Araby, By James Joyce

To begin, There’s a boy who ends up going to a bazaar known as “Araby” to try and buy something for the girl across the street. In the end he realizes that it was a useless trip. Joyce does a good job of using symbolism and setting in this story.
James Joyce grew up in Dublin, Ireland. He was an intellectual man, and was known for his stories and poems. “Araby”, is in his series of short stories known as Dubliners. “His characters are drawn in naturalistic detail, which at first aroused the anger of many readers” (Encyclopedia of World Biography). His writing, was not for his time. Most of his life he was in poverty. Araby is about a boy that reflects part of Joyce’s childhood. In this essay, Characters will be analyzed; symbolism and setting will be mentioned to help analyze the characters.
The first line of the story reads, “North Richmond street, being blind, was a quiet street…the other houses of the street…gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces” (Joyce 2279). This is significant, because it sets up almost a dull life that the boy has. This boy is quite similar to Joyce. When Joyce was twelve, he lived in Dublin. The boy’s Aunt and Uncle reflects Joyce’s parents. The boy went to Christian school just like Joyce did. Also, both found life dull, and not very light.
The story goes on with, “The former tenant of our house, a priest had died in the back drawing room…the wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree…” (Joyce 2279). This symbolism shows that religion is dead in this story. The boy’s life has little light, color, and joy. When he sees Mangan’s sister, he ends up caving, and going to the bazaar for her sake. Also, the garden represents the Garden of Eden. This symbolism is also significant, because not only is religion dead, Mangan’s sister becomes his light, his reason to notice color, and the reason he has