Abstract:James Joyce, regarded as the famous Irish novelist, the outstanding master of the stream of consciousness, is the pioneer and representative writer of modernist literature. His early works, Dubliners, is a collection of realistic short stories, consisting of fifteen stories. The works is based on the author’s hometown—Dublin. From the four aspects of childhood, adolescence, adulthood and social life, it vividly describes the city’s social reality and the vicissitudes of life that deeply reflected the social petrified state of paralysis at the beginning of the 20th century. “Araby” is the third story in the “childhood” of its collection. It describes the romantic pursuit of a boy and his disappointment and pain after disillusion.

In “Araby”, through the description of a boy’s growth experience, the author intends to reveal the social paralysis and repression. Although it is not long, it has profound meanings. Many experts and scholars have carried out research on its theme, the author’s narrative technique and symbolic art. However, it is not difficult to find through the literature review that these studies have rarely touched the theme of growth of the story. Therefore, from the perspective of initiation novel, this paper aims to explore the theme of growth of the story from four aspects by analyzing the boy’s spiritual journey from fantasy to reality and his growth process in a variety of mental confusion and epiphany growth, so as to explore the social paralysis and depression, as well as the impact on the growth of young people.

Keywords:  “Araby”  initiation story  boy  growth

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction to James Joyce-1

1.2 Introduction to Dubliners and “Araby”-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 Thesis Structure-4

Chapter Two Initiation Novel-5

2.1 Definition and Origin of Initiation Novel-5

2.2 Features of Initiation Novel-5

Chapter Three The Little Boy’s Initiation Process-7

3.1 Fantasy-7

3.1.1The Boy’s Vague Romantic Desire for Mangan’s Sister-7

3.1.2 The Boy’s Fantasy of “Araby”-7

3.2 Disillusion-8

3.2.1 Disillusion of Realistic Love-8

3.2.2 Disillusion of “Araby”-9

3.3 Epiphany-9

3.4 Maturity-10

3.4.1 Awaking of Self Consciousness-10

3.4.2 Awaking of Social Consciousness-11

Chapter Four Reasons for the Boy’s Painful and Struggling Growth-12

4.1 Lack of Good Social Environment-12

4.2 Lack of Guides-12

4.3 Lack of Companions-13

Chapter Five Conclusion-14

References-15