The Theme Of Sexuality In Araby By James Joyce

Every young boy has fantasized or dreamt of that girl next door. We often study them, watch them, and even hatch elaborate schemes that, we hope, will send a probe of insatiable lust into their brains. Alas, those probes are not met with any phenomenon that would resemble a surge of insatiable lust because most of the time we are too shy to say anything at all. James Joyce introduces the reader to such a relation in his short story, Araby. In Araby, Joyce, voiced through an unknown narrator, chronicles a young North Dubliner longing for adventure and escape, while the prevailing theme of the story is consistently the object of the narrators erotic desires, his friend Magnan’s sister.

The narrator shares that his entire day is centred upon

His entire day builds to this epiphany, however he does not see this right up until the closing of the bazaar. He shares a single conversation with Mangan’s sister, and yet he offered to attend the bazaar simply to buy her something. He could not focus on school or chores through the days leading up to going to the Araby. He stresses to his Uncle the importance of being able to go to the Araby, but his uncle does not seem to care too deeply, he forgets, and comes home late. Even the woman running the shop at the bazaar seems to care very little about the boy, or even the possible sale she could make if she showed him a fraction of attention. This reiterating the how he begins to see himself in an insignificant light. The narrator even sees a resemblance in the conversation the shop owner had with her two English customers, and the conversation he himself had with Mangan’s sister. The commonality between both sets of dialogue is that they were meaningless. All of these things culminate to paint this picture of insignificance towards the boy, his infatuation with Mangan’s sister being his lover, and his attempt to please her. The narrator realizes his misguided fantasies towards this girl, and even if he were successful in buying her something, it would not change anything. Although the boy was late it is not his tardiness that accounts for his failure. It is evident that even if he had enough time to shop he would not have enough money to purchase a gift he thinks is worth getting for Mangan’s sister. Between the description of the boy’s housing situation, and the small pittance his uncle gives him it is obvious that the narrator’s financial situation is dire. Perhaps Joyce drew from a situation that he was in as a young author. Struggling as a young boy who loves a girl, but knows he cannot follow