Unlike in the US, where many Catholic-focused stories dwell on the tensions between Protestant and Catholic in the culture, in “Araby,” Catholicism is presented as ubiquitous. We can also see that this is
a society in which women are dependent on men
.
What ideas does Araby represent for the boy?
To the narrator, Araby symbolizes
the beauty, mystery, and romance he longs for in his life
. He lives in a dreary house on a shabby dead-end street. He escapes the drabness around him by reading a Sir Walter Scott romance and a book of French adventures and by dreaming.
What is the main message of Araby?
The main themes in “Araby” are
loss of innocence and religion, public and private
. Loss of innocence: The progression of the story is tied to the beginning of the narrator’s movement from childhood to adulthood.
How is the setting described in Araby?
The setting of “Araby” is
Dublin, capital city of Ireland and hometown of James Joyce
. … When the story opens, the narrator describes the street where he lives, namely, North Richmond Street, which is a now well-known road in Dublin, Ireland.
Is Araby a religion?
The narrator of “Araby” is
surrounded by religion
. He attends a Roman Catholic school and all of the people around him, just like he himself, are steeped in the Catholic religion that held sway in Ireland at the time when the story was set. … And so he thinks of romantic love in religious terms.
What is the irony of Araby?
The main irony in “Araby” is
that the unnamed boy expects to buy Mangan’s sister a nice gift at the bazaar but ends up with nothing
. This is an example of situational irony, as there is a gap here between what is expected and what actually happens.
What is the plot of the story Araby?
‘Araby,’ a short story by James Joyce, is about
a young boy in Ireland obsessed with the girl living across the street
. When the young girl mentions how badly she wants to attend a certain bazaar, he sees an opportunity to win her heart by attending the bazaar himself and bringing her back a gift.
What does Araby stand for?
When the boy arrives at the bazaar only to find that it’s closing down he’s brought crashing back down to earth. His boyish infatuation with Mangan’s sister is also exposed as an unrealizable fantasy. Araby stands for
everything the boy wants but cannot have
. Ideal love is precisely that, and so cannot be achieved.
Why does the boy in Araby not buy anything?
The boy’s late arrival at the bazaar called “Araby” is his uncle’s fault. The boy can’t leave for the bazaar until
he gets some money
. The adults in the story cannot understand the importance of the bazaar because they are unaware of the boy’s love for Mangan’s sister.
What could Araby the bazaar represent in the story and in real life?
The Araby bazaar symbolizes
romance and escape from the drab dullness of Dublin life that the young adolescent narrator seeks
. He first hears of the bazaar from his friend Mangan’s unnamed older sister. … The bazaar first becomes a symbol of the exotic and romantic; later it represents his disillusions.
How does setting affect Araby?
The setting is described in
a way that puts images into the readers’ mind
, and creates a vivid amount of detail into the world of the story.
How do the first three paragraphs of Araby characterize the environment?
How do the first three paragraphs of Araby characterize the environment inwhich the narrator lives? With Araby?
The narrator describes his small neighborhood as any decent one
, with the decent livinghouseholds, how everything seemed to be calm and normal until school let out thechildren.
Why is Araby a quest narrative?
“Sonny’s Blues” (1959) by James Baldwin and “Araby” (1916) by James Joyce can both be interpreted as quest narratives
because they each adhere to the archetype established by quest narrative
. For instance both stories have the symbolic Holy Grail that gives objectification to each protagonist’s desires.
What does the boy realize at the end of Araby?
At the end of “Araby,” the boy realizes that
there is a gap between desire and attaining one’s goals
. Fulfilling his promise to the girl becomes impossible, and shopping at the bazaar proves less satisfying than he had anticipated.
Who is the main character in Araby?
The main characters in “Araby” are
the narrator and Mangan’s sister
. The narrator is an unnamed young boy. Over the course of the story, he transforms from an idealistic child into a burgeoning adult as he is forced to face the often disappointing realities of life.
How does religion play a role in Araby?
Religion plays a critical role within the backdrop of “Araby.”
Its narrator lives within a Catholic culture
, and thus we see the lingering presence of Catholicism within his life. He is educated in a Catholic school and we learn that a former tenant in the house he lives in (one recently deceased) had been a priest.
