1. Araby By James Joyce

3. Characters and Themes

5. The Protagonist: the boy He remains unnamed throughout the story. He is also the narrator of the story, telling it from a dual perspective; as the young boy who went through the experience and the adult man relating the events in retrospect.

6. The boy is living with his aunt and uncle. At the beginning of the story he enjoys playing with his friends. But once he his obsession with his neighbor’s sister increases he becomes more introverted.

7. He admires Mangan’s sister from his hiding; he is either in the shadows, behind the curtains in his house, or walking behind her in his way to school. He is coming of age and because of the disconnect with his friends and his aunt and uncle, he suffers alone the consequences of his unrequited love for the girl.

8. He is a daydreamer and builds so much on so little.

9. The aunt and uncle The boys lives with them – nothing is told about his parents and why he ended up with his aunt and uncle’s house. The boys run and hide from the uncle in the street as he arrives home. The boy quits his daily ritual of watching out for Mangan’s sister when his uncle is in the hall. The uncle forgot about his nephew’s desire to go to the bazaar. These clues tell us that they don’t have a good relation.

10. The aunt seems to have a better relation with her nephew than her brother: she takes him with her to weekly shopping, and stands up for him when the uncle is hesitant to give the boy money. Still, she is not so protective of the boy as she sends him at 9 O’clock to the bazaar.

11. Mangan’s sister She is a half-drawn character. Very little of her speech and physical features is described distinctively, since we see her through the boy’s perspective and he only sees her from afar or from a hiding place. Nevertheless, the boy developed a crush on her. She most probably does not realize his feelings towards her.

13. Other minor characters The school master. Mrs. Mercer. The school boys Mangan The girl at the bazaar.

14. Themes: 1.Generation Gap: 2.Stagnation and paralysis (inertia). 3.Materialism vs. the boy’s romanticism 4.Frustration 5.Shattered illusions - epiphany 6.Fantasizing and daydreaming

16. 1- Generation Gap It is the lack of communication between the young and old generation because of the difference in values, tastes, outlook, etc. Communication is absent between the boy and his uncle. This is clear in the boy’s hiding from his uncle when the latter comes from work. Also, when the boy reminded his uncle of his wish to go to the bazaar, he belittled that wish by delaying him.

17. Even though the aunt is more sympathetic with her nephew, she fears that the boy might get involved in a secret society when he tells her he wanted to go to the bazaar, assuming the worst about him is due to the disconnect between them. His master at school does not offer the boy any sympathy as well. The boy suffers during this phase of coming of age because of this lack of communication with adults.

18. 2- Stagnation and inertia

19. North Richmond Street in Dublin is a blind, or a dead-end street. So it is only frequented by the people who live on it. Hope for change and development for all its citizens is little. Even when the boy seeks the excitement of a new love – for Mangan’s sister-, he does not have the courage to take the initiative and confess his love. He goes to the bazaar with great expectations but nothing happens. Not much happens on the outside in this story; most of the action is in the mind of the protagonist.

21. 3- Materialism, realism, vs. the boy’s romanticism The boy is obsessed with the dead priest’s books and often haunts the drawing-room he died in. Disregarding the fact that Mangan’s sister is older than him, and that they don’t know each other well, he develops infatuation towards her. He views himself as a knight on a quest, protecting the “chalice” of his love against enemies.

23. In the ending scene at the bazaar, when the boy is cured of his romanticism, the narrator mentions the sounds of the coins; of the vendors counting their profits of the day. It is a world that he did not expect in the Araby bazaar, a world that is obsessed with materialism. The anguish and frustration the boy experiences is partially due to the fact that without his uncle’s allowance, he won’t be able to go to Araby.

24. 4- Frustration The boy yearns for the change that does not come. The excitement that he feels for the new love is never appeased. He is frustrated because he had to wait to have the consent of his aunt and uncle to go the bazaar. He did not even have the money for the ticket and the gift promised to Mangan’s sister. He is frustrated because he missed the bazaar, which did not level up to his expectation.

26. Shattered illusions - epiphany The boy takes the journey from home to the bazaar to experience that moment of illumination, epiphany, realizing the truth about the bazaar he expected to be a place of wonders. Finding that the bazaar was not only enveloped in darkness as it was closing down, but also that it was not exotic. The few open stalls showed flowered vases and tea-cups and English accents; mundane objects.

27. He stands angry at himself for being so self- conceited: if he anticipated the bazaar to be a magical escapade and it turns out to be a great disappointment, then maybe if he finally confesses his admiration to Mangan’s sister, it will not amount to much.

28. 6-Fantasizing and daydreaming Besides the fact that Mangan’s sister is older than the boy, he does not know her very well. The reader does not know how she exactly look because the boy never looks at her directly; he often meets her when light is faint or when she is far away. He is preoccupied with her thought that he is unable to focus in class or in studying.

29. More themes can be added: Solitude: The boy enjoys his loneliness, feels thankful that he is isolated by rain at one point and feels at ease when he is alone. He notices singular things like himself: the deserted house in the street, the central apple tree, the horse in the stable.