Imaturity And Self-Absorption In James Joyce's Araby

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Sammy, the protagonist of the short story “Araby” by James Joyce, exhibits characteristics: including immaturity and self-absorption depending upon the situation he is experiencing throughout the story, intelligence while observing his surroundings, and overly-romantic actions caused by his prepubescent hormones.
Sammy is a highly intelligent boy for his age and the reader can easily extrapolate this attribute from the short story. His observations of the other townspeople throughout “Araby” are entirely too intricate for an eleven year old boy to be able to even explain. He explains the townspeople he is passing by in the market in this statement, “We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the

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