Araby
...e boy’s confusion of flesh and spirit, and his turning towards the Oriental, anti-Christian bazaar illustrates his failure to heed Romans. The story’s last line refers specifically to Roman’s passage on vanity.” “During his time in Trieste, Joyce became familiar with the rituals of the Eastern Orthodox Church,” according to Frederick Lang (2B). “These rituals are reflected in "Araby," the most Triestian of all his stories. The boy’s worship on Mangan’s Sister is emblematic of Eastern Icons. The building housing the bazaar architecturally resembles an Eastern Church. Joyce may be critiquing the Eastern Church as well as the Irish Catholic Church.” While others say, Araby has nothing to do with us (1). “In some ways "Araby" has nothing to say to us. Ours is not a culture of convent schools and sexual repression, and we no longer rely upon the occasional Saturday night bazaar for titillating entertainment. But in other ways, nothing much has changed. This story has universal appeal because it speaks to the intense passion and awesome insecurity of adolescence. The boy pursues his illusion (what does he expect will happen?) in the face of great odds, but when he is successful and finally reaches Araby, the achievement slips through his grasp. He realizes for the first time the unbridgeable chasm between desire and reality.” While these different and many other opinions are very interesting I lean more towards the description by Jack Coulehan (1). After following his boyish childhood desires, spending some of the money he got from his Uncle, the young lad walks away with nothing other than a ride on a train thus creating the disillusionment the narrator feels at the end of th...