“Araby” – By James Joyce

About the Author:

James Joyce was born into a middle – class catholic family that struggled to maintain their middle – class ranking. Joyce wrote a collection of short stories called Dubliners (Araby is part of this collection). All of his short stories in some way mirror his life as a child in Dublin.

Setting: Dublin, Turn of the 19^th century

Araby is written in 1^st person – the narrator is the main character in the story. But very few character are are named, not even the main character. There lack of names means the characters are a loose representation of people in Irish society. There is a regretful feel to the piece in the story. And “Araby” is s sad and disappinting memory. The whole story talks place at night, in a dimly lit house, or at dusk – all in the dark. The main character is an narrator and lives with his uncle and aunt.

Conflict: 

The conflict in the story is person vs. self. The narrator struggles with his feelings of love for the girl and yet he does not have courage to talk to her. Finally she talks to him.

Theme: 

-       Alienation and Loneliness

-       Change and Transformation

-       God and Religion

-     One of the themes throughout this short story is that often reality of situation in life is more painful than the love someone imagines in their head.

Blindness: “North Richmond Street”, is described as “Being blind.”

The Bazaar: Title holda the key to the meaning, used to express the romantic view of the east. The story is about Orientation but the boy is disoriented.

“Araby” short story is narrated by unknown teenage boy who lives in a two story house. His life was normal because he would meet his friend after school and play together untill dinner time. And the story tells that the girl, the other main character of the story, the narrator likes, is his friend Mangan’s sister. Everyday he follows her to school but never spesks to her. But he thinks about her all the time.

Every Saturday evening, the narrator goes to the market with his aunt. He hears and sees many different noises and interactions. This is a kind of symbolism of how he struggles with his feelings for the girl. One day, she speaks to him and asks him if he is going to Araby, a bazaar, she can not go, but the boy decides to go to buy her a present. And then, on the day of the bazaar, his uncle comes home late, so that he is late going to it, when he gets there, he can not find a gift and the bazaar closes. At the end, he feels that everything is in vain and useless.