Joyce wants us to look at the characters physical environment and think of it as a cold harsh place. A quiet area void of the regular neighbourhood cares. This is evident by Joyce in his constant reference to dark to describe the characters environment. We see examples of this in the story, “…dark muddy lanes…”, “…dark dripping gardens…” and “…dark odorous stables…” Joyce also does this to draw attention to the light that comes from the houses as the light that comes from his loves house is so important. Joyc

The characters mood is shown to be dark and lonely. We see that his life is dark and cold without the light in his life (the girl). The author makes this apparent at two specific points in the story. The first is when he is unable to see her one morning while on his way to school “As he was in the hall I could not go into the front parlour and lie at the window. I left the house in bad humour and walked slowly towards school.” and when he is unable to find her at the Bazaar “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” The use of light and dark also are show the reader his feelings about her in the way he describes what he sees. When she is in his thoughts we see description of light and colour white “The light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up he hair…”, “It fell over one side of her dress and caught the white border of her petticoat…” when she is not to be found we see his darker side again “The air was pitilessly raw and already my heart misgave me.”

e shows this when he writes, “… her figure defined by the light from th

Some topics in this essay:
James Joyce, , light dark, social climate, setting story, characters physical, light dark reader, characters physical environment, caught white, story shown, physical environment, develop setting, friends’ sister, section town,