
affair means which proves to be false. Gurov expects the affair to be his
usual fling, fun but soon forgotten. Anna expects to be steeped in
shame for having slept with Gurov. The reality is that for both the affair
is a meaningful and unforgettable experience, though it takes both
lovers some time to acknowledge this fact.