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“Araby” by James Joyce is not a love story. What is “Araby” really about?
Week 5 Discussion
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CC0 Public Domain
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81 thoughts on “Week 5 Discussion”
“Araby” was a coming-of-age story that was centered around a young boy’s false fantasy of love and idealism clouded by poor judgement of a situation. The main character of “Araby” lived a lonely, gloomy, and unexciting life for which he tried to create a false fantasy. The false fantasy that he was in love with a person that he knew very little about, he unintentionally created a purpose to keep him going in a world filled with despair, mystery, and oppression from another country’s government. In a world where all but darkness, uncertainty, and sadness existed, he created love, hope, and determination. Ultimately the main character realized it was a construct created in his head to satisfy the darkness that was sucking the life out of him, the darkness of which was a product of the environment he lived in and the lonesome life he led. “Araby” was not a love story, it was a tale of realization, sadness, and illusions derived from nothing but a glimmer of hope.
Giovanni
I’m really agree with you and I think you describe it perfectly. In a few words “Araby” in the middle of his lonely and dark life only allowed himself to be carried away by his false fantasy, I remember that in the story Araby became interested in traveling to bazaar just after the girl told him that she wanted to go that she could not then Araby he wanted to go alone to bring him a gift. And although that may seem like “Love” it really wasn’t, since he didn’t even know her, he hadn’t talked to her. I could say that the girl represented for the little bit of hope and at the same time not since her life was so dark that even the girl looked like a shadow.
Hello Giovanni
I would like to agree with everything you stated, I thought it was well written and said perfectly. I believe the realization of understanding something that wasn’t going to happened is what really changes the short story quick for the reader. We start to think maybe at first it would go a little differently and he has a chance to it’s so sad that we watched the character realize the false hope and reality of what is really happening.
I agree that Araby thoughts of love itself is completely wrong and uses it in the wrong fashion to escape the life he is currently leading. To add on to what you said i think since he is young it helps with his development as a young a child to a young man he will become. I think as we were all growing up we all painted false narratives of a certain situation or person to be our escape leading into maybe something different or better.
Hi Arleen, I think your interpretation of the “Araby” was spot on. I would also like to say that it is within human nature to make things out to be something that they aren’t. We create false narratives and hopes for love and fruitful fantasies to run away from the sad reality that we just grasping for dear life. We create these illusions because we have to make ourselves believe that there is more to life than what is dealt to us, we have to believe that there is something out there worth existing for so we imagine and create illusions to comfort our imaginations.
Hello Giovanni, I respect your point, but I can’t entirely agree with it. About saying that “The young boy was in creating a false fantasy about loving Magen’s sister.” Because the was was completely unknown about the other things. Only he knew he had pure heart, and unknowingly he fell for her. He was purely in love with her which he didn’t even know that what real love was.
James Joyce’s short story “Araby” describes the disappointment-disappointment of a teenager
with love and reality. He grew up in a bad environment with his uncle and aunt in an
uninhabited home in restrictive Catholic cultures, the child appears to be lonely and repressed throughout history. He seeks a taste for romance and love. But in the joyless and loveless everyday life of Dubliners,
nowhere in his environment does he find an outlet for his feelings. Suddenly he finds a beautiful girl, in her dark world and the girl herself is the light in her romantic fantasy, someone who will raise
him out of the dark, he thinks. In his opinion, she is both a saint to worship and a woman to be desired. At the end of the story. His childhood fantasies are shattered and he finally develops a new point of view on life. Therefore, this story is an attempt to show how a young man is disillusioned with love and reality.
Luis, I like how you express the conflicted emotions of the protagonist when you write, “She is both a saint to worship and a woman to be desired.” We don’t see this boy engaged in any overt sexual fantasies, yet we do read this: “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.” The boy has created an ideal in his imagination and has fallen in love with it.
Hello Luis,
Boy definitely seeks for a taste for love and I think that love represents the light in his life. Such brightness is not necessarily tied up with love. I think it can be associated with something else and we can come up with various examples. One of them would be religion – for many people, religion in one’s life can serve the same role as this love served for young man. At some point, I think girl did get him out of the dark, however it did not last forever.
The story “Araby” was about self-discovery and learning to accept yourself. The character was surrounded by darkness his whole life, and the only light in his life was the woman he imagined in his head. The main character needed a way to escape his reality in order to find that happiness he was desperate for, so he envisioned a woman who was embedded in “ holy Light”. But I believe this is a metaphor for his hope because there was no woman, he was searching for a reason to keep on living and the light was the only thing guiding him. Once the light was fading, he began to realize that the darkness will be everywhere he goes and it’s what he does that determines the future in store for him. He decides he needs to keep moving on no matter how dark, lonely, desperate he is because as long as there is light he can have hope that things will get better.
Hi Rances, I agree. After reading “Araby” it is clear to me that rather than a love story, this piece is a coming of age and self realization story. Mangan’s sister captures the heart of the narrator, and becomes the source of light in his rather dismal life. Yet, eventually it becomes clear to him that this “light” of hers was just a distraction, a fixation to help him get past all the other sadnesses in his life, such as his drunken uncle. Upon his realization, the narrator is then left with the choice to either continue on in his way of a sad lifestyle, or to put more lights into his life, not as distractions, but rather as additions.
Rances, I agree that hope is something the boy is desperately looking for. There seems to be none in his world, so he creates a beam of hope for himself, imposing his ideal onto a girl he barely knows. If “Salvation” can be said to be a story about the loss of faith, maybe “Araby” is one about the loss of hope.
