“Araby” by James Joyce is about growing up and loving. The scene is 20th century Dublin, Ireland, about a boy who lives in North Richmond Street and lives with his uncle and aunt. The author contrasts dark and light as a metaphor to show how the boy’s surroundings were full of bleakness, and this one girl he likes is the only light in his life. He thinks about her obsessively and believes himself to be in love with her. She asks if he is going to Araby, which is a bazaar. Since she can’t go due to prior commitments, he offers to buy her something from Araby if he goes to the bazaar. He also became obsessed with going to Araby to purchase a gift to win her favor. He fantasized about just how splendid a place this bazaar was and couldn’t wait to go there. Later in the story, when the day finally arrives, he asks his uncle for money to go to Araby. Still, unfortunately, his uncle was preoccupied with drinking and came home really late, so he arrived at Araby late. Unfortunately, most of it was already closed by the time he arrived, and the people at the stall that he visited were less than friendly. He also did not see anything he wanted or could afford to buy at the booth, and his disillusionment was complete. This moment is when the character grows up as he learns a painful lesson about being blinded by love and no longer believing something to be more wonderful than it is.
Daily Archives: February 25, 2022
“Araby” by James Joyce is a coming of age story, not a love story. The narrator’s love-like obsession with one of his friends’ sister is nothing but a tool, a channel for his maturing. The love does not come to be and by the end of the story it loses its significance to the narrator, as he gains understanding of his driving force being not love but narrow-mindedness. As he is exposed to experiences that grant him insight into the real world that is often sad, unfair, lonely, dirty, unfriendly and not only mesmerizing and beautiful, he realizes how simple-minded he has been by allowing his obsession to take up so much of his life. He is disappointed in himself not for loving someone but for allowing it to take over his life and urge him to make unreasonable decisions.
“Araby” by James Joyce is a story about a young boy who finds himself in a profound and confusing adoration with his neighbor, described as “Mangan’s sister”. And how this obsessive passion became the main source for his desperate attempts to show his feelings for the so divine girl. When they spoke for the first time, the boy promised to bring her a gift from the Araby bazaar, known as being a splendid place, since she could not go for herself due to a retreat happening on her convent at the same time. However, due to the intense nature of the boy’s feelings, he becomes obsessed with the chance to impress her somehow. Later, already at the bazaar by himself, after the disappointment of having to wait for his drunk uncle to come home and take him to the station, the boy finds out that most of the stalls are already closed and the darkness took place in the walls of the place. That is the moment when he realizes his own vanity intentions, and let himself feel anger for it.
In the short story “Araby” the story is really about a young boy who seems bored and lets his life become consumed with the idea of an unattainable girl. Throughout the story he speaks of the town as an empty and kind of gloomy place until he lays his eyes on his friends sister. The only time light is really mentioned is when it involves his times near her, I think this symbolizes his interest and curiosity in this beauty. Nothing else in the town has his interest, everything is dull to him except this girl. Once she speaks to him and he promises to get her a gift he is faced with realty. He tries to obtain something glamorous and impressive to show his worth but he realizes that the options left after waiting for his turn are not at all what he had in mind. All the options in the store as well as his discouraging ride there left him disappointed. In the end he is reminded and left frustrated with his environment, the girl was just a distraction for him.
“Araby”, by James Joyce, is a short story about a boy who falls in love with his friend’s sister. They don’t know each other too well, but the boy thinks about her constantly and eventually asks him if she wants to go to Araby, a bazaar, with him. She tells him that she is unable to go with him, so the boy says he’ll go to the bazaar by himself and get her something in hopes of impressing her. Determined to win her over, he heads off to the bazaar arriving there later than he expected. When he gets there, the bazaar is nothing like he expected. The place was dark, nearly all the stalls were closed and he felt out of place. By the end of the story, he fails to buy her a gift. The lovestruck boy experiences a disappointment so overwhelming that the narrator loses his innocence because of his love interest and the bazaar, which was a movement from childhood to adulthood for him.
“Araby” by James Joyce is a story about a boy whose life is dreary and void of joy and human connection. When describing the street on which the boy lives, the narrator mentions the “dark muddy lanes”, the “dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits” and the “dark odorous stables”. This paints a very bleak world for the boy and he becomes fascinated with things associated with light and color. He fantasizes about things that seem exotic, outside of the cold, dim life he knows. Mangan’s sister becomes the focus of his attention and thinks of her constantly, always picturing her in light or color. He then begins to think of Araby in this same fashion and obsesses about attending the bazaar. We also learn that the boy lives with his aunt and uncle, which gives the impression that he may have been orphaned or abandoned. Very few characters in the story have names, especially those closest to him, such as his aunt and uncle, the girl that he is infatuated with, and even the boy himself. This shows that he is possibly lonely and not connected to others in a close, meaningful sense. By the end of the story, the boy has a grim realization that going to Araby was not the exciting experience for which he had been hoping. The conclusion of the story creates a very sad feeling of a young man yearning for some light, love or happiness in his life, but who is met with disappointment and regret for being hopeful.
