Exile and Illusions In "Araby" James Joyce portrays his childhood as a dark, hopeless and poverty stricken one. Which would lead one to believe that this was how Joyce himself grew up, which is somewhat true. In fact Joyce was born into a fairly prosperous family of Irish merchants, although like all Irish Catholics of the time, "the Joyces inherited a tradition of legal and cultural repression."(Bloom) As time wore on the Anglo-Irish aristocracy …showed first 75 words of 469 total…

…showed last 75 words of 469 total…gardens where odorous arose from the asphits."(Paragraph 3) These circumstances and disappointments characterize Joyce's feelings of imprisonment within his homeland. Later on in life Joyce fled Ireland for other European countries where his creativity prospered and Joyce lived a rather fulfilling life as a writer and poet. Works Cited Fitzgerald, Sheila, and Thomas Vottler. Short Story Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989 In Bloom. "James Joyce Biography." http://www.jough.com/joyce/bio1.htm (retrieved 16 June 1999)