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The “Araby” narrator is a young, unnamed boy who is growing up and coming of age in the streets of North Dublin. Through the narrator, Joyce tells a universal story of young love and failed expectations. The love and idealization that the narrator develops for his friend Mangan’s sister moves him from placid youth to elation to frustrated loneliness as he explores the threshold between childhood and adulthood. He yearns to experience new places and things, but he also grapples with the conflict between everyday life and the promise of love. The narrator wants to see himself as an adult. He dismisses his distracting schoolwork as “child’s play,” stays inside to yearn instead of playing outside with his friends, and expresses his intense emotions in dramatic, romantic gestures. However, his inability to actively pursue what he desires traps him in a child’s world. For example, he is unable to actually interact with Mangan’s sister for more than a brief, awkward encounter and he is ultimately unable to purchase a token of his affection for her while at the bazaar. His dilemma suggests the hope and idealization of youth stymied by the unavoidable realities of Dublin life.
