Discuss the ways in which religion plays a part in

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The Role of religion in `Araby ' by James Joyce

`Araby ' is the last of the Dubliners epiphanic tales that intends to `unveil ' the layers that the theme of the story is consisted upon and which let the unnamed identities of the characters to live in the world of illusions which eventually seduce them into reality of their secluded unknown identities . This game of epiphany that the characters ignorantly participate in is shown by Joyce as an inevitable consequence of

the hollowness of these characters as individuals and this hollowness is the genesis of the spiritual resurrection within these characters who were left in a mystified state of flux which the Faith left behind in its absence

The subtle application of religion especially as an antagonistic or conflicting agent in the theme of the story of `Araby ' enables Joyce to experiment with the techniques of writing from the sagacious insight of an individual 's predicaments that occur due to the lack of the spiritual strength . In `Araby ' the allusions made to the religious aspects are more related to rituals and of personal motives rather than for spirituality . And such serious disturbance within the mind and soul of characters is very intensely felt and expressed by Joyce and to find the nearest possible expression for such a perturbed state of being he innovated new means and modes of expressions in his writings such as the stream of consciousness ' which later proved to be one of the most drastic modifications in the forms of expression in the literary writings

Araby is the a story that is narrated by the first person , which aptly lets the readers get acquainted to the most true and actual thought process of the character and they experience the most vivid picture of the irony and deceptions which that character is the victim of . In `Araby ' the boy is ignorant of the purpose of his Christian Brothers school in his life and his liking for his expired tenant who was a priest is so casual to relate him with the books that he possessed and the amount of money and assets that he had left after his death . The death of the priest can be a symbolic reference to the fall of the Roman Catholic Church and the legacy and the assets of the dead priest is a questionable aspect which the boy fails to question due to his ignorance that how could a priest leave a legacy of so much of money ? This is can be a reference to the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the church and the clergy class

And more importantly in `Araby ' Joyce has used the reference of religious aspects to trace the nuances of sexuality in the characters This is perhaps to deduce the triviality of impact which the religion could bring in these characters as religion was no more than what the church would teach them

In the opening lines of the...