I totally agree with you Rances!, he made love a main focus to escape his reality and the realization of him not being able to do that shows his growth. Him also realizing that no matter what happens or where he is he will still have both good and bad days shows growth as well. After experiencing what he did he realized accepting his reality was what he had to do because at the end he will eventually see the light and that’s what matters.
Hey Rances, I agree with your idea. “Araby” is a somber coming-of-age story, this is surrounded by darkness and despair. When a person is surrounded by darkness, it is also a good way to escape reality. It’s not good to be overly lost, but finding the goal of the own existence and advancing from it, this is a place worthy of our study.
Hello Rances,
I agree that the story led to self-discovery. I also agree that the girl represented a ray of sunshine in the gloominess of his life. But I could also argue that he created this gloominess by choosing to escape his circumstances by lusting after someone who could never fully satisfy the hopes and dreams within him.
However, I disagree about the story leading to self-acceptance. Or that he realizes that only sorrow – ‘darkness’- will consume his life. Rather, I would say that his increased awareness to his desperate condition was rather depressing. Hopefully, he learns from his mistakes and puts in the effort to ensure he does not repeat them.
In my opinion “Araby” was not a love story. It was a story about a boy who had created a false crush on a girl from his neighborhood since “araby” lived in darkness, in sadness; she did not play like the others, she did not amuse herself in the apsolute. This false infatuation became an idolatry, an obsession, he did not know anything about this girl, he had not even spoken, it is impossible that someone can truly fall in love in a situation like this. for me “Araby” is a story of shadows, of sadness, of illusions created by a little hope. In the life of this young man everything was darkness to the degree that he looked at the girl’s body as a simple shadow of her curves. In short, the shadows and loneliness was this boy’s only company. ohh !!! and his fantasy with the girl.
Ivanna, thank you for the good comments. I like how you compare the boy’s infatuation to a kind of idolatry. This is very interesting in view of all the religious imagery we see in the story. Because he is immersed in a deeply Catholic culture, it is not surprising that he would see his fantasy as something as a holy experience, complete with light, praises, and adoration. At the end of the story, he sees that he is, in fact, an idolator, in love with his own fantasy and delusion of escape.
Ivanna,
I completely agree with you and believe that there became a strong obsession because yes he never spoken to the girl I think it was a little strange how someone could make you feel that way about them without properly meeting them and holding conversations with them. But with him coming to the realization of what he doesn’t have caused a deep devisation and realizing the reality of false hopes and dreams.
Ivanna,
I liked the way you explained the story. I also think that this was an obsession but I would say that it was an obsession over her role in his life rather than over the girl herself. The story definitely is carrying the sadness within it – without such sadness, loneliness, darkness narrator would not have to create this bright image that would present a little hope in his life. Even though we see how boy loses his hope, I still think that he will eventually find something else that will replace her role – either real or made up.
Hi, ivanna
I agree with you because the story was about how he created this false image of this woman he loved in order to find some hope surrounded by darkness. I like how you said the story was about shadows, sadness, and how illusions were made to create hope. I think that the presence of seeing another person gave him hope out of this world filled with despair.
Rather than a love story, “Araby” by James Joyce is actually a coming of age story. In the story, the narrator does fall for Mangan’s sister, and he falls hard, as “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance” (Joyce). The narrator wanted to please her so badly, which is what allowed him to reach his epiphany at the end. For example, the narrator is driven by his desire for Mangan’s sister to go all the way to the bazaar in order to by her a gift. However, upon entering, he sees that “nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness” (Joyce). In the story, Mangan’s sister had represented and embodied light, yet here in the bazaar, the narrator is surrounded by darkness. This is what leads him to the conclusion that all his efforts to impress her were for nothing, and that she was just a distraction for him in the midst of his dismal, dark life. After this realization, the narrator is left to deal with his feelings, and decide whether he wants to add more light into his life, or if he is fine leaving it the way it is.
I agree with you that James Joyce’s short story “Araby” is not a love story and it is a story of maturation, and add to that the story is about the horrible closed lives of the people in North Richmond Street, which seem only illuminated by the vitality of children who insist on playing despite the increasing darkness that comes them during the winter. The story “Araby” touched on a large number of topics as well, one of the most important in the story was the arrival of maturity I agree but, there were many other themes such as the encounter of fantasy with reality, the life of the mind versus poverty (physical and intellectual), the consequences of idealism, the influence of the Catholic Church on making Dublin a place of asceticism where desire and sensuality are seen as immoral, and the pain that often occurs when one encounters love In his realistic form rather than his elevated, imagined and helpless form.
Anna, thanks for the very good comments. I appreciate how well you describe the moments when the light starts to go out for the boy as the lights in the bazaar dim, as well. I also appreciate that you’ve given some thought to what the boy is left with at the end of the story. The one light in his life has been extinguished. What is left for him now? Will he become like the other male figures in the story—the drunks at the marketplace, his unreliable uncle? We don’t see the answer to any of these questions, but I don’t get a sense from the text that he is about to find a new fantasy.
Hi Anna,
I concur that she was a distraction for him, but maybe a good distraction? She gave him purpose and drive. A reason to feel all the goodness in life. He “passionately sought, against the odds”. He felt a connection and fought to get it. If you want something, well you have to just go and get it.
