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Who Is The Speaker Of Araby

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The speaker in James Joyce’s “Araby” has an epiphany that changes his view on the world around him. The short story is about a boy that travels to a bazaar to buy a present for a girl he has a crush on. The journey doesn’t go the way he expected it to go and he has becomes upset and frustrated. The speaker of “Araby” starts out as youth that is ignorant of the world around him and then he has an epiphany that is heightened by irony and presents a universal theme about life.
The speaker of “Araby” starts out as youth that is ignorant of the world around him. The speaker thinks that he is in love with his friend Mangan’s sister. The speaker says “I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.” The speaker adores her from afar and dreams that they will be together someday. Mangan’s sister asks him if he is planning on going to a bazaar called Araby. She says that she can’t go to the bazaar because she is going on a religious retreat. The speaker says that he will purchase a gift for her if he goes to Araby. The speaker says “What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that …show more content…

The young speaker is infatuated with his friend’s sister. He believes that if he brings her a gift from the bazaar than she will love him back. The speaker’s time at the bazaar is nothing like he thought it would be. It is a horrible experience and he fails to buy a gift for his crush. The speaker 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.” He realizes that he wasn’t actually in love with his friend’s sister. His desire for her was only a vain wish for something new and different. She would never live up to his expectations. The speaker’s dreams about romance are shattered when he faces the reality of

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