The Religious Undertones in James Joyce's Araby

James Joyce uses religious references throughout Araby to express his

resentment towards the Catholic Church, and Catholicism as a whole. The

story revolves around religious symbolism and a boy's intnse desire for a girl.

Joyce's reasons for rejecting the Catholic Church are unknown, but in many

scenes his attitude towards religious hypocrisy becomes clearer.

The introduction to Araby sets the religious tones, which flow through a

neighborhood, dark and full of desire. The story opens on "a quiet street,

except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free".

The example given is a reflection of long days oppressed by the church, which only come to and end when the boys are set free.

In the story there is a room where a previous tenant, a priest, died. Joyce's resentment toward religious literature is shown in the passage, "the waste room... was littered with old useless papers. In writing the "waste" room and referring to the papers as "useless," the value Joyce assigns the readings of a priest becomes clear. Joyce describes the environment as dispirited and uneventful. "The space of sky above us was the color of ever-changing violet, and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns". Joyce uses symbolism of "light" to represent religion, which protects us from "darkness." A connection can be drawn between Joyce's lack of effort towards religion and the feeble attempt of the lamps to lift their lights

skyward.

The relationship with the girl in the story talks on a religious quality.

"Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises

which I myself did not understand". Joyce clearly outlines the lack of

understanding he has for the invocations of the Catholic Church. They too are

"strange to his lips," as though he has not spoken them with cynicism.

Joyce's character is obsessed with this girl. She is seen outside her

house as the light from the half-open door defines her figure. And again

later in the story, "The light from the lamp ... caught the white curve of

her neck, lit up her hair that rested there, and falling, lit up the hand upon

the railing". The girl is seen as something holy here by being placed

in the "light." Joyce's character shows his infatuation with the girl when he

watches her door from the window every morning. Joyce shows the religious

confusion between the girl and the Church when, he writes, having seen

"nothing but the brown clad figure cast by my imagination, touched discretely

by the lamp light...". The figure described here is a man of the cloth,

a friar, who is touched by the "light." Again this is Joyce's religious undertone.

Joyce's character labors to attend Araby. We read of his difficulties with his