Although it was a fantasy world, that escape may have been something he needed in order to cope with his reality.
ames Joyce’s short story “Araby” describes the disappointment and disillusionment of a teenager, the story is not a love story, The story is about the horrible closed life of the people on North Richmond Street, which seems to be lit only by the liveliness of children who, despite the increasing darkness that comes to them during the winter, insist on playing “until their bodies glow”. Although the conditions of this neighborhood leave much to be desired, the children’s games are filled with their magical way of perceiving the world, which the narrator conveys to the reader. The story “Araby” touched on a large number of topics, and the most important of them in the story was the coming of age. This type of literature usually focuses on the experiences of a young person approaching adulthood. The protagonist or main character matures as the story progresses and his personality changes. There were several other themes such as the encounter of fantasy with reality, the life of the mind versus poverty (physical and intellectual), the consequences of idealism, and the influence of the Catholic Church on making Dublin a place of asceticism where desire and sensuality are seen as immoral, and the pain that often occurs when one encounters love in its realistic form rather than in its elevated, imaginary, helpless form. The themes of the story depended on each other entirely through the thoughts of the little boy, who were told by the narrator as he recounted the story from his memory.
Hi, Amr,
I hope all is well. I wanted to expand on this. “An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbours in a square ground. The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces” (1). Our narrator is immediately set up as being detached. Rather than living with his parents, he lives with his uncle and aunt which is something you see commonly in many Disney style plot lines – with the idea that breaking our parental lineage awareness, it focuses a character to look internally at their identity a lot more; especially at a younger age. A few lines from the short story such as, “Air, musty from having been long enclosed…,” “…he kitchen was littered with old useless papers. Among these I found a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp” and “The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree” (2) shows the young boy’s solitary nature in a detached homelife. It’s interesting to note that an apple tree on its own can’t bare any fruit. Comments like these bring up a sense of religious closure (the passing of the old priest) and acts of solitary behavior in boy’s life. There is a lot talk about darkness as well.
“Araby” is a short story that is centered around a young boy who has a strong belief that he can gain the heart of a girl that he knows very little about. He doesn’t live in the best situational environment but he places hisself in a situation where he truly believes that if he is able to satisfy Mangan’s sister by going to the Bazaar and bringing her back a gift not only will she be happy but he can in fact win her heart over that small gesture and leave with satisfaction of happiness and happily ever after. Then he realizes that the lonesome overpowered his false fantasy of hope and dreams. With the absence of not showing up and realizing the truth of something that seemed impossible he came to the realization that there wasn’t a chance which created a sadness that held emptiness in it. Not only was he sad behind it but all dreams and hope became false to him and he realized all he thought about was an illusion of what he would’ve liked to happen.
Hello Samijahrodriguez,
I strongly agree with you how his dreams and hope were shattered when he found out the reality about his livelihood. This brought a great disappointment to a young boy. He recognized that his feelings for the girl is nothing but a fantasy and love wasn’t what he was looking for. In my opinion, instead of love, he was just hoping to fill the void in his life which is a loving figure. It is also likely that he feels sad that his friend, Mangan, has someone who cares about him; someone whom he is close with. Judging from Mangan’s relationship with his sister, the young boy also imagines having a similar kind of relationship in his life.
In my opinion “Araby” is a love story. Araby are loss of innocence and religion, since the story beginning the narrators was movement from childhood to adulthood. The narrators was passing for darkness his whole life. I think that the narrators have an obsessions to obtain a gift for Mangas sister, and he obsession with the girl transfers herself to an obsession with the girl, and with the bazaar where he find the gift, so that for the leading up the bazaar, he can think of nothing but getting there. The narrators forget everything when he only was think about the Mangas sister.
I agree I do believe it was a love story as well but I do feel like it was connected to growth and reality. He main Margan’s sister his priority, in other words love. He did that to distract himself from his actual reality. But at the end it didn’t because his reality came back to him at the bazaar. He realized that good and bad will happen no matter what so trying to escape his reality will never work and since he realized that it showed his growth in life.
Jesus, please be sure to address comments to others by name so we can all follow along. Thanks!
Kemeli, I’m not sure from your response why you feel “Araby” is a love story. Are obsession and love the same? Also, please be sure your posts meet the length requirement so you can get full credit.
Hello Kemeli, I agree with you that “Araby” I think this is a love story because this is the story of an innocent boy who was bound in his family position and unfamiliar with real love. He was in love with Megan’s sister. And he was frustrated because he didn’t know how can he express his love to her. And the result is his anger came out in the bazaar.
Hi, kemeli
I don’t agree with you but I like how you explained why you believe that was what the story was about innocence and religion. In my opinion, the story was about self-development as a person and learning to accept your darkness in order to find hope.
Araby by James Joyce is a coming of age story for a young boy. Araby is about how our imagination cannot help us overcome the sadness in our lives. Araby is about the realization that outside our colorful, bright scenery that our brain portrays, there lies the dark and dull reality. Araby is about conceding our struggles and loneliness.
The young boy in the story “Araby” is lonely and bored during most of his days. Since he lived with his uncle and aunt who don’t seem to give much time and attention towards him, he unknowingly craved a mother figure. He wanted someone in this life who will call him in for dinner, similar to how Mangan’s sister does. The girl in the story is the one person whom the boy cared about. He views her as an angelic figure who brought happiness and light to his dark and dull days; someone who kept him going every day.
Only when he arrived at Araby and was greeted by the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the bazaar, he began to recognize the emptiness of his childhood. Unfortunately, this made him realize how his life is full of sadness, and the “light” that he made up in his head is transient and irrelevant. This truth made him angry and foolish about his actions.
“Araby” is about a young boy, who lives with his aunt and uncle, and is secretly and passionately enamored with his neighbor. He is at a point where he believes school and chores feel meaningless to him. His life before her was “ugly, monotonous child’s play.”
