Araby a Modernist perspective

In 'Araby', the narrator is a young boy whose life up to this point has been simple and happy. The monotony of his life nurtures his childhood happiness and innocence, and from this state the boy is introduced to Joyce's version of reality that has been lurking before his eyes his entire life. Through hours spent at play on North Richmond Street outside his house our narrator is conditioned into a blissful state, and a …

…der to escape the suffering, which leaves us feeling empty and alone in the end. The modernist solution to this end is finding pleasure, intelligence, and sanity in art. Ironically, though, artists have the highest probably of all other professions for mental instability. Therefore, Joyce creates a flawless actualization of society in the eyes of many, but his genre of literature creates a paradox for the solution that leaves the reader again searching for resolution.