Araby By James Joyce Essay

“Araby” is a short and complex story that reflects James Joyce’s life of when he was a young boy growing up in Dublin, and how he could not escape what was destined for him.

Throughout the story, Joyce is very open and lets the readers know what the young boy is thinking and how he is feeling, and that may or may not represent how Joyce himself has felt at the time. Joyce introduces the story by describing the setting. However, the descriptions used are negative and they let the readers know how unsatisfied and unhappy the young boy is with the area in which he lives. “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free.” (Joyce, 29) is one example used to describe how dull the street was and how it lacked excitement. Joyce’s description of how “the other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.” (Joyce, 29) further proves this point.

The fact that the young boy would notice something as small as this lets the readers know that emotions are going to be involved. When the narrator describes her as the girl who made his “heart leap” and that “her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.” (Joyce, 30) fully convinces the readers that this girl would make up for the lack of excitement he usually endures. After their first conversation, the boy decides to go to the bazaar and thought it would help his case if he brought back some sort of gift for the girl, and at this point, the young boy is emotionally defenseless because he was doing what he was doing to try to impress the