The young boy decides to attend the same event his neighbor will be attending. He is excited to see her, but must remain modest of his passionate feelings for her due to his deep Catholic roots. He arrives, but the place is close to closing, with hardly anyone still there. With disappointment, he must leave behind the boy he once was. His quest for his neighbor has come to an end, but begins a journey to adulthood. She is not there, but his drive is.
This is not a love story. “Araby” is about loss and grief, and how painful growth can be at such a young, fragile age.
“Araby” is not about I love this story. Actually, there is no description of love at all. We read about a boy who fantasizes about his feelings towards a girl he does not know well. The narrator describes the environment around him as sad and melancholic, which tells us that this is how he sees his life with an ordinary life and perhaps feels unloved by his uncle, who has the habit of drinking. He fantasizes that he is in love with this girl,l and these illusions become very important for him.
The story ends with the young boy feeling angry because he was foolish to do what he had done to escape from his dull and hopeless life. Even though he went through the trouble to go to the Bazaar, imagining that bringing a gift to the girl would make his life any different. He realizes that life is just the same, dull and hopeless.
Deanne, your last line is what makes “Araby” a sad story for me. I feel this way because the narrator is so young. Most people get to enjoy their illusions until they are a bit older, but this protagonist faces the reality of his bleak life in Ireland, where there seems to be no hope for a better day. I remember some years ago in an on-site class, a student said, “Well, at least he realized this before he was a forty-year-old guy.”
According the “Araby” story, it is a somber coming-of-age story. The author claim that living in a sheltered environment with heavy religious influences, and his ignorance that comes with his infatuation with Mangan’s sister, the color brown used to emphasize the life is dullness of everyday in Dublin. This story introduced the symbols of light and dark. His life is full of darkness and despair, but Mangan‘s sister has become his only “light”, indulging in imagination through fantasy, and the imagination has become his obsession. This is not a love story because the author is only the one side in love with Mangan‘s sister. Finally, when he was left in the dark, he realized how stupid he was, since he was blinded by vanity. His eyes were full of “anguish and anger,” and tears of disappointment stung to him. In the process of growing up, he bears some pain and difficulties to hone his mind. With a trace of light, he can move on and everything will get better.
Shihao, thanks for the good comments. You describe so well the personal journey the protagonist takes as he comes to the realization that he has been indulging a fantasy. I also appreciate your comments about the ending and the reason he feels derided by vanity. Yes, he does realize he has been stupid. I like your last sentence very much in which you write, “With a trace of light, he can move on . . .” I think this is a question that many readers have at the end of the story. Where will he find a new trace of light? Is there one to be found in his current situation? What will he do the next day?
“Araby” by James Joyce is really about love and growing up from the point of view of a teenager. He lived in a Catholic based household with his uncle and aunt. Although he lives with relatives he still seems to very lonely throughout the story. He then gains an obsession over Margan’s sister which introduces love into his life. When he made love the main focus he was trying escape his reality and make a new one . This is what led to his epiphany later on the story. He eventually realizes that there will be rough patches and there would be smooth patches(light) and as long as there is smooth patches he has to continue to live his reality because more smooth patches will being to occur. Realizing that there’s no option to give up because at the end you’ll fight a light shows the growth he’s had about reality, leaving him with hope about his future.
Jesus, your comments are interesting, but I’m very curious about why you feel the narrator is left with hope about his future. What information in the text leads you to feel this way?
“ Araby” by James Joyce is a story which take place in Ireland in the 20th century about a young boy who is new to love and wrong idea of it all drives him into feeling, doing, and thinking all in the wrong way of love. Araby who is the main character and narrator lead a life which he felt alone, bored, and just unenthusiastic about a lot of things think changes as he pursues his friend sister and do things out of his character which he didn’t know that well and failed to trying to achieve her love. Araby completely thought he was in love with this young lady even not knowing nothing about her it seemed he use that feeling for her that he had and just painted his own false narrative anything to get out of the old life he felt he was living. Putting himself into a situation which was vice versa of the life he thought he was living. Trying his best to talk to her, follow her, but her things which all situations ended in a failure one way or the other. After many trails in tribulation he finally realized himself he gained nothing for it created temporary happiness and just more mistakes and failure and to maybe see life different then how he originally did. It was to me a story of growth that to achieve growth one will go through trails and tribulations before that can happen and life is exactly what it is in front of you and apart of becoming an adult. I think everyone as a young child faces a situation we’re we grow dramatically from and having us much more prepared for life then we were before the situation.
Araby is not a love story. James Joyce introduces us with a boy who is not in love, he is seeking for hope. In another words, I would say that narrator is looking for a light in his life. Girl seems to be the only spark, the only joy. We do not know much about this girl, all we know is that she is associated with light and boy is falling for her even though they have barely spoken to each other. I would say that the girl is all “made-up”, it’s not her that narrator is in love with, it is actually the idea of her and the way it lights up boy’s life. I think every one of us can relate to the story. We always seek for something that we lack and try to fill the void with the illusion that we create for ourselves. We tend to believe in something that may only exist in our heads. Why are we doing this? We are trying to save ourselves from the harsh reality that this world sometimes presents. Often, we have to live in the dark and in order to survive, we create our own light. When the girl talks to our narrator, we can see his excessive emotions that lead to immaturely spoken words: “I will bring you something”.
By the end of the story, we can see how boy came to realization and how it felt silly to create such fantasy. It seemed like he lost something that was not even real – but how can I say that it was not real when I saw how he lost his hopes.
He heard a voice that the light was out – and so was his spark.
