Structural Analysis of Araby
To make a structural analysis of Araby we can imply five codes referred by Roland Barthes in this story. The five codes are the proairetic code, the hermeneutic code, the cultural code, the semic code and finally the symbolic code. Identifying these five codes in this story we can make a structural analysis of this story.
Araby is a story about a boy’s dreams and love and romance. Here, we find a boy’s frustrated quest for beauty and romance in the drab surroundings of Dublin city. Here, the boy’s disgust with the musty atmosphere of the house and the noisy street, his boyish vigor in the play, his romantic yearnings for the girl, his sly look at her, his passion of love on a rainy evening are very realistic but his desire is romantic. He looks upon the girl as an object of beauty. In the last part of the story we find Araby gleams before him as a dreamland, here he would go for bringing a gift for his dream girl. Thus, this story consists of the boy’s dreams and experience.
Among these five codes, the symbolic code is most important. That’s why we can find out the symbolic code first in the story to make structural analysis. We know the symbolic code is linked to theme on a larger scale and it consists of contrasts and pairings related to the most basic binary polarities. To find out the symbolic code we can identify the parallels in plot, echoes in structure, reflections or repetitions in character, contrasts in situation, and patterns in language.
In the story, the first contrast is the relation between dreams and reality. Here, Araby becomes a dreamland for the boy. It’s actually an oriental bazaar associated with romance and grandeur. But it becomes a dreamland to him as he is asked to go there by his dream girl. He dreams about the place and thinks he would bring a gift for the lady. But when he reaches the place, his dreams get shattered in thousand pieces. After reaching there, he finds silence there. He also...