Araby 'And Mother To Son'

Transitions are moments of realization, times of learning and reflection, which can remain present in a person’s memory for years to come. Important and memorable moments in one’s life will have an impact on individuals, depending on the magnitude of the event. Particularly, in the short story “Araby” by James Joyce and the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes presents the theme of innocence in childhood and difficulties of life as adults. In “Araby,” a young boy discovers how blind and innocent he was because of his false beliefs. On the other hand, in “Mother to Son”, a mother describes the difficulties and differences that her life has been, to try and enlighten her child about how life had been for her. Joyce and Hughes present the transition …show more content…
In Joyce’s story religion is what allowed the story to progress for the young boy, due to his religious vocabulary and symbols. For instance, Joyce instead of mentioning or giving the name of a girl, Joyce mentions, “Mangan’s sister” (107). Showing how respectful the boy is and the religious vocabulary. In addition, when the boy of “Araby” story says, “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free” (107). These two quotes, among others, indicate that the characters in the story have a religious background since is been educated in a religious school. This indicate that religion will be a major theme in the story. Hughes does not present or mentions any religious symbol, not even as an inspiration to help his …show more content…
An illustration of this was shown as, “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce 111). The boy sees himself as a different human being, but the interesting part was the complex vocabulary the young boy uses to describe his feelings and appearance at the moment. Hughes’ poem does not use similar complexity or present any, the only complex word is “crystal stair” (559), which is described by the mother and made it as reference to life. The word “crystal stair” (559) was only used twice in the poem and is a term that is associated with royal, easier way, cleaner, straightforward, among other words. Others short sentences and words used in the poems were: “And places with no carpet on floor” (559), “And reachin’ landin’s,” (559). This can be used as reference to the imagery and remembrance of a place and a moment in her life. In general the poem was easier to understand than Joyce’s short story by the simplicity in the use of vocabulary and