Mariam, this a wonderfully written discussion of what this story is all about. It’s curious that you use the word “spark,” which is another form of light as you examine the boy’s quest for light and meaning in his life. I agree that readers can see some of their own fumblings for a way out of the dark moments in their life in the boy’s creation of this fantasy. Your observations are very psychologically astute.
Hi Mariam Pruidze,
I like the part where you say that all of us can relate with the story, since at some point we all hold into something unreal to comfort ourselves from the reality.
I was wondering based on which part of the text you could conclude that the girl was not real. Also, why do you think it was an immature the way he said he would bring something to the girl from the Bazaar? Do not we try to please people whom we care about?
I totally agree with your idea. The boy was lonely and to get some light he built something that he knows only he could break and he wouldn’t since he needed that.The whole story circles around his bubble and things that one would do when attracted to someone.But as the bubble breaks he comes to reality and that is why the story seems unfinished as it was not supposed to have a happy ending
In my point of view ” Araby” By James Joyce is a love story. In the story, the teenage boy is in one-sided love with a girl name Magan. He was such an innocent boy out of the others. He was desperately in love with the neighbor girl. He was so confused about how he would express his words and devotion to her when he met her. As a result, the story of his love was on the bank of the sea. That’s why another side was almost so far, and he was ho frustrated about that. Even in the silence when he was waiting for his uncle at night, he couldn’t bear the silence. He wished he could see her on her door, so he went to the window and spent hours just waiting for her even he doest knows when she would be there. In the bazaar, everything happened, and he became blank with a young lady. And anger came from him when his frustration came out of fear, and he expressed himself as a true lover. I respect the love of the young boy who didn’t even know what real love was. But he was in real one-sided love with the girl name Magan. That’s why I would say this is a love story.
Hi Saroj, while I’m not sure I would necessarily classify Araby as a proper love story the way we might usually think of it, love definitely was a major theme of the story. I think that it can almost serve as a cautionary tale not to rely too much on an unrequited love as the primary motivation in ones life. The narrator is incredibly distraught at the end of the story, and I believe this can teach us to, before anything else, pursue improvement for our lives in general, rather than chasing after an idealized image of love that may not even be as it seems. While Araby may not be the classic love story we think of, it certainly is a story of love in some sense.
In my point of view ” Araby” By James Joyce is a love story. In the story, the teenage boy is in one-sided love with a girl name Magan. He was such an innocent boy out of the others. He was desperately in love with the neighbor girl. He was so confused about how he would express his words and devotion to her when he met her. As a result, the story of his love was on the bank of the sea. That’s why another side was almost so far, and he was ho frustrated about that. Even in the silence when he was waiting for his uncle at night, he couldn’t bear the silence. He wished he could see her on her door, so he went to the window and spent hours just waiting for her even he doesn’t knows when she would be there. In the bazaar, everything happened, and he became blank with a young lady. And anger came from him when his frustration came out of fear, and he expressed himself as a true lover. I respect the love of the young boy who didn’t even know what real love was. But he was in real one-sided love with the girl name Magan. That’s why I would say this is a love story.
In my point of view ” Araby” By James Joyce is a love story. In the story, the teenage boy is in one-sided love with Magan’s sister. He was such an innocent boy out of the others. He was desperately in love with the neighbor girl. He was so confused about how he would express his words and devotion to her when he met her. As a result, the story of his love was on the bank of the sea. That’s why another side was almost so far, and he was ho frustrated about that. Even in the silence when he was waiting for his uncle at night, he couldn’t bear the silence. He wished he could see her on her door, so he went to the window and spent hours just waiting for her even he doest knows when she would be there. In the bazaar, everything happened, and he became blank with a young lady. And anger came from him when his frustration came out of fear, and he expressed himself as a true lover. I respect the love of the young boy who didn’t even know what real love was. But he was in real one-sided love with the girl name Magan. That’s why I would say this is a love story.
Hi Saroj, I respect you for still believing it’s a love story, as well as your reasoning. You’re right, he did have strong feelings for the girl. I noticed you kept saying “onesided”, and I would just like to add on that maybe if it was one-sided, it wasn’t really ‘love’? A love story is typically supposed to involve two individuals who are in love. The movie “Titanic” for example, is a love story. Even though it was a tragedy, it involved two individuals who were deeply in love and would do anything for each other. So if you think more about it, if the love is one-sided, is it real love? Also think about the age difference; it was more of a strong admiration for the lady and the way she carries herself.
Antasia, I just read your comments to Saroj after I wrote to him! You sound like me—or I sound like YOU—in the respect we have for his interpretation and his willingness to express it. We raise some of the same questions, and you have added some good ones of your own.
From what I have seen on the discussion board, I believe posts that don’t talk about the significance of the light, the darkness, and religion are incomplete understandings of what’s been provided (and I don’t mean that in a dismissive way). That last line, “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (37) shows that the central theme of Araby is self-reflection. Darkness has transformed into literally being in the dark on something, not knowing. The boy chases the light, but lacks the religion fervor to reach it and is subsumed as a result. The uses of the word relationship to describe the boy and his interest is ironic in it of itself.
This is a story that many young men go through of pining over your first love and realize the problems with obsessiveness. The use of the term “vanity” in place of the word obsession shows Joyce’s acuity in character writing. I can add that the interest’s name is likely omitted for a reason, to culminate our young narrator’s obsession. Key words “derided” and “vanity” supports that the boy is doing this for self-serving (and therefore vain) reasons opposed to his interest. His own vanity – his pride – mocks and derides him and that is ultimately what sin does.
