The central idea of the short story, “Araby,” by James Joyce, is a young Irish boy who has a crush on his friends sister, who is considerably older than him, he goes to the market to get her some but eventually realizes that it’s not worth it. The author demonstrates this by writing, “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (Joyce 2, Paragraph 5). This quote illustrates how the young Irish boy has a crush on this woman. There are many literary elements in this short story, but I believe that the settings in this story really influence the central idea the most. The setting is a dark and gloomy Irish slum that helps contrast the beauty of the woman in which he thinks he loves. In the
