Araby

Abstract

1. A young boy in love with his friend’s sister promises to bring her back a gift from the Araby bazaar when he learns she cannot go. It is only later that night that the boy is able to make it to the bazaar and by the time he arrives, most of the stalls are closed and only late night activities are taking place between young women and men. Critically acclaimed author James Joyce’s Dubliners is a collection of short stories depicting middle-class life in Dublin in the early twentieth century. First published in 1914, the stories draw on themes relevant to the time such as nationalism and Ireland’s national identity, and cement Joyce’s reputation for brutally honest and revealing depictions of everyday Irish life.

2. Brought up in the drab and deadening surroundings with his uncle and aunt in conservative Catholic cultures, the lonely sensitive boy finds no outlets to express his feelings. Torn between harsh reality and imagination, the boy searches light and a relish of romance. Amidst the darkness, a girl, Mangan’s sister, is the only light in his romantic vision. The boy, however, wishes to win her over by bringing her a gift from Araby, an oriental bazaar, which is also an epitome of ideal beauty, love and romance to him. But as he grows up, he discovers that the bazaar is beset by difficulties of the adult world where he finds no way to dream. There he is exposed to a new odious situation which he never thought before. And he undergoes a shattering epiphany which results in realisation and maturation. Indeed, here Joyce keenly evinces how a young boy gains sharp insights into life and reality.