Thank you for introducing this story to me. For something so short, it speaks volumes.
Amadou (this is your first name, correct? Do you prefer to be addressed as Gamby?) I agree with you that the story is incomplete without a recognition of the references to light and dark, which are both visual and symbolic. I think it’s also true that the boy, though he lives in an intensely Catholic world, does not feel the fervor of faith. Faith, among many things in his dark world, does not give him comfort. He must create his own fantasy or object of adoration for the fervor he craves. Interestingly, the girl is described in very religious terms. She is always surrounded by light, like an angel or a representation of the Virgin Mary. I also appreciate your comments on the meaning of the word “vanity.” I share your interpretation that the boy is self-serving and has fallen “in love” with his own self-created fantasy. Some critics believe that “vanity” refers to the boy’s arrogance in thinking that he can transcend the paralysis of his culture when no one else around him seems able to do so. Thank you for a very thought-provoking comment.
Hello, Professor,
Yes, Amadou is my first name. I prefer to go by Gamby. Just an Army thing. I had a lot more I wanted to say on Araby but I’ll save and refine it for my essay.
“Araby” by James Joyce, was a story that had to be looked at deeply in order to perceive the concept. It in fact, was not a love story, though it seemed to be because of how exaggerated it was. In reality, Araby was a story about a man who came to the realization that his childhood ‘love’ was all a fantasy; it was rather disappointing. When I say the word fantasy I don’t mean completely fake; All of these events did actually happen. I simply mean it was made into something bigger than it should have been due to this kid’s strong determination and imagination. Another point I would like to connect is the fact that he didn’t have a reliable female figure in his life. We were able to grasp his typical day by looking at who he’s home with, who he talks to, and what he does. We as a class, realized that he was almost always isolated; he seemed to like quietness, where his thoughts about the girl can transpire smoothly. He had an aunt and an uncle that didn’t understand his ways, and didn’t really pay him any mind, it seemed like he had no choice but to fantasize about the perfect life with this lady. .
Antasia, thanks for these very good comments. I very much like your observation that although the story is not a love story, it sometimes feels like one because of the exaggerated emotional quality of the telling. You also do a very good job in showing why this boy would have a need for some light and hope in his life. Your comment about his lack of a female figure is also interesting. We can see that his depiction of the girl is not sexual but rather angelic or suggestive of the Virgin Mary, a very maternal figure.
“Araby” by James Joyce is not a love story, it is a dark coming of age story. The story focuses on how the main character lived a lonely side life. “Araby” is surrounded by darkness his whole life until he meets a beautiful girl which in a way represents some light to his dark life. This story represents coming of age more than a love story because “Araby” is emotionally maturing past his dark life.
Denise, your comments are good. However, they do not meet the length requirements. Please see “Information about Discussion Boards” in COURSE INFORMATION so that you can receive full credit for your responses.
The story of “Araby” by James Joyce is the perspective of a young boy who is stuck in an illusion of love. They boy comes from a bad situation. Where he lives is a dark area where there is little hope of making something out of yourself. The boy is raised by an uncle who is always drunk. He comes to find hope from his friend Mangan’s sister. He describes her as someone who shines a bright light into his life where no matter where he is, if he just sees her or thinks about her, the light and hope comes into him. Even though he acts like a creep around her, the boy does it so he can get closer to Mangan’s sister. He then later on goes to the Bazaar where he promises Mangan’s sister that he will bring her a gift. Once he arrives he realizes that half of the place is closed and in darkness such like his home. He wasn’t able to get Mangan’s sister a gift that he promises but he sees now that it was just false hope. This story is about a boy’s false hope and him believing that someone can make his world brighter and give him hope. At the end he come to his senses and is fulled with anger that no matter what he does there is always darkness.
Hi, Antonio. This is wonderful summary. Light and darkness are very important symbols in the story. What’s more, light and darkness are mentioned few times. The unnamed boy lives in a dark place. Darkness represents the realties and the truth. Similarly, light represents the hope and the world he wants to live. At the end of the story, the boy finally arrives the bazaar, but he doesn’t get anything to that girl.
From my interpretation and understanding of the story, “Araby” is really about the narrator having an epiphany and coming of age. Though it is easy to understand why many people (including myself) might think “Araby” is a love story, with multiple readings you are able to notice the subtle and exact moments throughout the story that show how “Araby” is truly a coming of age story. It is obvious that the narrator has a crush on his friend’s, Mangan’s, sister throughout the story. After his crush mentions the Bazaar, the narrator then fixates on going and getting her a gift. He begins to lose interests in friends, family and school. He finds no enjoyment in anything that isn’t his crush anymore and begins to develop an obsession with her. Fueled by his desire, he begins to plan his trip to this amazing Bazaar where everything will be perfect and he will get the gift he wants to give her, only to then get struck by reality the moment he arrives to the empty and unpleasant Bazaar. The difference between what the narrator thought would happen and what actually occurred shows how his (the narrators) point of view was clouded before and then cleared after experiencing reality at the end of the story. By the end of the story the narrator was able to finally realize how foolish his thinking was and as a result, caused him to mature and “grow up”. It is only through the epiphany at the end of the story, driven by his crush for Mangan’s sister, that the narrator comes of age.
Hi Shadai, This is a well done interpretation on “Araby”. It is great how you were able to show the details on how the narrator was having such a great crush on Mangan’s sister and was willing to do everything for her. At the end you showed us what your interpretation on “Araby” was and it was about the narrator realizing at the end that he was wrong for thinking that Mangan’s sister would be a light of hope for him and he was able to come to as you pointed an epiphany.
