Discuss the theme of James Joyce's short story "Araby”

Question: Discuss the theme of James Joyce's short story "Araby”.

Or, Comment on the theme of quest for ideal beauty in James Joyce's short story "Araby".

Or, Bring out the theme of James Joyce's short story "Araby” and show how far material reality and romantic vision are incorporated in it.

Or, How does James Joyce show the romantic craving of a young heart in a realistic setting in his short story “Araby”?

Or, “James Joyce's short story "Araby" presents man's universal search for an unattainable ideal.”– Discuss Elucidate.

Or, To what extent the theme of James Joyce's short story “Araby” is a search for ideal in life?

Answer: James Joyce's “Araby", one of the celebrated short stories in his collection of stories Dubliners, is a wonderful work of art. The plot of the story is quite intricate and most of the actions take place in the innér regions of the boy protagonist. Besides focusing on the dull and dreary living conditions of Dublin city, the story focuses on the psychological development of its protagonist, an adolescent boy. On the surface, the story is about a boy's failure to buy a gift for his long-adored girl. But on another level, the story is about the protagonist's search for ideal beauty. The boy's quest for perfect beauty ends in frustration and anger and in the process he attains maturity by learning the grim realities of life.

In the story "Araby” James Joyce presents the city of Dublin as a dull and dreary place. The place the boy lives in has hardly anything soothing about it. The North Richmond Street is a blind one. The lamps of the streets are also feeble. Day after day the protagonist watches the same streets, and same market scene and listens to the typical familiar noises. The intervals in these common sights occur when Mangan's sister comes out to call his brother to tea.

Living in a dull and suffocating environment the teen-aged protagonist fabricates his own ideal of beauty. For the teen-aged boy, Mangan's sister is his ideal of beauty. To him, she symbolizes heavenly charm, sublimity, and purity. He is so overwhelmed by the girl that he is often confused about his feelings. He fails to distinguish between love and adoration. He is so obsessed with this unnamed girl that he even fails to concentrate on other things. There is a religious overtone in his life. He compares his heart full of love to the sacred 'chalice' or 'Holy Grail' to be borne 'safely through a throng of foes. He chants her name the way a religious person murmurs God's names. He even pressed his hands together ‘until they trembled, murmuring: O love! O, love! many times. Though the girl is only his next-door neighbor, ideally she is a goddess to the imaginative boy. The ideal of beauty in the form of Mangan's sister at one point converges with the boy's dreamy idea of Araby, the oriental bazaar.

The turning point in his life occurs when one day his ideal of beauty, his long-adored lady Mangan's sister talks to him. The girl tells him about her desire to visit the oriental bazaar named Araby, but she is prevented by a duty. The boy lover takes the opportunity of proving himself as a man to his lady of adoration. He promises to bring her a nice gift from the bazaar. Araby, the oriental fete, is transformed into a symbolic fairyland where lovers' wishes shall be fulfilled. The teenage boy starts dreaming of fulfilling his dream by bringing a gift from the oriental bazaar. From that moment onward Araby becomes a magic land for the imaginative boy. He is so obsessed with the idea of fulfilling his dream that he automatically utters the word 'Araby' like a magical catchword – “The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me". From that moment onward all his attention is concentrated on 'Araby'.

Historically, 'Araby' was the name given to a grand oriental fete, held in Dublin between the 14th and 19th of May 1894. It was a sort of a bazaar in English usage, in which goods were usually sold for the benefit of charities, and side shows were also provided for the amusement of the visitors. But for the romantic boy porta, agonist Araby becomes a haunting place of romance for the adolescent mind. With all his heart the boy is on the quest for ideals in his life. He longs to visit Araby because to him it is a place of romance and charm. More importantly, it is a place wherefrom he can bring a present for the girl of his romantic adoration.

After his conversation with Mangan's sister 'Araby' becomes his point of interest. He not only plans to visit the place but also fabricates his own ideal of the place. Though physically he lives in drab surrosurroundingsis imagination he creates an ideal world of beauty and fulfillment. Visiting the place and buying a gift for his girl become the all-important thing in his life. He manages his uncle's permission for visiting the place. But because of his late arrival on the scheduled day, he starts late. He rushes to the oriental bazaar when he enters it is rather late. His romantic mind envisioned the place as a place blessed with soothing beauty. In his imagination idealized Araby as a place where he would come by the ideal gift for his girl of romantic adoration. He enters the bazaar with his expectations and a yearning for the full enjoyment of romance and thrill. But to his utter dismay, the reality proves completely reverse. It is far from his ideal. It is already dark and the stalls are almost empty. The hall is also almost dark. His dream of 'Araby' comes crumbling down. His dream remains unrealized. The dull counting of coins and the prosaic talk of a lady and some other persons in some details shock his long-cherished dream of the place. His illusions or idealized visions about the place are over. He is so disillusioned that he even forgets his purpose of coming to the place – "Remembering with difficulty why I had come, I went over to one of the stalls and examined porcelain vases and flowered tea sets”. He painfully discovers that Araby is not a place of magic and romance. He accepts the grim realities of life. He realizes that his search for ideal beauty cannot be fulfilled in this mundane world. He leaves the place, disgusted and disappointed.

The name 'Araby' has a symbolic significance. It represents the ideal that is cherished by the human craving. This is the ideal of romance and beauty, which haunts the mind. But the idea of guidance and beauty is eventually lost in the dull reality of a mechanized city. The teenage protagonist of the story craves an ideal beauty in life. He dreams of giving a gift to his dream girl from the dream place known as 'Araby'. He painfully realizes that his dreams are not to be fulfilled. His bitter experience in the bazaar is symbolic of human frustration caused by the failure to realize an ideal of beauty.

In James Joyce's short story “Araby” the bazaar stands for a magical place of romance and beauty, which cannot be found in the real world. There is a gulf of difference between the 'Araby' of the boy's romantic mind and the 'Araby' of the real world. As he fails to buy a gift for his dream girl, he probably loses the chance of impressing her. He discovers the bitter truths of life in the frustration and anger that he encounters. The image of Mangan's sister, the author's poetic adoration of her very movements, and his promise to her about Araby are all presented with delicate touches that have more of a vision than of reality, more of dream-like sensation than of actual experience in life.

Joyce's beautiful short story is about dreams and the desire for beauty and romance. The story implies a crude contrast between reality and dream, between the drab surroundings of a commercial center and the romantic environment of all beauty and dream. The romantic vision of the boy protagonist symbolically represents the romantic longing of a young heart and his failure to materialize his dream is symbolically man's inability to grasp the ideal. The story symbolically delineates man's frustrated search for the ideal.