I. “Araby” is a story of young boy falling in love and facing the adulthood.

A young boy lives on a quiet, blind street. He is secretly in love with his friends’ sister. The boy promises

her to bring something back from the bazaar, which she is not able to go to. He believes that this gift will

help him conquer her heart.

II. In "Araby," James Joyce uses setting, characterization and symbolism to illustrate the changes of a

young boy who is struggling finding his way through the path to adulthood and love.

A. Joyce uses secluded house and colors to show boys feelings.

1. Remoteness of the house shows the boys loneliness.

“An uninhabited house of two stories stood at the blind end, detached from its

neighbors in a square ground.”

2. The dark back drawing-room reflects boys’ confusion.

“I was thankful that I could see so little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil

themselves and, feelings that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my

hands together until they trembled, murmuring: O love! O love! many times.”

B. The author characterizes narrators and Mangans’s sister relationship as nonexistent, but still

very powerful.

1. Mangans’s sister is described as light, beautiful creature, and it seems that the young boy

notices everything about her.

“Her dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to

side.”

“The light of the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair

that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell over one side her dress

and caught the white border of a petticoat, just visible as she stood at ease.”

2. The young boy is characterizes as confused and infatuated with Mangan’s sister.

“Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door.”

“I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came near to the point at which

our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her.”

“Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did

not understand.”

“But my body was a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the

wires.”

C. Joyce uses the bazaar Araby to symbolize the mystery, adventure and romance the young boy

wishes in his life.

1. The bazaar represents an excitement the boy seeks.

“The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul

luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me.”

“I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that is stood between

me and my desire, seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play.”

2. Narrator believes that the gift from the bazaar will help to conquer Mangan’s sister’s heart.

“I may have stood there for an hour, seeing nothing but the brown-clad figure cast by my

imagination, touched discreetly by the lamplight at the curved neck, at the hand upon the

railings and at the border below the dress.”

3. The narrators’ dreams get destroyed. He has learned that love is not a fairy tale.

“The upper part of the hall was now completely dark. Gazing up in the darkness I saw myself

as a creature driven and derided by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger”

III. James Joyce uses setting, characterization and symbolism to show the changes of a growing boy

facing the adulthood and first love.

A. Joyce uses the young boy and Mangan’s sister to reflect the boys confusing feelings and

steps towards adulthood.

B. The boy's frustration reflects that of young people who view the world unrealistically until

they learn from experience, the challenges and disappointments they will face.

C. I can remember my own first love and confused feelings I was experiencing.