Death in Arabia and MetamorphosisMany readers have commented on the contrast between light and darkness in James Joyce's story Araby. Perhaps the death of the priest in Arabia adds to the "darkness" the boy experiences when he thinks of Mangan's sister, as opposed to the light he experiences when actually in her presence. doesn't get so "dark" until Mangan's sister is introduced. In the first scene where the boy visits the priest's old room, he searches and finds treasures, including "books covered in paper" and "the late tenant's rusty bicycle pump." There is no sadness here, in fact the boy seems to be having fun exploring and discovering things, and remembers how the priest "had been a very charitable priest" in a rather disconnected way. But later, after the boy's crush on Mangan's sister has been introduced, this dead priest's room takes on a completely different character. It is the place where the boy retreats on a stormy night as his emotions boil within him. It is no longer a place to explore, but it has acquired an almost “sacred” character. Here the boy experiences his most passionate moment of "strange prayers and praises," pressing the palms of his hands together "until they tremble, whispering, 'Oh Love!' Oh Love! several times." You can almost feel the presence of the dead priest in the room on this "dark, rainy evening" as the boy prays, in a way that you wouldn't feel his presence if he were simply on vacation. The fact that he died here in this very room adds to the drama and intensifies the boy's emotions. Maybe the boy thought the priest was watching him from the middle of a paper...that was really what the story was about. family needed to start living their own lives. In this story, Gregor's "deaths" serve to clearly show where he really stands in the family and what the real situation is if he hadn't turned into. insect and was ultimately dead, neither he nor his family would have ever known that what he was doing for them wasn't really helping them. Gregor's death also showed that the family didn't really care about him and didn't care. was not very grateful for his sacrifices This brings out the contrast between what Gregor was willing to do for his family (die) and what his family was willing to do for him (not much). They wanted to get rid of him when his condition became too demanding for them. Gregor's death makes him something of a tragic hero. If the story ended differently, I think readers would feel less sympathy towards it..