After reading the novel “Araby” by James Joyce, I think I would use the word lost to describe the boy in the story. At the beginning of the story, the boy is curious about his friend’s sister and has a crush on her. Here he has his first lost, he can’t concentrate, either at school or at home, and he keeps thinking about the girl. He waits for her to appear and converse with her. His second lost was when the girl told him she wanted to go to the fair. It was the only thing on his mind, and his uncle’s late return made him too anxious to think about anything else. The last lost was at the fair, where he lost himself because he didn’t know what gift he should bring back to the girl. His fantasy was wonderful, to bring back a gift to meet the girl. But the reality is that he doesn’t think about what to bring back. This is a reflection of the fact that adolescent boys always have good fantasies but rarely think about reality.
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One thought on “Jiaying Chen Discussion 5”
Jiaying, you make a very case for the “lost” quality of the protagonist. I think it is very true that he is lost in many ways—in his family, in his environment, in his own desires for romance and idealism. But I’d really like you to do a more thorough analysis. “Lost” is just one of many traits that could be applied to this character.