Araby Short Story Analysis

The narrator of the short story Araby by James Joyce, is told by a young boy who lives with his aunt and uncle. In the first couple of paragraphs the narrator begins the story by describing the street in which his house is located, North Dublin Street. He continues by mentioning that the previous tenant, a priest, died in one of the rooms within the house. In the last sentence of paragraph two, he goes on by mentioning how he was a very charitable priest because he left all the furniture he owned to his sister and all his money went to charity.

As the story continues, in section two of the story, which begins in paragraph three, reads, “When the short days of winter came . . . ,” the narrator of the story, who never identifies himself,

He asks him if he could home early as to provide him with the money for the event. When dinner was over and a guest that came over to visit left the boy impatiently began watching the clock, reassuringly remaining himself that it was still early. As time passed and his uncle was till out, the boy’s aunt told him that it would be best to forget about his visit to Araby. After enduring an awful lot of time, at exactly nine o’clock his uncle finally got home. His uncle admittedly told the young boy that he had forgotten about his plan and apologized for his late arrival. This section ends in paragraph fifteen, when the boy leaves the kitchen just when his uncle is about the recite the first lines of the poem The Arab’s Farewell to his Steed to his

The disillusionment within the story is seen through the young boy’s first love interest, anguish and finally to disappointment. The story first begins by describing where the story took place and the narrator’s child’s play. The narrator then goes on explaining how he has developed a crush for one of his friends’ sister, Mangan’s older sister. His love for her is so vast and innocent, that he does not know what these strong feelings of attraction towards the girl mean. He worships her from afar and not once does he dare speak to her. The narrator even shares that her image went with him wherever he’d go to, “Her image accompanied me even in the places the most hostile to romance.” Meaning that at all times Mangan’s sister was occupying mind even on the most remove areas. One day she finally speaks to him and reveals that she would love to go to the Araby, but she’s unable to because she will be attending a retreat. Upon hearing this, the young boy immediately tells her that he will bring her something. In this part of the story, it can be seen that the boy enters a stage of despair as he impatiently agonizes until the day of bazaar. He doesn’t pay attention during class and even admits that school work just got in his way of thinking about Mangan’s sister. His anguish becomes even greater when the day of the bazaar finally comes. The morning of the bazaar, the young