LIT-300 Milestone Two - \"\"Araby\" and the Structuralism Literary Theory\" PDF

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""Araby" and the Structuralism Literary Theory"...

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LIT-300 17 June 2018 "Araby" and the Structuralism Literary Theory Like New Criticism, Structuralism is a literary theory that ignored outside influences to instead pay close attention to the words, and more specifically the structure, of a written piece. This theory was first posed in the early twentieth century by a Swiss linguist named Ferdinand de Saussure (Bertens). This theory looks at language as a combination signs that reveal more about what is being said. These signs are built by the words, or signifiers, and what the words bring to mind, called the signified. Often times, the signified refers to a concept rather than an actual, physical thing (Bertens). In this way, the signifier can bring to mind any number of things. For instance, if a person reads the word "cat", they may conjure a mental image of a cat. But it is possible that the word may bring to mind a different concept or metaphorical meaning. Depending on the context of the signified, symbolism and figurative language may come into play. In this way, "meanings were of less interest than the underlying structures of signification that made meaning itself possible" (Brewton). So, in the end, Structuralism breaks language down into the most basic units in order to see how these units work together to form meaning (Klages 32). James Joyce's "Araby" can easily be examined through the lens of structuralism. Though this short story may seem simple with an cursory reading, so much more can be discovered when the reader pays special attention to the structure and symbolism illustrated in the language. With the repetition of certain words in different contexts, the reader can infer that these words hold a deeper meaning in the grand scheme of things. One of those words in "blind". Though this word is only used a couple of times near the beginning of the story, it helps to set up an important

concept that is highlighted throughout the text. In each case that the word is used, it is, in a literal sense, referring to a noun—a dead-end street and a window curtain. But, in more figurative terms concerning the story's young narrator, the word can be used to refer to his blindness and innocence. The signifier "blind" can mean the signified "opposite of sight". The narrator is a boy who believes he is in love with a neighbor girl, but in actuality, he is simply infatuated with the idea of her. In this way, the juxtaposition of the ideas of sight and blindness are important structures in this text. The boy becomes obsessed with the girl and often spies on her. He becomes blind to everything around him because he is constantly "seeing nothing but the brownclad figure cast by [his] imagination" (Joyce). His blindness stretches even further. While it can be said that he is blind because of love, he is also blind to love in that he does not fully understand it or his feelings. He is even blind to his own motives and intentions. At the end of the story, once the narrator has been disillusioned at the bazaar, he is finally able to see himself clearly "as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and [his] eyes burned with anguish and anger" (Joyce). At this point, the boy sheds his blindness and is finally able to see himself and the world around him for what it is. In the end, the relationships between these words paired with their inferred and symbolic meanings help to create the structure of "Araby". By using words with the possibility of multiple signified meanings, Joyce was able to write a more well developed story with many layers of meaning. Nothing is exactly as it seems. The Structuralism theory can be used to interpret "Araby" by reevaluating words in order to discover their numerous meanings and how they relate to both other words in the text and the overall structure of the piece.

Works Cited Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics, 3rd Edition. Routledge, 2014. [MBS Direct]. Brewton, Vince. "Literary Theory". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. http://www.iep.utm.edu/literary. Joyce, James. "Araby". Dubliners, 1914. Klages, Mary. Literary Theory : A Guide for the Perplexed. London ; New York, New York : Continuum, 2006., 2006. Guides for the perplexed series. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=cat04477a&AN=snhu.b1618987&site=eds-live&scope=site....