One of the short stories in Dubliners by James Joyce is Araby. It talks about a boy who develops a huge interest in his friend Mangan’s sister. He began to notice the little details in Mangan's sister, like how soft her hair was. As a result of this small crush, an obsession was born. He was falling behind on schoolwork and everything else due to this obsession. Mangan’s sister told him about the Araby Bazaar, and how she wouldn’t be able to attend. The main character saw his chance, and promised to bring her back something from this event. Now, the narrator was not only obsessed with Mangan’s sister, he was also very curious to see this foreign exotic bazaar. When the narrator’s uncle comes home, at around nine, he asks his uncle if he can have some money for the bazaar, and after some persuading, this uncle finally agreed. After boarding the train and finally arriving, the narrator noticed all the booths were closed. Only a little shop was open, and he found out this bazaar was not foreign or exotic at all. The main character realizes that he was being way too foolish all this time. The story ends, and we find out that this is a flashback for the narrator, who is currently an adult.
People change throughout their lifetimes, and sometimes it’s because of their ‘coming of age’. An individual's coming of age is a transition between childhood and adulthood. We find out in the story that the narrator is actually remembering something from his past. For some people, the older they grow, the more rebellious they become, which is the case for the main character. We can see that he has begun to think about his love life, and started being less appreciative of his aunt and uncle by expecting them to listen to his orders. He also started focusing less on schoolwork, which he now realizes was a very foolish thing to do. The narrator’s coming of age is an essential theme in the novel because it is the base of where most of his actions come from. If he were 2 years younger, he would probably not sacrifice his time and efforts on a girl he is interested in. Someone’s coming of age could make them more mature, or could give them experience in how to be more mature. In this case, it’s the second one. Although some people find his actions totally strange, others think it’s because the narrator is transitioning into a young adult, so his actions will be done without much care.
People can have very different perspectives on the world, and yet, no one is able to escape reality completely. Our main character also had a lot of misunderstandings that were not completely unreasonable. In his imagination, Mangan’s sister is perfect. Beautiful, smart, and everything else! He went above and beyond to make her happy when in reality, he knows nothing about her, since the two barely ever talk to each other. Clearly, the narrator is obsessed with Mangan’s sister, yet he barely knows anything about her hobbies, her style, etc… In the main character’s imagination, the night market was foreign, perhaps Arabic-style, and very exotic, which is why he was really looking forward to seeing it. However, something must’ve been lost in the translation, because the narrator is very disappointed to find out that this was just some boring, English market, with English workers, and typical English behavior. These two are clear examples as to why the narrator had a unique viewpoint. Facing reality is a hard thing, but it must be done, even if we like it or not. The narrator had a very vivid imagination, but really needs to get his head out of the gutters!
Idealizing is kind of like expecting something to happen, but most of the time, there are consequences. In the previous paragraph, the idealization was the imagination of the narrator, and what he wanted to have happened. The consequence is that the narrator’s attitude and perspective of life changed. The first thing that change is his relationship with people. He wouldn’t listen to people in charge, like teachers, his aunt, etc…, and in the end, he got bad grades and bad relationships with these people. He used to constantly watch other kids play, and never joined in, because he thought he was better than them, which is why in the end, he is lonely and has no friends. His relationship with Morgan’s sister does not improve, even though he made so many sacrifices for her, like his schoolwork. In the end, all of these things go to waste because he realizes that it’s not even true love. Like in his imagination, the narrator was so excited to see the cool foreign market, but was only met with disappointment after realizing it wasn’t exotic at all. These things prove that we shouldn’t do immoral things just for our ideal life.
In conclusion, Araby is a short story in Dubliners that talks about a boy’s experience with change. This is told in the perspective of an adult, who is reminiscing his childhood, and the foolish actions he made, based on one small crush. Although the main character thought this crush was realistic, in the end, he realizes it’s not even true love. After all, he doesn’t even know her that well. The author’s message is that although we should strive to do great things, this does not mean we should ruin our whole lives for an unrealistic life. There are some things that we cannot change, like the fact that we have to be educated in order to be successful. We shouldn’t disrespect people who are huge parts of our lives, even when we’re going through puberty. It is normal to be a rebel once in a while, but the author shows us that we have to be wise in life, because all of our actions come with consequences. These consequences may seem like no big deal, but when we are actually experiencing them, it could be terrible. This story teaches us many things, and shows us how a single bad decision can lead to a chain of events that make our lives harder.
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