Araby and titanic bear some similarities but also bear differences. Araby is a narrative of a man remembering his youthful experiences and his fascination with his friend’s sister who is older than him. The narrator develops strong feelings for the girl but is unable to gather courage to express his feelings to her. The girl speaks to him about an upcoming bazaar and which she is unable to attend due to her commitment to a school retreat. The boy promises to attend the bazaar and bring a gift for her. He becomes obsessed with her often dreaming about winning the girl’s affection through his actions. He arrives late at the Araby and is unable to purchase any gift for the girl because the gifts are too costly for him. In the end, he feels dejected for his inability to buy a gift for the girl but subsequently feels anger and anguish having realized that his attraction for his friend’s sister has made him obsessive and hopeless.
In Araby, the narrator is a young and who starts to notice his friend’s sister who lives in his neighborhood. He begins to act senseless, often trailing her to places and imagining her in unlikely places. He interprets the girl’s interest in the Araby as ‘his lady guiding him on an adventure’. The narrator’s obsession with the girl is irrational and characteristic of the old-fashioned adventurers since he is not a knight on an expedition but is just a boy experiencing puberty. The boy is finally awakened from his fascination when he realizes that he has just been fascinating and has become hopeless.
With regard to the titanic, the attraction feeling was mutual between Jack and Rose. This is apparent when Rose goes to apologize to Jack after she was rude to him. Jacks situation in the titanic is akin to that of the boy in the Araby in that they are both poor and feel attracted to girls who seem impossible to win over. However, while the boy’s fantasies about his friend’s sister do not materialize, Jack makes an effort to ensure that his dreams become a reality. Jack wins over the love of Rose and even after the disaster that befall them, the two stick together until the end when Jack dies of hypothermia and Rose is rescued. The theme of frustration is rife in the Titanic. First, Rose is frustrated by her snobbish mother and her cruel fiancé Hockley. Her frustrations lead her to almost commit suicide to escape the arranged marriage between her and Hockley before she was stopped by Jack. In the end, Jack and Rose’s dream of love is frustrated by the death of Jack.
The characters in the Araby have no names and the narrator intentionally leaves out the names. This approach enables the readers to keep guessing what the names of the characters might be and to relate their own feelings and opinions towards them. Further, the principle theme of the Araby is a longing for an adventure. An aspect that is apparent from the narrator’s fascination. The narrative also exposes the 19th century European mind as well as the exotic delights and sensuality within the Middle East and Northern Africa lands. The story also adapts a first person’s narrator. The outstanding theme in the Araby, just like in the titanic, is that of frustration as the boy contends with the confines inflicted on him by his situation. The same can also be said on Jack’s frustration in the Titanic as he is forced to deal with the circumstances that exist after the ships hits the rock and can only hope to live his dream with the rose but their dream doe s not come to fruition as jack does not survive the ordeal.
In Araby the reader feels the boy’s frustration mounting as he waits for his uncle to get home as he fears that the uncle may not make it home in time for him to leave for the bazaar. Eventually when the boy makes it to the bazaar, the event is almost over. He arrives quite late and is not even in a position to carry out serious shopping and the narrator realizes that his lateness does not matter since he cannot afford any gift because they are way too costly. Although his fantasies about his friend’s sister fill him with pleasant expectations, the reality is much harsh for him. The boy remains a captive of his own situation.
Work Cited
Joyce, James. Araby. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
https://www.knomi.net/fileServer/textbook/English/britishLit/data/u6_araby_joyce_se.pf
Molony, Senan. The Real Jack Dawson, Titanic Research. 11 March 2001. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/the-real-jack-dawson.html
