An Analysis of Araby in James Joyces Dubliners :: Joyce Dubliners Araby Essays

There are many statements in the story "Araby" that are both surprising and puzzling.   The statement that perhaps gives us the most insight into the narrator's thoughts and feelings is found at the end of the story.   "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger. (32)"   By breaking this statement into small pieces and key words, we can see it as a summation of the story's major themes.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At this point in the story, many emotions are swirling about in the narrator's head.   His trip to the bazaar has been largely unsuccessful.   He was late arriving, was unable to find a gift for Mangan's sister, felt scorned by the merchants, and suddenly found himself in a dark room.   These surroundings left him feeling both derided, and with a sense that this eagerly anticipated trip had been in vain.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many other situations caused him to feel driven and derided by vanity.   His reflections of the "charitable" life of the priest who occupied the narrator's house before the narrator make us wonder if the priest led a life of vanity.   His early obsession with Mangan's sister now seems in vain.   "I had never spoken to her ... and yet her name was like a summons to my foolish blood. (4)"   He feels ashamed and ridiculed by his earlier inability to communicate with Mangan's sister.   He sees how distracted he was by his anticipation of the bazaar.   He recalls that he " had hardly any patience with the serious work of life. (12)"   The narrator is embarrassed by the time he had wasted, and the ease with which he became distracted.   The near total worthlessness of the bazaar at the time the narrator arrives is an extreme example of vanity.   Not only does the narrator feel ridiculed by the vanity involved in this situation, he also feels driven by it.   The simple conversation he carries on with Mangan's sister regarding the bazaar drives him to direct all his thoughts toward the glory that will be the bazaar.   A sort of irony can be found in the fact that something that he devoted all his "waking and sleeping thoughts"