In his short story “Araby,” James Joyce toys with the reader’s expectations. At first, Joyce seems to be following the beats of a classic love story, setting the narrator on a quest to win his love interest’s favors. After painting a bleak picture of the narrator’s childhood environment, Joyce introduces the “love interest,” Mangan’s sister. We witness the narrator developing an obsession with her. Joyce associates the imagery of light with her character, and contrasts it with the darkness of the story’s setting. Yet, her name isn’t even mentioned once, which indicates that she is eventually not that important to the overall story. After his first conversation with her where, flustered, he finds himself promising to bring her a gift from the town’s exotic-sounding bazaar Araby, the story takes a turn, re-shifting its focus on the bleakness of the narrator’s surroundings. As the character of Mangan’s sister all but vanishes from the story, it becomes evident that we have been deceived, and that “Araby” isn’t a love story. When the narrator finally gets to the market, the lights go off, and reality creeps in. His romantic vision of Araby and infatuation with Mangan’s sister are shattered. The coming-of-age story ends abruptly with the narrator humiliated, tormented, and upset, the only elements of hope in his life having been destroyed.
Hello Anastasiia,
This is a beautifully written depiction of this story. I agree that this story has nothing to do with love and everything to do with the realization that growing up can do. It did not take much to break down the barriers the boy created to disconnect from reality. This goes to show how un-authentic his infatuation with the girl was. The trip to the Bazaar had shown the boy just how dim his reality was. The fact that they never said her name is a great example to use to show her lack of importance in his story, as well as her disappearance from his narrative in the last part of his story. Have a great weekend 🙂
Hi Anastasiia, your post is incredibly well written and I enjoyed reading it. I think you perfectly described what “Araby” is about. You made a great point when you stated how the love interests name was never mentioned once meaning she was not important to the overall story. I was unable to make that connection myself but it is a great observation and proves “Araby” is not really a love story but a coming-of-age story where he makes a personal realization during his trip to the bazaar.
‘Araby’ describes the journey of a young boy who projected his personal needs and desires unto his friend’s brown figured older sister. Due to the shortcomings of adolescence,the young boy set his hopes on this ordinary girl – emptily, he looked upon her image and worshipped it.
Resultantly, the early morning anticipations and overflowing fantasies caused the young boy’s perception of the girl to progress from an innocent childhood crush to an exhaustive and enslaving obsession. More so, this intense desire was projected to a completely oblivious girl who was far from divine.
Fortunately, the boy recieved a wake up call after a failed attempt to win his love with a gift. This failure was significant because it marked a pivotal moment in his life in which he realised his naivity and selfishness. Inevitably, he received a wake up call that propelled him to engage in necessary self reflection. For it is in these lightbulbs moments that we all are called to recognize where we went wrong, learn, and grow.
Araby is not a traditional love story, in fact, it is rather a story about that represents how hopeless the narrator perceived love to be. In an otherwise boring and uninteresting life, the narrator placed a completely blind infatuation upon a girl he merely saw, and was even too afraid to interact with. He placed this girl on a pedestal, imagining her to be something she very likely was not, and used this as motivation to make it through his days, which, for a time, was somewhat successful. Unfortunately, such a blind obsession can be a dangerous thing. After the narrator failed to get a proper gift for her like he wanted from the bazaar she recommended he visit, the narrator was filled with “anguish and anger.” This idealized scenario that he created for himself was shattered, and he was once again left hopeless in the face of his once again bleak life.
Hi Emily, I like your assessment of Araby. I find it interesting how he is able to be so infatuated with this girl when he had so little to go off of. It truly shows how our mind will project our deepest hopes and desires on to other people. For him his idea of what this girl is to him seemed more meaningful than what she may actually be like. Of course this is due to his dire circumstances and the environment he lives in. So it only makes sense why he would seek out a ray of light.
Araby is a coming of age story of a boy who becomes infatuated with his neighbors sister. He does so without much to go off as he has never really spoken to her and only sees her on occasion. He makes the most of the small interactions, as he displays quite a vivid imagination. The author writes, “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance.” I believe this infatuation comes from a place of hope as his life at home is quite dark and dreary. From the scenery, to the dad that drinks and forgets his promises. The story comes to a head when the boy leaves home late at night to go to the bazaar, in search of a gift for the girl. The boy, being quite young to be out that late, puts himself at risk in an attempt to get a simple gift for a girl he barely knew. This is when the young man is struck by insight when he says his reflection and 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. It is at this moment he comes into touch with reality and his delusion. His come to Jesus moment, as he’s able to see himself from a distance and analyze the bizarre behaviors that lead him to the bazaar at such dark times.
Hello Charran, I agree that the boy has a vivid imagination. He’s able to fall in love and create this idea in his head that the neighbors older sister is something angelic. He could had been using his imagination in order to cope with his living situation. I like your use of the quote in order to support the main point you were talking about. Only when reality confronts him, is he able to feel the true extent of his situation fall onto him.
The story “Araby” is about an unnamed boy and his neighbor girl. The girl is looking forward to going to a bazaar. However, the girl could not go there. After the girl mentions the bazaar, the boy wants to go there and buy a gift to the girl. At the end of the story, he does not buy anything. “In front of me was a large building which display the magical name.” From that information, Araby might be the name of the bazaar. On the other hand, Araby might be the imaginary world where he wants to go. The light represents the hope and idealism word in the boy’s mind. In the same way, darkness represents the reality and truth. There is an example of situational irony in the story that the boy wants to bring a gift to the girl but ends up with nothing.
