Araby is a short story by James Joyce about a young boy (unnamed; the narrator of the story) who has a secret romantic love for the sister of his friend (named Mangan). The story presents and contrasts two different settings – one being that of the frustrating everyday-life reality of the narrator and the other being a fanciful escape characterized by Mangan’s sister and the Araby bazaar. The dullness characterizing the narrator’s life, as portrayed by his lack of courage to admit his love for Mangan’s sister, the late arrival of his uncle who promised to lend him fare money for the slow Dublin trains leading to Araby and monotonous school days contrasted with, and ran counter to the bliss provided by his thoughts on Mangan’s sister. His failure to fulfill his promise of buying a distinctive gift from Araby for Mangan’s sister – as he arrived late due to the slowness of the train ride, gave him great disappointment that made him give up in his pursuit of her.
As part of Joyce’s Dubliners series – a series of short stories that depicts everyday life in Dublin during his time, Araby exhibited how people in said city perceived romantic love. Through the story, he illustrated that people in Dublin do not have much time to focus on romance, as shown in the dull reality surrounding the narrator. The narrator’s despair that led him to stop his romantic pursuit for Mangan’s sister and the anonymity of the main characters (Joyce did not name the main characters) reflected an outright disregard of the importance of love in the story. The uninspiring setting of the story granted greater weight to the frustration of the narrator to pursue love – a depiction of the lack of contentment of people in Dublin when it comes to such aspect. It is in that wise where Joyce attempted to assert that people living in Dublin – at least during his lifetime, have aspired for new experiences that could refresh them from their dull environment, particularly those brought by romantic love.
