The Loss Of Innocence In Araby By James Joyce

While reading the short story “Araby” by James Joyce, one should be aware that the author wrote this short story to go with his collection of short stories, called “Dubliners.” These short stories were composed to fit into a collection that had three categories: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. “Araby” was created to fit into the childhood category, and it demonstrated the loss of innocence with the added twist of vanity. In my opinion, the brilliant idea contained in “Araby” formed a work of art that lead to the next series in the collection.
While comparing idealized beliefs with the harsh and inevitable realities of life, this short story illuminates the quintessential coming of age story with a twist; this conversation or argument …show more content…
It is human to relate to such a theme, for at one time or another, these selfish shoes fit us all. This short story visually touches the basic fun of childhood life for a Dubliner in Ireland, as he describes the narrator’s life; “NORTH RICHMOND STREET being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers ' School set the boys free” (Joyce), where houses “gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces,” one can recount the freedom of childhood. In the narrator’s mind surrounded by commonplace ideas and functions, a passionate delusion develops, and he argues his childish feelings, “I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration” (Joyce). Enraptured by her ever evolving image, this leads to the coming of age theme where he found the object to adore and admire: Mangan’s sister. He watched as “[h]er dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side” (Joyce), and he continues the dance stating, “my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” …show more content…
The narrator was blinded so much by the illusion of love, he never made his feelings apparent; he would simply fantasize as he “lay on the floor in the front parlour [and] watch[] her door” (Joyce), waiting for Mangan’s sister to walk out so he could follow her. When he finally was able to talk with her, she asked if he was going to the Araby and his response was "’If I go,’ [...] ‘I will bring you something’” (Joyce). He then goes on wishing to “annihilate the tedious intervening days” between him and the bazaar, Araby. Blinded and thinking about nothing other than Mangan’s sister, he confessed, “night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom, her image came between me and the page I strove to read” (Joyce). His thoughts attested to the blurring of the lines between his romantic ideals and