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Araby | James Joyce | Summary and Questions and Answers | Neb English Support Class 12
Araby by James Joyce
ABOUT STORY
Araby by James Joyce
This short story, "Araby" was written by James Joyce, a writer from Ireland. This story was first published in his 1914 collection, Dubliners. The story is about a young boy's infatuation with his friend's sister. We find various themes in this story, such as love and sexuality, infatuation, religion and Catholicism etc.
MAIN SUMMARY
Araby by James Joyce
The main narrator of this story is an unnamed boy. In the beginning of the story, he describes the north Dublin street on which his house is situated. He thinks about the dead priest who died in the house before his family arrived, and also about the games he and his friends used to play on the street. He recalls how they would run through the back alleys of the houses and hide in the shadows when they reached the street again, hoping to avoid people in the neighbourhood, especially the boy's uncle or the sister of his friend Mangan. The sister often appears in front of their house to call her brother, a moment which the narrator enjoyed much.
Every day for this narrator begins with a glimpse of Mangan's sister. He positions himself in the front room of his house so that he can watch her leave her house, and then he goes out to follow her quietly until he finally passes her. Both the narrator and Mangan's sister talk little, but the thought of her is always on his mind. He thinks about her most of the time. She is always on his mind. He thinks about her when he goes shopping for food with his aunt in the busy market on Saturday evenings and when he sits alone in the back room of his house. His infatuation with her is so intense. He has a kind of fear that he will never be able to gather the courage to talk to her and express his feelings.
One morning, Mangan's sister comes and asks the narrator if he plans to go to Araby, the Dublin bazaar. She also notes that she can't attend, as she has already committed to attending a retreat with her school. After he recovers from the shock of the conversation, the narrator offers to bring her something from the bazaar. This brief encounter takes the narrator through a period of anxious, restless waiting and restless tension in anticipation of the bazaar. He cannot concentrate in school. He finds the lessons tedious, and they distract him from thinking about her.
On the morning of the bazaar, the narrator reminds his uncle that he intends to attend the event so that the uncle will come home early and provide train fare. Still, dinner passes, and a guest visits, but the uncle does not return. The narrator endures the passing of time impatiently until, at 9:00 p.m., the uncle eventually returns, unbothered from having forgotten about the narrator's plans. The uncle says the epigram, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". The uncle provides the narrator with the money and asks him if he knows the poem "The Arab's Farewell to His Steed".
As his uncle begins to recite the lines, the narrator leaves, and thanks to the always-slow trains, he reaches the market just before 10 p.m., when it begins to close. He approaches a stall that is still open but does not buy anything, feeling unwelcome by the woman looking at the goods. The narrator stands angrily in the deserted bazaar with the lights out, with no shopping for Mangan's sister.
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