Essay on Araby, by James Joyce

Although James Joyce's story "Araby" is told from the first per-son viewpoint of its young protagonist, we do not receive the impression that a boy tells the story. Instead, the narrator seems to be a man matured well beyond the experience of the story. The mature man reminisces about his youthful hopes, desires, and frustrations. More than if a boy's mind had reconstructed the events of the story for us, this particular way of telling the story enables us to perceive clearly the torment youth experiences when ideals, concerning both sacred and earthly love, are destroyed by a suddenly unclouded view of the actual world. Because the man, rather than the boy, recounts the experience,

The narrator is deeply infatuated with Mangan’s sister and she is always on his mind. He states, “Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom.” (Joyce 2). The quote talks about the narrator’s smitten feelings for a girl only referred to as Mangan’s sister. It is evident that she is always on his mind and she naturally flows through his mind unconsciously. He is also very grief-stricken at times, which surprises him. The fact that Mangan’s sister does not have a name clearly reveals that the narrator is in love with what she represents, physical beauty. This is something rather mutual for any adolescent boy experiencing sexual beauty for the first time. He is stuck in his own little world of infatuation where she is always present and he also feels sad as he cannot convey his feelings of love. Also, after the narrator decided that he will bring something for Mangan’s sister as a gift from the bazaar, Araby, he is overcome with joy. He states, “What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening! I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school.” (Joyce 2). The quote

Many times in life, people set unrealistic expectations for themselves or for other people. This is not a very wise thing to do because people often feel disappointed and embarrassed for getting their hopes up so high. One good example of this is the narrator in the short story “Araby” by James Joyce. In his brief but complex story James Joyce concentrates on character rather than on plot to reveal the ironies within self-deception.

He even practically prostate worshipped this young girl by lying on the floor each morning while waiting for her door to open. The sister’s immaculate image follows the narrator everywhere, even in the darkest of places such as the sinful public square. For example, when the narrator goes to the market on Saturday evenings, his constant vision of the sister allows him to act as a religious hero bearing a chalice through a den of robbers. This constant envisioning of the sister will end up causing confusion between the narrator and his faith because he is seeing an ordinary girl as pure and infallible (Barnhisel).

Joyce’s objective was to write about what he knew his own Irish Catholic background, his family and other acquaintances, the schools he attended, the neighborhoods and the events of Dublin,

James Joyce tells the story of a boy revealing the bleak reality of life in Araby. In the short story, a young boy is seen chasing after a false pretense of love hopelessly. He admires a young girl who lives across the street, Mangan’s sister, and catches himself daydreaming about her at every possible hour. He becomes blinded by his pursuit of her and obsesses over getting her attention. When she finally speaks to him, she asks if he is going to Araby, a bazaar, and explains that she will not be able to due to a prior engagement with her church. He promises to buy her something if he is able to go and spends the rest of the week anticipating it. After patiently waiting all day, he finally arrives, only to be turned away by closed stands and

Armed with a florin held "tightly in his hand", the boy embarks on his "journey" to the bazaar, his self-assigned mission being to purchase a gift for his beloved. The gift is to be a gestured to liberate Mangan's sister--in spirit if not in body--because she will be with a retreat that week at her convent. The journey for him becomes a passage from relative safety and gregariousness into a place of darkness and isolation. It is only there that he comes to a realization--an epiphany.

Araby is about the fall from personal ideals. The last sentence in Araby is: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” (James Joyce, 1914) While many critics of Araby may contend the story is one of coming to age, there are too many references to the religion of James Joyce’s childhood, Catholicism, to not be consequential. The story introduces a boy who lives in a house previously owned by a priest and is obsessed with a girl who attends a convent. Indeed, the boy worshiped the girl like in prayer. (James Joyce, 1914) Moreover, the girl was going on a retreat on “the night of Our Lord," Epiphany, to set a religious tone to the story. (James Joyce, 1914)

In the short story Araby, James Joyce provides the audience with a glimpse if 19th century Ireland seen through the eyes of an adolescent young man. It is this adolescence and the navies of the world that is under attack. Joyce masterfully reveals an innocence held by Araby by contrasting it with a setting filled with symbology that eludes to the hopeless reality in which he lives.

