Imagination Vs. Reality: Lessons from Araby and The Wizard of Oz

Everyone during their childhood had a time where their imagination inspired them into a delusional fantasy, but that inspiration turned into desperation when reality was faced. Araby, a short story written by James Joyce in 1914, is about an innocent young boy who goes on a journey to win over a girl who he claims he is in love with based on the beauty he sees in her. The Wizard of Oz, directed by Victor Fleming in 1939, is about a young girl, Dorothy, who goes to a magical land of Oz from a tornado being struck in her hometown, Kansas. She begins a journey with her new friends to see a wizard who supposedly has the power to take her back to Kansas. Both the boy and Dorothy learn that one's imagination can be destroyed by one's own reality through the realization that not everything is what it seems. The boy goes on a memorable journey by himself on a train to the bazaar, Araby, to get the girl with whom he is infatuated a gift. Once he arrives, he has an epiphany that his interest in the young girl has only been a physical attraction. Similarly, Dorothy wants to leave her home in Kansas since she feels nobody understands her; however, she has no idea what it is like to leave home. Her mind forces her to go on an unforgettable adventure to discover and come to a realization that her home is in Kansas. Both protagonists embark on a journey, where in the end, they both come to a self-discovery that not everything is what it seems.

The initial setting of both Araby and The Wizard of Oz is what drives both main characters toward an ideal imagination. In Araby, for the majority of the story, the setting is considered dark and gloomy; it is only in the presence of Mangan's sister, the object of the boy's infatuation, that any light is present in the boy's world. For example, when talking about his street, he says, 'Dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits to the dark odorous stables' (Joyce 287). With an environment like this, it can be difficult for the young boy to find interest in what is around him. However, when he sees Mangan's sister, he has a different perspective and his whole perception changes. The boy finds an imaginative alternative to the dull environment he is exposed to as he sees 'her figure being defined by the light' (Joyce 288). In his imagination of the ideal, she is the light. Once he goes to the bazaar, the bazaar lights are dim because it is almost closed, and he says, 'I heard a voice from one end of the gallery that the light was out. The upper part of the hall' (Joyce 292). The boy wants Araby to be bright and open, as he associates it with Mangan's sister, unfortunately to his disbelief, it is dark and on the verge of closing. The atmosphere of the bazaar is used to display the boy's confrontation with the grating reality he faces. With the atmosphere the boy sees, he comes to reality and realizes that what he imagined is not what it seemed. Likewise, in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is bored with her life on the farm as she feels trapped. She feels like she is being restricted and wants to go to another place where she can experience enjoyment in her life. Dorothy, desirous of a more fulfilling life, sings 'Over the Rainbow;' an articulation of her dream of going someplace more exciting than her home at Kansas. The song has a distinct key phrase: 'Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true' (Fleming). This line shows how she imagines a place better than Kansas, and her heart is desired to go to that place. Similar to Araby, both settings are dark and dull until youthful imagination takes over. As soon as she encounters the colourful world of Oz, she changes her desires, and her goal now is to go back home. Moreover, even though she was looking for a more colourful life, it was not what Dorthy expected it to be. The difference between Dorothy's farm in Kansas compared to Oz and the boy's street compared to Mangan's sister, show that imagination can create an entirely different perspective; however, imagination is not what it always seems to be, which was found by both protagonists by confronting reality.

The use of symbols in both Araby and the Wizard of Oz help the protagonist change their perspective and come back to reality. The bazaar is symbolic, as at first the boy feels the bazaar is somewhere more magical and more colourful than the street he lives in, where he can escape the world he does not want to live in. When Mangan's sister mentions Araby, he says, 'The syllables of Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me' (Joyce 289). He expected a whole new universe where his desires would come true, however, when he visits the bazaar, he is disappointed and realizes it is not what he expected. Disappointed by the treatment of the girl behind the stall, he says, 'I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem more real' (Joyce 292). By going to Araby, he realizes that his imagination has taken over, and he is now faced by reality as there is none of the expected enchantment. Likewise, in The Wizard of Oz, there are symbolic characters that help Dorothy come to a realization just like the boy in Araby. The characters that she meets are a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Lion. The Scarecrow desires for a brain, the Tin Man wishes for a heart, and longing for the ability to be brave is the Lion. However, surprisingly, these characters hold these specific attributes from the beginning. In the end, when Dorothy says her goodbyes to her travelling companions, she says, 'Oh, you're the best friends anybody ever had. And it's funny, but I feel as if I'd known you all the time, but I couldn't have, could I?' (Fleming). Her new friends help her understand that one needs to reach inside themselves in order to be able to bring out the intelligence, strength and courage out of them. In both Araby and The Wizard of Oz, the symbols the protagonists encounter in their journeys help them realize that their imagination is not what it seems to be.

In both Araby and The Wizard of Oz, both protagonists develop and learn from the aftermath of facing reality. In Araby, the boy faces a harsh reality, but is still able to realize what is happening. In the beginning, in an attempt to have a better life, he follows a delusional fantasy to escape his current bland environment. He fantasizes about his friend's sister as 'Her image accompanied [him] in places the most hostile to romance' (Joyce 288). When the boy goes to Araby, he comes back to reality instead of living in a fantasy that he desired. He says, 'Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger', expressing his fury and disillusionment, he did not end up getting her a gift (Joyce 292). He recognizes that he was delusional in assuming that his future could get any more colourful and exciting than the current situation in which he lived in. In comparison, Dorothy also learns and develops as a character. At the beginning of the film, she wants to run away from Kansas with her dog, Toto. Moreover, she embarks on a fantastic journey to a place far away from Kansas. Dorothy, at the end of her journey, realizes and learns a valuable lesson when she admits, 'If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with' (Fleming). She comes back to reality as soon as she learns her lesson, as she happily realizes that 'there's no place like home' and she returns with an entirely different attitude towards the people in her life and the farm (Fleming). Dorothy now appreciates the life she has and rather than wanting to leave it, she chooses to tell everyone how much she loves and appreciates them. Conversely, the boy faces a harsh reality while Dorothy faces a painless reality; however, both protagonists develop over time and come to their own realizations. The boy and Dorothy change their emotional state compared to the beginning of the story and they learn that their imagination can be shattered by meeting with reality.

James Joyce’s short story, Araby and The Wizard of Oz, directed by Victor Fleming both show that one's imagination can be destroyed by one's own reality through the use of setting, symbols, and character development. Every child has had a time in their life where they were fueled by their own imagination just to be crushed by the challenging reality they encounter after, just like how the boy in Araby and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz faced. Interestingly enough, salt and sugar look the same, but are completely different. Similarly, if an individual is deep into their own imagination, the reality will look the same to them, but is in fact different. Without tasting both, how would we be able to tell the difference between the two?