Consequences of Idealising in “Araby” by James Joyce

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Consequences of Idealising in “Araby” by James Joyce In the short story, “Araby,” a naive young boy, frustrated with his everyday life in the North Richmond Street neighbourhood in Dublin and in love with the sister of his friend, Mangan (though the girl is unaware of the boy’s love), seeks to escape from the realities of life, but gets disappointed when he arrives at the Araby bazaar because it wasn’t up to his expectations. Because the young boy visits the bazaar and discovers that it is not as he expects and since he couldn’t buy a gift at the bazaar for the girl he loves, he becomes disappointed, and realises the disparity between real life and his idealistic dreams. The boy expects the bazaar to be splendid as he was told and therefore, he idealises the bazaar to be an exotic place. In addition, he hoped to buy a gift at the bazaar for Mangan’s sister. Arriving late at the bazaar, he notices that “nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness” and also recognises, “a silence like that which pervades a church after service” (Joyce 114). The fact that the bazaar is almost closed and empty, means he will not be able to buy something for the girl he is infatuated with. More so, he could not buy an appropriate gift for the girl from the stalls that were still open because he didn’t have enough money. Thus, his disappointment begins as the bazaar wasn’t exotic and had no aspect of an “Eastern enchantment” (Joyce 112) as he had imagined. As the narrator continues to move around visiting the bazaar, moving from one of the stalls still opened to the next, his state of disappointment increases. When he reached a stall that sells “porcelain vases and flowered tea-sets” (Joyce 114), a young lady moves up to him and with a discouraging tone, tries to inquire what he wants to buy “out of a sense of duty” (Joyce 114). The way the lady

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