‘Araby’ by James Joyce is entirely not a love story but more about the innocent attraction also known as puppy love.The main character of ‘Araby’ lived a lonely life and I believe to fill this void or emptiness the character developed this attraction for someone the characters knows he can never be with but this would help him not feel alone. Loneliness can be a weird thing and work differently for people and how one copes with it. Some put them in this bubble with things they create that they can never get and also something that wont ever disappoint them. Later The character starts to do things that would make her happy and that when he realizes his bubble and how lonely he actually is no matter.
“Araby” is a story of a young boy through the eyes of his future self. The boy lives in darkness with an absent, drunken uncle looking after him. He lives under a tyrannical government with no glimpse of a brighter future. Although there are many cues to notice how grim his life and future is, his perspective of life is solely focused on the self-constructed image the boy has created for the girl in town. He sees the girl as an angelic figure, who brightens up his dark life. To me, this story is about how a child’s imagination forms into escapism. Often in adolescents, people create false narratives and see life through rose colored glasses. Although the boy knows nothing about this girl and has hardly spoken to her, he convinces himself to be in love with her. The boy uses the idea of love to cover up his dim reality. The reality hit the boy after he went on the trip to the Bazaar. He was so excited to give a gift to the girl, but it never happened. The Bazaar was not special or magical, nor was the ride there. He was upset with himself that he was so deep in his own imagination. Although romantizing versions of people/reality is not a healthy way of life, I think it is admirable how determined the boy is to hold onto light, even if there is none and he has to create his own.
Dear Caroline,
I enjoyed reading your assessment of this story, particularly how you brought up the themes of adolescence and escapism. It reminded me so much of teenage angst – when desires awaken and there is little chance of fulfilling them. These short-lived passions are to be expected; realizing how misplaced and vain they are is part of becoming an adult. It is true that he “holds onto light” (as you say) up to this cold shower of an ending. Once settled his confusion, we can surmise that he will mature and learn to place hope in better places.
It was not a love story in Araby. It was a story about a young boy who envisioned himself having a conversation with Mangan’s sister, the girl he adores. He behaves as if she was there with him. He learns that the girl is unhappy since she was unable to attend the lovely Araby Bazaar. This encourages him to travel to Araby and purchase a present for her to maybe find himself with her. He asks his aunt for approval to go to the bazaar but then discovers the bazaar was closed at that time while encountering an unfriendly woman. This unpleasant encounter, leaves him helpless by the lies of what was supposed to be a fascinating bazaar and he makes no purchases. He reaches a moment where all of his dreams become grown up realities. This shows that love was never involved but a dream that was not there.
“Araby” by James Joyce is not a love story, it’s a story about a boy becoming a man, and becoming more aware on the world around him. The world that he lives in is a bleak and dreary, that engulfs everything. His uncle that he lives with is constantly inebriated. His parents are nowhere to be seen, and the house that a holy priest lived in, is in a state of utter disrepair. The only source of hope, the only ray of sunshine in his life is an older sister of a friend of his. She is constantly shown to be holy person, straight from god’s heaven but in reality, he knows next to nothing about her, never going further then surface level acquaintances. Yet he’s willing to literally go the extra mile to this far away strange bazaar, that ultimately turns out to be normally normal, with ordinary people and ordinary things on sale. And that precise moment, he comes face to face with the daunting reality of his situation, that his whole world is bleak, and that ray of hope he thought he had, was nothing more then a farce. That is whatt “Araby” is about.
Araby isn’t about love, if anything it’s about a severe lack of love. The street he lives on is devoid of any action, his family consists of an uncle who gets proper smashed seemingly on the regular and an aunt that has to deal with said uncle, and with all of that, he’s left with only himself for anything. What he chooses to do is fantasize about a relationship with someone he doesn’t know, to cope with the lack of personal attention he receives. He does everything he can to make the fantasy a reality, but at the end, at the bazaar, he realizes. Everything IS just a fantasy. The girl doesn’t love him, and probably never will.
The lecture of “The lights go out “ from James Joyce is not a love story but an imaginary one in addition we can say this because of this fragment on the lasts lines “we watched her from our shadow peer up and down the street” based on this fragment we can say that she’s not an actual person ,she’s just an illusion.
And we can say the narrator is an adulthood narrator because of the way the person expresses himself and also we can tell the boys life is a little miserable or a bit “Grey” but he’s friends make it better because they’re basically his only company moreover the neighbourhood is very spiritless we can say this by the strophe that says “was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free” & “silent streets” “smells of androus ashpits” by this you can tell their ends are a bit lifeless.On the other hand we can see the interest for this “girl” because of the way he describes her when looking at her while she moved her body
This story isn’t a romantic tale. “Araby”, who was composed by James Joyce, was a story about growing up, that was based on a little fellow’s bogus dream of adoration and vision obfuscated by misguided thinking of a circumstance. The principle character of “Araby” carried on with a desolate, bleak, and unexciting life for which he attempted to make a bogus dream. The bogus dream that he was enamored with an individual that he knew very little about, he inadvertently made a reason to keep him going in a world loaded up with sadness, secret, and persecution from another nation’s administration. In reality as we know it where everything except dimness, vulnerability, and bitterness existed, he made love, expectation, and assurance. At last the principle character acknowledged it was a develop made in his mind to fulfill the obscurity that was draining the life out of him, the haziness of which was a result of the climate he carried on with in and the desolate life he drove. “Araby” was not a romantic tale, it was a story of acknowledgment, bitterness, and dreams got from only a hint of something better over the horizon.