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“Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her. This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to her except for a few casual words.”
The “Araby” narrator has a crush on his friend’s sister, who also happens to be his neighbor. However, despite being intensely aware of her, they barely interact, even when the opportunity presents itself, as in the scene described here. The narrator experiences intense feelings for the girl without any basis in real knowledge about her. He does not even share with the reader his assumptions about her personality, if he has any.
“What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening! I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school. At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read.”
The girl for whom the “Araby” narrator has intense feelings tells him about a bazaar called Araby that she wishes she could go to but can’t. He casually says he will get her something there if he goes. This conversation makes him feel that he must go to the bazaar and get her a gift. Here, he rationalizes, without much evidence, that getting the girl a gift from Araby will signal his worthiness and make her care for him.