The story “Araby” by James Joyce is about a young man who is obsessed and desperate with his neighbor, he wouldn’t speak to the young girl but when he had the chance to talk to her, he was timed, the young girl approached him and sparked a conversation about Araby bazaar and that wasn’t able to go because of a trip that week but would’ve loved to visit, the boy tells her that if he goes he will “get her something” (11) and this is where his desperation came out, it was like if he needed to get her something from the bazaar, and after going through some trouble to get there, he managed to get there and unfourtanly after getting there late, he looks at a few vases and from the workers tone of voice in how he was approached asking if he wanted to buy something, the young boy replies “no thank you” (34) and evenually walks away disappoined from the lack of money he had, not being able to get her something, and the visit to bazaar.
When answering the question, ” “Araby” by James Joyce is not a love story. What is “Araby” really about?”, many things come to mind. Though there are many take aways throughout the coming of age story, the main thing you begin to realize throughout the story is how his obsession with the Mangan’s sister blinds every other aspect in his life. I believe this story is about how one’s judgement and how they can perceive things are clouded by what they may think is their first love. However, this obsession continues to grow as he grows older and he no longer focuses on the things he used to love, like his family (being impatient and angry with his uncle) and playing with his friends in the street. As he continues to gain progress in his goal of winning the Mangan’s sister over, he is met with a humbling experience at the bazaar. This leads me to believe that the author is choosing to highlight the fact that the boys growing obsession blinds him from reality. This point can be drawn when the author states “I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days.” [12}. Portraying that as he has the bazaar to look forward to, his days between then are a just a nuisance.
Compared to his other words, James Joyce’s “Araby” seems almost simplistic, with a touching yet fairly straightforward story of a boy falling in love with a girl living across the street being the main plot. However, while the love story is placed at the forefront and emphasized strongly, the true meaning of “Araby” remains hidden under layers of the specified storyline. Describing the main character’s journey from hope to disappointment, “Araby” seems to convey the meaning of a coming-of-age story, namely, the process of growing up and learning to accept bitter disappointment. The ability to reconcile with a specific feeling of loss, be it the failed relationship or another kind of disappointment, becomes apparent as the essential message of the story as the lot progresses. Namely, as the character realizes his futility in building relationships with Araby, he experiences a series of conflicting emotions: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity” (Joyce par. 37). Thus, Joyce proves the need for self-introspection as a part of entering adulthood and reconciling with loss. Despite the short story ending with the protagonist experiencing anger, Joyce leaves enough room for further character growth and the eventual acceptance of the change. Despite the love story being at the center of Joyce’s “Araby,” the core meaning of the story appears to lie in a more somber message of learning to accept disappointment as a part of becoming an adult. The specified idea is conveyed as the plot unravels, allowing the reader to follow the kaleidoscope of emotions that the protagonist experiences. As a result, at the end of the novel, the fleeting sense of excitement that captures the eliding character is replaced with the experience of loss and the ultimate learning that comes with its acknowledgment. Therefore, the process […]
This story was really beautiful. It is not a love story, it’s more of the story of a young boy infatuated with a girl. I think in order for something to be a love story, the efforts and feelings need to be reciprocated, and this young woman barely knows he exists. He’s obsessed with her, and obsessed with the idea of getting her to actually pay him any mind, hence the want to go to this bazaar. And I even think, ultimately, if he had gotten her something at the bazaar, he would’ve still had that sinking feeling in his stomach, because she probably would not have cared that much.
Araby is the story of a young boy of the catholic faith. This young boy story takes place near Dublin, Ireland. He is starting to mature and feels he is in love with his friend’s older sister. He is infatuated with her and starts going to Araby market to buy her gifts to woo and entice her. This young man finds himself thinking this is true love and giving her gifts will have her fall in love with him. throughout this story he never mentions her name. The Araby market or bazar he goes to so he can buy her a gift is nothing like he dreamed it would be. The market was flat and nothing worth buying there for this girl. He becomes disappointed and reality sets in the place is nothing. There are so many aspects to this story, and they all come from the beginning of his obsession with her. His holding her to that of a holy light, being the most beautiful girl or woman, he ever seen. This story exposes his fantasy about how he realizes the are true life.
“Araby” is a story about a young boy that is in love with a little girl. Araby tries to show how much he likes this girl by impressing her in many ways. he’s literally obsessed with the girl because he is going out of his way to do things for her. Once he heard that his crush wanted to attend the bazaar, but she couldn’t because she was about to attend school. He also made it his business and tries to bring her a gift from the Dublin bazaar. which is a way of him thinking that would make the girl notice him because he wanted to get her something that she wanted. He was trying so hard to impress the girl and things just didn’t go his way, and he was very disappointed in his uncle due to the fact that he was supposed to come home early and give him some money, which didn’t happen led to the boy into disappointment.
