Araby Lab

During our lab, I put place marks in places I thought corresponded with Joyce's story.  Also, I went to www.walkscore.com to look for a place that might serve as a market in Joyce's time.  My best guess (at the moment) is Pearse Square.  Take a look:

 

View Araby Route in a larger map

Comments

I like how you map the places regularly visited, the places that are oftentimes overlooked in this story.  What jumps out at me from this is how far Pearse Square is from his home.  In class, we had discussed how his entire life is spent within a small perimeter of the land, but this map disproves that to an extent.  True, he has yet to travel all the way to the bazaar, but he is not entirely limited to his small community.

Well, now let's think (Toby) about why you chose Pearse Square. Why not Mountjoy Square? It's much closer to the boy's home and perhaps a more likely distination, given that they're carrying parcels. This is an area where some research would help. Can you find any articles on "Araby" or Dubliners that interpret the locations in the stories? What about early 20th Century maps of Dublin. The streets have changed enough that there could have been a square somewhere which doesn't exist now.

Yes, the maps help us interpret the story, but they don't prove anything about them unless documented rigorously. This map is suggesting an avenue of further research that could be interesting in the context of a larger project.