"araby's" setting reinforces the theme and the characters by using the imagery of light and darkness. The experiences of the young boy in the story illustrate how people often expect more than ordinary reality can provide and then feel disillusioned and disappointed.
The author uses dark and obscure references to make the boy's reality of living in the gloomy tow more vivid. He uses dark and glomy references to create the mood or atmoshpere, then changes to bright light references when discussing Mangan's sister. The story expresses it's theme through characterization of the boy and his point of view as the narrator.
Darkness is used throughtout the story as the prevailing theme. James Joyce's story begins at dusk and continues throught the eveing during the winter. He choses this gloomy setting to be the home of the young boy who is infactuated with his nieghbor's sister. The boy is young and naive and he leads a dull and boring life. Joyce uses darkness to make the boy's reality more believeale through more vivid, precise descriptions.
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Bright light is used to create a fairy tale world of dreams and illusions. James Joyce uses the bright light when describing Mangan's sister, in order to give her a heavenly presence. Light is used to create a joyful atmoshepre.
The ending of the story is filled with images of darkness and light. James Joyce uses the light at the bazaar to be bright and open, but it is dark and closed. This is signifigant because the boy wants the bazaar to be bright and open, but it is dark and closed. This is wheen the boy finally realizes that life is not what he had dreamt it to be. He finds himself angry at life and disillusioned.
James Joyce uses the setting to symbolize a key concept of the story. The darlk disillusioned the boy experiences is a part of growing up. The boy is no longer young and naive, he has began his journey into adulthood. "araby' show how we all get ideas about how things will be and then feel disappoionted when things dont work out as expected.