“Araby” by James Joyce

“Araby” is a story of a young boy who is just discovering a world outside of the house he lives in with his aunt and uncle and the playtime he has with his friend Mangan. Joyce’s story is full of descriptive language (“The space of sky above us was the color of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns”) and metaphors (“The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces”). The author has a first crush on his friend Mangan’s sister. She knows nothing about the crush, but he imagines and thinks about her constantly. When he finally talks to her, she tells him about a splendid bazaar called Araby. She tells him she can’t go, and he promises to get her a souvenir. He does go, but gets there very late when the bazaar is closing. He sees nothing splendid about the bazaar, especially when a young girl reluctantly asks him if he needs help, when it is obvious she would rather be flirting with the boys she is near. He leaves disillusioned with the bazaar, his crush and his life.

Despite the abundance of descriptive language in this story, it never really pulled me in. It seemed like an accurate portrayal of the times, but it was pretty dark and depressing.