After reading Araby, I feel like many of us could have had a similar situation like this in our life. The narrator is so full of light and positivity and that it fills his head whenever discussing Mangans sister but when life and reality actually hits him it’s always a more negative and dull mood. The narrator fantasizes about this girl and he doesn’t even know her name, he’s so infatuated with her and that’s how it is whenever you have a crush, but the feelings aren’t mutual back. All the little things he wants to do to get her attention only end up hurting him more in the end. The frustration starts to build throughout the story when things don’t go his way and this is just the reality of how life is. This disappointment and frustration that the narrator feels at the end of the story is quite a normal feeling for the people because they all have their own life to live, the Dubliners are focused on survival instead of love. The frustration really sets in at the end of the story when the narrator finally comes to the realization that this is just an illusion that he’s come up with and it won’t come true.
Hanna Etwara
Miss Moore’s character is presented as a kind, good-hearted, educated black woman that wants to help the people in her community, specifically the children. This alone brings about a sense of jealousy within her community because of how she carries herself and the life that she chooses to live. In the story we are told that the people in the community talk about her and not in a good way, she chooses to do things differently such as not going to church and throughout history we see how important religion is in a black community. But that doesn’t stop Miss Moore from living her life and sharing her knowledge with the kids, she still remains kind and this shows that she really does have a good heart. Sylvia is one of the kids that Miss Moore extends her knowledge with but they don’t always see eye-to-eye because of Sylvia’s pride. Sylvia is shown as this independent kid that won’t hold her tongue back on anyone. But as we get to know her character more she lets her guard down a bit and she starts to see the lesson that Miss Moore wants to teach them.The trip to FAO Schwarz was definitely an eye opening experience for all of the kids and it really showed them what society is like for different groups of people. Before even entering the store the kids noticed how the people around them dressed from the way adults in their community dressed, it was more luxurious and expensive. Miss Moore blended in well with these people but the kids were so amazed by everything. The lesson that Miss Moore taught them after being in the store was an eye-opener for all because the money that people spend on useless stuff in that store could be spent […]
The young narrator is different from the way he was at the beginning of the story to the ending of the story because in the beginning he was more hopeful and intrigued with what the outcome would be. But as the short story goes on he slowly starts to lose faith. At first he was so full of spirit and he wanted to be saved by christ because he heard everyone else’s story so he felt like well if god can do that for them then he can do the same for me. The narrator looked at the situation like that and it allowed him to be hopeful but when he went to the church and tried to experience this for himself it just didn’t happen. It’s very ironic when we want something so badly but we don’t end up getting it. Believing in Jesus and really putting your complete faith and trust into God isn’t something that comes easily to people and that’s okay. In this short story the narrator is very young at the time and he doesn’t realize just how deep religion really is so to try and fit in with the crowd he fakes it. This alone could have many consequences because now he’s feeling guilty, he could have doubts in god, and this could potentially affect his aunts trust in him in the future.
I think the professor assigned this as the first story of the course because there’s just so many ways that you can interpret this story. In my opinion, I think this is a very emotional and inspiring, but confusing story. At first I was like okay, maybe this could be a depiction of a god-like figure or something along the lines of religion, especially because of the name Esteban. But as I continued reading it just showed me different points of views from the people in the village and how fragile a person’s ego can be. This story also allows me to put myself into the character’s shoes and feel what they are feeling because of the very detailed imagery. The author set such a perfect scene that it all felt so real. Just like story book characters and reality, we’re all the same. We go through the same emotions, we get inspired from the most unexpected things, and we also learn to grow and change for the better.
