“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.
