Green Land | September 22, 2023 | 0 comments

James Joyce’s wonderful story “Araby” is about an adolescent boy whose quest for ideal beauty and romance ends in utter failure and sheer frustration. Ostensibly the story is about a boy’s failure to buy a gift for his long-adored girl from an oriental fete named ‘Araby’. But the story involves a number of themes developed meticulously by the author. Besides symbolically exploring human being’s unsuccessful quest for ideal in life, the story also focuses on the psychological development of its protagonist, an adolescent boy.

In addition, the themes of isolation and love are also scrupulously developed by the author. Apparently “Araby” is about an imaginative boy who is passionately in love with a girl mentioned as Mangan’s sister. For him she is the ideal of beauty, a symbol of heavenly charm, sublimity and purity. His obsession with this unnamed girl is almost abnormal. The turning point in his life occurs when one day Mangan’s sister talks to him and he promises her to bring a beautiful gift from the oriental bazaar. The teen-aged boy starts dreaming of fulfilling his dream by bringing a gift from the oriental bazaar. From that moment onward Araby becomes a magic land for the imaginative boy. In his imagination, he idealizes ‘Araby’ and dreams of coming in contact with the ideal beauty in life there. But when the boy finally goes to the bazaar, he is tremendously frustrated. Instead of it being one huge ordeal and a fascinating place, the oriental bazaar turns out to be quite small — a place which hardly attracts him. He does not find anything suitable to buy. He discovers the bitter truths of life in the frustration and anger that he encounters.

“Araby” also traces the psychological development of the adolescent protagonist. It poignantly captures the transition of the boy from adolescence to adulthood. At the beginning the boy is full of enthusiasm and romantic imagination. He is inexperienced about the harsh realities of life. His world seems to be limited to his infatuation for his girl - Mangan’s sister. His transition into adulthood begins with his pursuit to get a gift for the girl. His failure to find a suitable gift for his dream girl makes him face the grim realities of the mundane world. His vision of an ideal place for romance beauty is shattered in the prosaic reality of ‘Araby’. His illusory dreams have left him and all he is left with is anger and aguish. At the end of the story he is a completely disillusioned man. He realizes his own position in the world.

Other two underlying themes in Joyce’s short story are themes of isolation and of love. As it is unlikely to be both isolated and in love, there is much tension between these two themes as they each battle to become dominant. Eventually, the tensions dissolve and the main character finds himself completely isolated and alone. The theme of isolation is eminent from the opening paragraphs that describe a dark, quiet street. Gnawing isolation is there at the end of the story. After his failure to buy a suitable gift in the oriental bazaar the adolescent protagonist discovers himself as a lonely person. In the story “Araby” Joyce develops a number of themes. At the symbolic level the teen-aged protagonist’s failure stands for the “universal unsuccessful quest for beauty and ideal in the world.

The story also traces the psychological development of the protagonist. As suffers from passions of anger and anguish he learns the bitter truths of life. The author also throws light on the role love plays in one’s life. The author shows how the life of the main character changes from being lonely and isolated to being obsessed with love and then back to isolation and loneliness. In the last paragraph of the piece we find the boy isolated, in the darkness, eyes burning with anguish as he realizes he has not succeeded in his task of buying his love a gift.

James Joyce’s wonderful short story “Araby” explores boyish imagination of an adolescent protagonist and presents his eventual failure in fulfilling his long-cherished dream. Apparently the story is about the teen-aged protagonist's failure to buy a gift for his dream girl from the oriental bazaar named ‘Araby’. But, at the symbolic level, it traces the psychological development of the protagonist. It is about the boy’s quest for ideal beauty in life, which he fails to find. His mission ends in failure and frustration but in the process he learns about harsh and grim realities of life.

The plot of the story is quite intricate and most of the actions take place in the inner regions of the boy protagonist. To develop the plot of the story, Joyce uses some of the boy’s background information, the setting, and why the boy is in ‘love’ with the girl to help the story unfold. Things start to become difficult at the point where the boy finally talks to Mangan’s sister, the object of his emotional adoration. She asks him whether or not he was going to the bazaar. He answers by telling her that if he is going to the bazaar he will bring her something.

From that moment onward the imaginative boy starts dreaming about buying a beautiful gift for his dream girl from the oriental bazaar. In his imagination, he idealizes ‘Araby’ and dreams of coming in contact with the ideal beauty in life there. But when the boy finally goes to the bazaar, he is tremendously frustrated. Instead of it being one huge ordeal and a fascinating place, the oriental bazaar turns out to be quite small a place which hardly attracts him. He does not find anything suitable to buy. He discovers the bitter truths of life in the frustration and anger that he encounters.

Joyce’s art of characterization is noteworthy in the story “Araby”. The author has devoted much attention to delineating the character of the protagonist; The teen-aged boy is full with all the adolescent passions and imagination. Joyce explores the psyche of the boy as be develope learning bitter truths of life. The author traces his psychological development, Joyce throws lights on the inner recesses of the boy's heart. Other characters are also meticulously drawn, The boy's uncle is depicted as a sad, depressed man who longs for nothing but happiness for his nephew and gives him all he has to show love for him. Mangan’s sister has been painted from the boy’s point of view. Her presence is ever felt throughout the story.

Joyce uses symbolism in the story “Araby”. ‘Araby’ symbolically represents the unattainable ideal of beauty and romance and the teen-aged protagonist’s failure in realizing his dreams symbolically represents every human being’s unsuccessful quest for beauty and romance.

Joyce uses simple language in the story. The language is marked by lucidity and simplicity. However, the author uses poetic techniques like figurative language, images and personification. An example of personification is: “When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped”. This means his heart leaped (figure of speech) giving his heart movement.

In “Araby” James Joyce explores the theme of frustrated love. The boy’s love for Mangan’s sister is immense though fulfillment of his love remains a mirage. The only passion in the boy’s life seems to be Mangan’s sister. But he eventually fails to establish any meaningful relationship with her. In the frustrated love of the boy the author symbolically shows common human deprivations in this harsh mundane world.

“Araby” is a moving tale of a boy’s unsuccessful quest for beauty and romance. It beautifully traces the psychological development of an adolescent boy, whose visions are eventually shattered in the drab realities of a mechanized and commercial society. The themes of frustrated love, unsuccessful quest for beauty and romance and psychological development of an adolescent boy have been superbly explored in the story. In addition, the story fulfils all the requirements of a modern short story.