Toma Prokhasko

Written assignment no.1

Analyse the theme of maturation in Joyce`s "Araby"

The period of children becoming teenagers is always very difficult and it can be considered as a

challenge both for the young person itself and for its family. That`s why we need to talk about this

process to understand the reasons for such transformation. In my opinion, James Joyce`s "Araby" is

a story about a young boy going through the path of maturation and this process has been started by

some factors, such as first interest in girls, disappointment and beginning to understand the

problems of the adult world.

First of all, Joyce describes how the interest of the main character in playing with friends changed

into the interest in Mangan`s sister girl. This is a completely new feeling for the boy. Having fun

with peers used to be his main way of spending time, but now he ended up stalking his object of

attention and his feelings are turning into a kind of obsession. Not even having talked to her

properly, the boy religiously perceives his love, and it makes him melancholic. It is something

unusual and strange for the main character, but from our perspective falling in love is common for

most children who are becoming teenagers.

Suddenly the boy gets a chance to impress the girl by bringing her something from the bazaar,

where she can`t go. This makes him so excited, he cannot think about anything else. The boy`s

uncle, who promised him to give some money for the bazaar, forgot about it and came home late.

We can imagine the feeling of the boy`s overwhelming frustration at this moment: he wanted to

impress his love, but a close person let him down. Situations like this are crucial for the process of

maturation because they change children`s vision of life from something perfectly joyful into

something filled with disappointment and suffering. This is a hard, but necessary slap, which starts

the preparation for real life with its problems.

The main character still managed to reach his goal - "the Araby", but almost every shop was

already closed. One more disappointment. He also saw two men and a woman flirting. This sexual
behaviour also turned out to be a discovery for the boy because it shows the real purpose of the

most relations between the two genders. Realization of this fact can be shocking for young people,

but also important for forming the own picture of the world.

One more thing in maturation is the understanding of the role of money in life and how it divides

people. We can see this in the scene, where the boy has to show his acting skills to not being

perceived as someone who cannot afford to buy anything. This is also hard to understand because

children usually don`t distinguish between rich and poor people, but suddenly they bump into this

state of affairs in the world.

Concluding, we can confidently say that Joyce`s "Araby" really shows us the process and the

reasons for the main character`s maturation. The author leads his hero trough the way of falling in

love, disappointment, realization of how adults treat each other and understanding of money`s role

in life. In my opinion, parents should read this story, because it might help them to understand their

children better and to avoid mistakes that can hurt their feelings.