201) The protagonists recognition of human truth is that the world does not exist in the Romantic terms he perceived it in. This inevitably leads to a decay of dream and desire.The second symbolic event was with the woman in the bar. Farrington created her as an icon, a desired dream “the world seemed to melt away as he gazed at her.” (p.231) This is symbolic for his decaying existence, with a “Oh pardon!” (p.231) as she brushed against him, his dream walked away never answering his desiring gaze. At this Farrington’s frustrations began to mount as he was left to fester in his own unfulfilled desire. The loss of internal foundation occurs in “Araby” as the protagonist listens to a conversation of a worker. “O, I never said such a thing! O, but you did! O, but I didn’t!” Our hero recognizes this conversation, which contains flirtatious undertones, as impure. Thusly a loss of the pure nature of Araby occurs to the protagonist. Purity is an internal foundation to the protagonists Romantic being. For the purity of love is what drove the protagonist to Araby in the first place. The third and final devastation of Farrington is that of the lost arm wrestle. One of the few points of pride Farrington had left was his reputation as a “strong man.” (p. 232) For this reputation is symbolic for Farringtons sense of pride. He is respected for his strength as his friends “called on Farrington to uphold the national honor.” (p.231) The loss of the arm wrestle epitomizes Farringtons loss of pride, “All the indignities in his life enraged him…” (p.228) “He felt humiliated and disconnected;” (p.232) Farrington’s sense of pride was his strongest internal foundation. For once he lost this internal foundation, he was sent to his climatic point of decay. In both Counterparts and Araby Joyce builds the theme of loss to a climatic point whe...