James Joyce’s style of writing is very unique and uncommon when you compare it to other authors. In Dubliners, possibly one of his most famous pieces of writing Joyce portrays fifteen passages of life in the Irish capital of Dublin. What makes Joyce’s style of writing different from other authors is that Joyce focuses his writing on one specific moment in a Dubliner’s life, no matter if that moment is only within a few months, weeks, days, or even within just one night. Joyce’s objective within this collection of passages is to portray to the readers the daily, mundane lives of those living in Ireland and the problems they face during those specific times in their lives. Instead of writing, long, elaborate stories with complicated plots, Joyce focuses his writing on daily situations in which not much appears to happen physically, but a lot may seem to happen with characters mentally and emotionally. Although these rather dull moments in the lives of the Dubliners may not be the most deep and intense, the characters’ heartbreaking revelations definitely are. One of his most popular passages in Dubliners is Araby. In this passage, the narrator, a young boy, is obsessed with his friend’s sister, which lives across the street from him. One day, when his friend’s sister mentions how much she wants to attend the bazaar but cannot, he finally sees a chance to try to win her over by going to the bazaar on his own and bringing her back a gift. However, his world comes crashing down

James Joyce’s short story “Araby” has an emotional story that is about a nameless young boy having a crush on Mangan’s sister, and how he goes on a quest to make her notice him but to come to the realization that these actions are childish and immature. Joyce introduces where the boy lives, and his thoughts, and how he feels about the area that he his living in. Joyce also shows how the boy only see the darkness, and feels disgust for his simple life, but that changes when he sees Mangan’s sister and how his day is lighten up. His actions will lead him far away from his person goals.

He discovers that his fantasies are not reality, that his dedication to his unsubstantiated perception of a girl does not disconnect him from the gloominess of his daily life, in truth, the araby makes him to realize his childish dreams distracted him from the cold and bitter reality of his everyday life. This realization that his fantasies have fooled him makes him certain that the burning

A person who feels they need to accomplish something needs to have the tenacity to complete it. They would feel satisfied once they do, and discontented otherwise. For an external source to destroy significant progress, anger will be conveyed. In some cases, it can change a person’s perspective on reality. As they continue to age, their outlook would mature to accept reality as it is. James Joyce’s short story, “Araby,” centers on an unnamed boy who is on a romantic quest for his crush; a journey to the bazaar, aptly named Araby, in order to get her a souvenir. Initially, a normal endeavor for his crush; however soon becomes ill-fated. Joyce also implements another narrative element to the story; the same boy now older reminiscing those events unfazed and dispirited. The narrative of the older counterpart initially is subtle; but later throughout the story, it is effective about commenting his past. Reinforcing this is his imaginative obsession with his crush that he soon becomes oblivious to obstacles in his life that would complete his dream of love. To make his quest more difficult, he is delayed by his uncle who does not have the same passion of the bazaar’s importance unlike the boy. By implementing imagery, two point of views, and conflict, “Araby” reveals the boy’s ignorance to the harsh reality he resides in while using his future self to reflect his mundane past. In his short story, imagery is commonly used to reflect what the boy is thinking about at a given

James Joyce tells a story of a young boy around the age of eleven, who lives with his uncle and aunt in an uninhabited house at the end of a blind corner. He likes to play with his friends till late night. Araby also known as the bazaar was the place he wishes to visit. This story is mainly based on the type of place where they live, his fondness toward his friend’s sister, and the Araby(bazaar) where he wanted to go.

“There was no doubt about it: if you wanted to succeed you had to go away. You could do nothing in Dublin.” Little Chandler proclaimed this in the short story “A Little Cloud” and was a common theme within Joyce’s short stories. He used his short stories as a medium to reach the hearts and minds of the people in Dublin, the place he called home. Although it was his home he didn't have the fondest memories of it which are clearly present in his writing. James Joyce was, in my opinion, a revolutionary who used his short stories as a means of changing the way of thinking for the homeland he resented.