Heroes or Escape

In “Araby”, the main character has a crush on a girl who he wants to buy a present for. The crush this boy has represents the Ireland that he wants but his uncle represents the Ireland he’s currently in and wants to be free from. In this story, the main character lives with his uncle who usually comes home late; “When we returned to the street light from the kitchen windows had filled the areas. If my uncle was seen turning the corner we hid in the shadow until we had seen him safely housed” (Araby). Later the boy finally gets the chance to talk to his crush and he may believe he has a chance with her if he’s able to get her a gift from Araby. Unfortunately, the boy relies on his uncle and must constantly remind him of the trip, and yet his uncle still forgets. Once the boy finally arrives in Araby, he’s unable to buy anything and the bazaar closes around him. In the end, he’s angry because he’s unable to get anything because of his uncle.

In this poem, Yeats starts off sounding as though he could escape but in reality, he can’t. In the poem he says:

I know that I shall meet my fate   
Somewhere among the clouds above;   
Those that I fight I do not hate   
Those that I guard I do not love (Yeats 1-4)

I believe he’s saying that he knows he won't be able to escape and that he’s stuck fighting people for no reason. Later in the poem, we see that he may think things are pointless; “The years to come seemed waste of breath,/ A waste of breath the years behind/ In balance with this life, this death” (Yeats 14-16). By the end of this poem, we see that he may not have loved what he was doing, and he may not be able to escape, but when compared to death, he feels like everything is balanced and he’s okay with life.  

In Yeats poem “The Stolen Child” he talks about escaping into nature. In this poem, Yeats repeats the saying; “For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand” (Yeats 1). It’s very clear that he wants to escape from something that he doesn't even understand, from a life that he doesn’t want to be a part of. Similarly, In “The Lake of Innisfree”, Yeats talks about moving or escaping, this time to Innisfree. In this poem it very obvious that he loves it there because it’s quiet and peaceful; “And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, /Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings” ( Yeats 5-6). Unfortunately, later in the poem, he says “While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,/ I hear it in the deep heart’s core” (Yeats 11-12). From this, we can assume that no matter how much he loves it there or plans to live there, it’s not possible for him to escape from his current life.