She says that she cannot go because of a retreat at school. In truth the girl, sister to the boy’s friend Mangan, is a virtual stranger, but in his mind the boy has transformed the girl into an image worthy of religious devotion. The narrator, a nameless adolescent Catholic schoolboy, is living in an oppressive and joyless environment, yet he is able to detach from the frustrating grimness of the surroundings by immersing himself in a confused infatuation for a neighborhood girl. As he did with the girl, the boy lets his imagination run wild and creates an extraordinary image of Araby in his mind. Literature ; Dubliners ; Summary ; Araby; Study Guide. in order to woo his friend Mangan's...“Araby” is a story by James Joyce in which a young boy recounts his infatuation with a girl.The unnamed narrator, who lives with his aunt and uncle, becomes entranced by his neighbor Mangan’s sister.After Mangan’s sister asks the narrator if he plans on attending a bazaar called Araby, he promises to get her something from the fair as a gift.The narrator is delayed in leaving to go to Araby and arrives just as it is closing. They seldom have a conversation, but she is always in his thoughts. This awakening to the fact that his fantasies fooled him make the boy also realize that his intense feelings for the girl, a girl he knows only by looks, are really just based in shallow vanity, leaving the boy “›burning with anguish and anger” (Joyce 114). Company Registration No: 4964706. With unrestrained enthusiasm, the boy allows himself to be consumed with foolish lust and adoration for a girl whom he “did not know if ›he would ever speak to” (Araby 112). I noticed the windows in almost every story with the characters either looking out at what they want or in at it, but not being where what they want is. It’s the same theme, desire and frustration. For example, see the first line, which mentions the "Christian Brothers" school. a cul-de-sac or dead-end street.
Previous An Encounter Next Eveline. The final disappointment for the boy comes when he approaches a bazaar stall staffed by a disinterested girl with an English accent, and all at once he sees that his dreams of Araby held no truth.
The street on which the young narrator lives, North Richmond Street, is ‘blind’: i.e. As he did with the girl, the boy allows his idyllic fantasies to transform his image of the bazaar into something that it is not.
The Araby and all of the stories in Dubliners take place in the early 20th century a period notable in Ireland for the rise of Irish nationalism. Instead of being greeted with the hustle and bustle of the exotic, the boy is met with a “silence like that which pervades a church after a service” permeating through a hall bathed in darkness (Joyce 114).
The bazaar Araby, according to the boy’s foolish thoughts, is an opportunity that can bring to life the great love he feels for the image of the girl. The boy’s infatuation pervades his every action and he clings to the image of the girl “even in places the most hostile to romance” (Joyce 111), as if his feelings were a “chalice” that could guide him “safely through a throng of foes” (Joyce 112). The events of "Araby," the real narrative action, the meat and potatoes of this pretty short, pretty jam-packed little story, aren't your typical action movie twists and turns. The protagonist shifts from his idealistic and immature dreams to the reality of adulthood.The central theme throughout the story is a loss of innocence, both in his belief in religion and romance. Registered Data Controller No: Z1821391.