Araby Analysis Essay

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Fahad Alzahrani William Wenaus English 100 Aug 8th , 2017 James Joyce's Short Story "Araby" The story Araby has numerous statements that are both puzzling and astonishing to the reader. Such statements invoke multiple questions on the mind of a person as he or she tries to find the reason behind them. Nevertheless, the narrator’s concluding expression appears to give much insight into his mind and resolutions. The statement "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger (Joyce 21)" prompts the reader to see the narrator from a different perspective. One can observe the statement as a summation of the main themes in the story and the recollection of the narrator's …show more content…

His failure to find a gift at the marketplace makes him realize the vanity in his mania for Mangan's sister. Further, he indicates, "I had never spoken to her ... and yet her name was like a summons to my foolish blood" (Joyce 18). Such a statement depicts his realization of the shattered opportunity in beguiling the girl. The narrator also realizes that the bazaar was not the glamorous place he thought, but a small market with usual people and ordinary goods. He realizes vanity in almost everything since all his plans …show more content…

In his mind, he knew that he would find everything that would make him happy at the market, including a gift that would eventually help him win Mangan's sister love. However, that was not the case. Foremost he arrived late at the marketplace, failed to get a gift for the girl he loved, felt that the merchants ridiculed him, and finally ended up in a dark room (Joyce 20). All the occurrences left him with a feeling of disparage and a sense of vanity in his efforts. The theme of escapism is evident in the last statement of the story as the narrator comes back from the fantasy world. According to Vance, escapism occurs when one engages in imagination to get distracted from the reality (150). The narrator is in a fancy world where he thinks a bazaar is a fascinating place with precious items and courteous people. Moreover, he daydreams that he could win Mangan's sister love with gifts, even without talking to her. However, he realizes that this is not true and he was in a dream world, hence revealing the theme of

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