Araby - James Joyce

Araby is a short story of an Irish writer James Joyce. Araby is a name of bazaar in Dublin. It deals with theme of newly felt attraction.

The narrator of the story is an unnamed boy who tells his own story. He shares his feelings with readers. The boy was moved with his uncle's family to north Dublin street. Here he comes in contact with one girl, who was his friend Mangan's sister. He begins to feel attraction towards her and he used to watch her hiding himself. She was always in boy's thoughts.

One day she asks the narrator if he plans to go Araby and also tells that she is not able to come with him due to one religious ceremony. The boy felt sad but promised that he will bring something for her.

After this incident he becomes restless. He can't focus in study, he sees her face when he open the books, He finds lessons tedious.

At the morning of destined day the boy reminds his uncle about his plan and asked to come early and find money. But his uncle comes late at 9 and the boy reaches bazaar late at 10 when it was almost closed. But still one shop opened but the lady owner of that shop was not interested in selling anything. Suddenly lights goes off and narrator's plan remains unfulfilled. The last line of the story is this,
" Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
His all romantic fantasies destroys and he feels very angry that he is failed to bring something for Mangan's sister.

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Ajit Kaliya

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