According to many critics, James Joyce believed greatly that the Dublin of the 1900's was a center for spiritual ritualistic occurrences. He has written a great collection of short stories, including "Araby" that show just this. The boy in the story "Araby" is center to the city's dark, hopeless conformity. "Araby" can be analyzed on three different levels: a journey of a boy to man, the illusions of what one wants to see and what actually is, and an epiphany of life. The boy in "Araby" goes through these stages throughout the story. Each successive paragraph is filled with more context clues than the last that lead us up to our climatic point, one may even call this the "tragic point." This point is simply where a young, innocent boy has seen the harsh reality of life and has to learn to somehow deal with his new surroundings. Growing up is something that should be done with ease and that is something that we learn through "Araby". The boy in the story is in such a rush to move on from his friends, that he fails to recognize what may follow afterward. Going through life without knowing the hardships that can occur would be a great thing. It seems more and more

The flashy display of the bazaar, which in his mind had been an "Eastern enchantment," (3) takes away his blindness and leaves him in the end alone with the realization that life and love differ from the dream. His childish crush did what every unsuccessful crush does in the end: it came crashing down. "Araby" is a story of first love; even more, it is a representation of a world that defies the ideal and the dream. Setting in this story became the true subject. It was an atmosphere of spiritual nonsense where a young boy's dreams could never be. Now aware of this, the boy has taken his first steps into his adulthood. While he may not be thrilled with the results, he certainly has proven that he is capable of taking on the "ups and downs" that will occur during his new journey through adulthood. The boy in "Araby" would be the first to say that dreams cannot be reality and reality cannot be overthrown by dreams.

North Richmond Street is described metaphorically and presents the reader with his first view of the boy's world. The street is "blind". It is a dead end, yet those who live there are truly satisfied. The houses reflect the attitudes of their inhabitants. They are "imperturbable" in the "quiet," the "cold," the "dark muddy lanes" and "dark dripping gardens." (1) The first use of situational irony is introduced here with the description of the house, because anyone who is not spiritually blinded would feel oppressed and endangered by North Richmond Street. The people who live there are not threatened by the religious rules and regulations, however, but are falsely pious and deeply self-satisfied. One can extend this metaphorical representation of the street from a general view of the street and its inhabitants to the boy's personal relationships. It is not just a generation gap, but also a gap in the spirit, in empathy and conscious caring, that results in the uncle's failure to arrive home in time for the boy to go to the bazaar while it is still open. The boy's uncle doesn't care too much about his nephew's enjoyment. To him, he is being more than generous by letting the boy attend the fair. His religious views are quite different from the boys, and it is his lack of freedom that keeps the boy from arriving to the fair on time. The boy waits well into the evening in the "imperturbable" house with its musty smell and old, useless objects that fill the rooms. The house, like the aunt and uncle, and like the entire neighborhood,

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Approximate Word count = 1668
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)