The Story of Araby

Assignment #1

The story of Araby is narrated by a young man who is attracted to Mangan’s sister. He begins the story with a description of North Richmond Street. It is an ordinary town that is decorated by many children’s desires. One of them is the crush that the narrator has with Mangan’s sister. Every day he will watch her stealthily and when she finally talks to him, he was so nervous that he cannot form a sentence. When she told him she cannot go Araby bazaar, he promised he will bring a souvenir for her. The narrator is now excite and cannot wait to get to go to Araby bazaar. However, he did not get what he was expected. Most stalls in the Araby market are close. When he approach one of the opening stalls, the women is engaging in a conversation with two men, she is reluctant and barely wait on him before she returns to the conversation. At the end he was left with disappointment and angry.

Throughout the story, the narrator has idealized Araby bazaar. To him, Araby means romance and beauty that he will not get from a dull and ordinary town. He only escape by reading books from the dead priest and dreaming about Araby. “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” (Joyce 2). When he know Mangan’s sister cannot go to the bazaar he then guarantee to bring back gifts from the enchanted land. However, his idealization was crushed. Araby is not an enchanted place; it is tawdry. This place is cheap and full of ordinary people. Also with most the stalls closed, he cannot bring back an extraordinary gift to his love. His idealized thoughts suddenly becomes wishful thinking; a perfected dream that he created.