Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2023, 6(1); doi: 10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060120.
Chen Yaya
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Self-differentiation refers to the differentiation of the past “I” and the present “I”, which exists in all self-narratives. In “Araby”, the third story of Dubliners, the adult narrator “I” tells the story of his adolescent love for his neighbour’s sister. The narrator tells his past story either in the language of the present “I” or of the past “I”. Therefore, the present “I” and the past “I” alternate, causing the difference in the language and consciousness of the narrator. With both unity and division, the tension of the two narrative voices is caused, which on the one hand enriches the meaning of the story and on the other guides naratees to actively participate in the interpretation of the story.
James Joyce; Araby; Self-differentiation; Self-narrative; Acceptance aesthetics
Chen Yaya. The Grown Up Version of Adolescent Crush--Self-Differentiation in “Araby”. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 1: 154-158. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060120.
[1] Zhao Yiheng. (2014). On Self-differentiation: Common Characteristic of Self-narrative. Journal of Jiangxi Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition) 47(04), 68.
[2] Joyce, J. (2004). Araby. In Dettmar, K. V. H. (Ed.), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 248-265.
[3] Brooks, C. and Warren, R. P. (1979). Understanding Fiction (third edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 127.
[4] Iser, W. (1974). The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose from Bunyan to Beckett. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 276-283.
[5] Iser, W. (1980). The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 11.
[6] Bressler, C. E. (1994). Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 52.