ENGL 1102 Lecture 15: 15
Many of us face the true reality of society as we grow and indulge into new things.
“Araby” by James Joyce is about a boy who is within a lower middle class society in the 1900’s
that portrays this past innocence we all had when we were younger. As we understand slowly
how society functions, we realize the corruption within it and thus eventually become corrupted
along with it. James Joyce created this first person narrative from the boys perspective in order to
demonstrate and help us visualise this ignorance through infatuation, materialism, and idealism.
Love is a feeling that is thrilling but can be quite destructive as demonstrated in “Araby”.
The main character in “Araby” becomes infatuated to his friend’s sister and seeks a romantic
relationship with her. He thoroughly observes her and notices her daily routines and lifestyle.
“Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door.” (Joyce 243). Although
to many of us this may seem a bit creepy, we can still sympathise with this boy because it is this
uncertain feeling of love and ignorance that many of us seek to obtain at our youth. The boy
finally achieves to talk to this girl and the girl explains how she wants a gift from the popular
bazaar known as “Araby”. It is when the boy finally gets to the bazaar, after a course of
obstacles, that he realizes what the reality of this infatuation is. The reality is that he was chasing
a dream but it was nothing more than a delusionary mission he wanted to simply complete.
We often chase after our dreams with hopes for a miracle to come true, however this dim
hope can lead to immaturity and materialism. The author wanted people to understand that rather
than enforcing materialistic goods, we should seek for moral happiness in order to face reality.
The reality for the main character was that he realized his efforts to buy a gift for the girl he fell
for was nothing more than just an object. “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature
driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” (Joyce 246). He
truly believed that through this one gift, he would gain the girl’s heart, but the reality was that he
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Document Summary
Many of us face the true reality of society as we grow and indulge into new things. Araby by james joyce is about a boy who is within a lower middle class society in the 1900"s that portrays this past innocence we all had when we were younger. As we understand slowly how society functions, we realize the corruption within it and thus eventually become corrupted along with it. James joyce created this first person narrative from the boys perspective in order to demonstrate and help us visualise this ignorance through infatuation, materialism, and idealism. Love is a feeling that is thrilling but can be quite destructive as demonstrated in araby . The main character in araby becomes infatuated to his friend"s sister and seeks a romantic relationship with her. He thoroughly observes her and notices her daily routines and lifestyle. Every morning i lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door. (joyce 243).
