Death in Arabia and the Metamorphosis Many readers have commented on the contrast between light and darkness in James Joyce's short story Araby. Perhaps the priest's death in Arabia adds to the "darkness" the boy experiences when he thinks of Mangan's sister, as opposed to the light he experiences when he is actually in her presence. Interestingly, the priest's death doesn't become so "dark" until Mangan's sister is introduced. In the first scene where the boy visits the priest's old room, he rummages around and finds some treasures, including "paper-covered books" and "the late lodger's rusty bicycle pump". There is no sense of sadness here, in fact, the boy seems to enjoy exploring and discovering things, and recalls how the priest "had been a very charitable priest" in a rather disjointed way. But later, after the boy's crush When Mangan's sister was introduced, this dead priest's room takes on a very different character. This is the place where the boy retreats on a stormy night as his emotions roil within him. It is no longer a place to be explored, but has taken on an almost "sacred" character. Here the boy experiences his most passionate moment of "strange prayers and praises", clasping the palms of his hands together "until they tremble, murmuring: 'Oh Love! Oh Love!' many times." You can almost feel the presence of the dead priest in the room on this "dark and 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 on this same room increases the drama and intensifies the boy's emotions. Maybe the boy thought the priest was watching him from there... middle of the card... that's really what the family needed to start living their lives. In this story Gregor's "deaths" serve to make clear his real position in the family and what the real situation is if he hadn't turned into an insect and ultimately died, neither he nor the 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 care much about him and weren't that grateful for his sacrifices. It highlights 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 once his condition began to demand too much of them. Gregor's death turns him into a sort of tragic hero. If the story ended differently, I think readers would feel less sympathetic towards her.