ARABY

 

Araby is a short story by modernist writer James Joyce (1882 to 1941) which was published in 1914. As with many stories by Joyce and other modernist writers, ‘Araby’ employs a close first-person narrator describing the world as it appeals to his senses, and leaves the reader with only a suggested, rather than outright, moral resolution. James Joyce’s “Araby” is a short story centering on an Irish adolescent emerging from boyhood fantasies into the harsh realities of everyday life in his country.

The story “Araby” conveys the idea that the personal feelings of a person and the real world are two different things. The writer has described the intensity of the schoolboy’s love at various places in the story.

Boy of about twelve who becomes infatuated with the sister of his friend, Mangan. He has friends, keeps active, and nurtures a dream: to win the attentions of the Mangan girl. Although she hardly notices him and converses with him only a few casual words, she is constantly in his thoughts even though they had never had a conversation. Finally, a day comes when she speaks to him andout of his childness and lack of knowledge about reality he tells her that if he goes to the bazaar called Araby, he will bring back something for her. After that day he can think of nothing but her and of the gift he will buy her at the bazaar. The protagonist has a series of romantic ideas, about the girl and the wondrous event that he will attend on her behalf. For him, she is an exotic, lovely creature, foreign to Dublin. And the bazaar—Araby, as it is called—represents a distant, mystical land to which he will travel on behalf of his beloved to obtain for her a splendid keepsake. Here Joyce provides the protagonist with a specific, dramatic conflict that is the need to impress Mangan’s sister with a gift from Araby. Though apparently minor, this desire is compelling because it is so intensely felt by him. Then the writer puts roadblocks in the way of the boy and the reader: the wait for Saturday itself, and then for the uncle’s return from work. After a long wait begins the agonizingly slow journey itself, which seems to take place in slow motion, like a nightmare.

When he finally does arrive, the bazaar is more or less over. The boy has arrived too late to do any serious shopping, but quickly we see that his tardiness does not matter. Any nice gift is well beyond the protagonist’s price range. In this moment, he suddenly awakens to the bleakness of the humdrum life around him. We know, from the description of the boy’s housing situation and the small sum his uncle gives him, that their financial situation is tight. Though his anticipation of the event has provided him with pleasant daydreams, reality is much harsher. He remains a prisoner of his modest means and his city. His fantasies about the bazaar and buying a great gift for the girl are revealed as ridiculous. For one thing, the bazaar is a rather tawdry shadow of the boy’s dreams. He overhears the conversation of some of the vendors, who are ordinary English women, and the mundane nature of the talk drives home that there is no escape: bazaar or not, the boy is still in Dublin, and the accents of the vendors remind the reader that Dublin is a colonized city.

Like the bazaar that offers experiences that differ from everyday Dublin, Mangan’s sister intoxicates the narrator with new feelings of joy and elation. Though he promises Mangan’s sister that he will go to Araby and purchase a gift for her, these mundane realities undermine his plans and ultimately thwart his desires. The narrator arrives at the bazaar only to encounter flowered teacups and English accents, not the freedom of the enchanting East. As the bazaar closes down, he realizes that his relationship with Mangan’s sister will also remain just a wishful idea and that his infatuation was as misguided as his fantasies about the bazaar. And he also realizes that it was his “vanity” when he promised to bring something for her. It is the sense of reality that makes his “eyes burn with anguish and anger”.

***The theme of the story “Araby” is that the subjective feelings of a person and the objective world are two opposing things. There is no agreement between them.

When we read the story “Araby” carefully, we find that two opposing ideas have been presented. The first idea is schoolboy’s subjective feelings and the second idea is his objective or real world. There is a conflict between the personal feelings of a person and the real world. The boy falls in love with his friend’s sister. To him his subjective feeling of love is the only reality. All the other things have no importance for him. To him the serious work of live is a child’s play. He keeps on thinking about her all the time. Even when he goes to market, he thinks about her. In the classroom, he cannot pay attention to his studies. Nothing is important for him now. He usually weeps without knowing why he is weeping. He promises to buy a gift for the girl. These are the subjective feelings of the boy. This is his illusion. His objective world is that he is just a schoolboy. Perhaps he is an orphan too. His uncle is his patron. He should not have promised the girls to bring something for her. He cannot buy anything for her because he himself is dependent on his uncle. Therefore, we see that there is a big disagreement between his subjective feelings and objective world. It is only at the end of the story that he comes to know what he is and what he should not have done. He is disillusioned. With his little money, he cannot buy anything for her. It was his vanity when he promised to bring something for her. It is the sense of reality that makes his eyes burn with anguish and anger.

***Some critics have suggested that Mangan’s sister represents Ireland itself, and that therefore the boy’s quest is made on behalf of his native country. Certainly, the bazaar seems to combine elements of the Catholic Church and England. As the church has hypnotized its adherents, Araby has “cast an Eastern enchantment” over the boy. Moreover, it is “not some Freemason [Protestant] affair.” Church parishes often organized bazaars to raise money for charity. When the boy reaches the object of his quest, however, Araby (the church) is empty — except for a woman and two men who speak with English accents. The woman speaks to the story’s main character in a manner that is “not encouraging” and is clearly doing so “out of a sense of duty.” Thus, a mission on behalf of an idealized homeland (the boy does not actually know Mangan’s sister — she is more or less a fantasy to him) is thwarted in turn by the Irish themselves (the charming uncle and his propensity to drink), the church, and England.