James Joyce's Araby: Obsession

Obsession is like a poison, because the overwhelming feeling of wanting can confuse people with reality, transform them, and change who they are. The boy from the short story, Araby, struggles with obsession, and his desires confuses him about what love really is. Araby, written by James Joyce, takes place in Dublin Ireland, and is set in the early 20th century on a blind and dead end street lived by a Catholic and Irish community. The main character is the boy that lives in a dying house where a decease priest was the last person to live inside. The boy’s only wish in his world is to desire his best friend’s older sister. Araby doesn’t tell a story about a boy with butterflies in his stomach. No, this girl is pillar of his life. In the early
According the Merriam-Webster the definition of obsession is, “a state in which someone thinks about someone or something constantly or frequently especially in a way that is not normal.” This adolescent boy’s life literally revolves around this girl. At the beginning of paragraph four, he talks about how every morning he hides behind his window and waits for the girl to come out. When she comes outside he runs out of his house to follow her all the way to school, but only to stay behind her and not say a word. He is consistently always thinking about her. The boy even mentions that he thinks about her when he is in the most unromantic settings. In the middle of paragraph five he exclaims, “Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.” The boy says he thinks about her when he lays in his bed at night. He also exclaims that images of her get in the way of his concentration in the classroom. His obsession makes him confused, and he cries at times because he thinks he is pouring his heart out. The boy mistakes his feelings for love and can not actually fathom his