LIT I WORLD LITERATURE

Collection of
Reflection Papers
by Kurt Russel C. Saet,
BS in Mechanical Engineering 3A

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Metamorphosis
Araby
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love &
The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

LIT I WORLD LITERATURE

 Araby
by James Joyce
A raby is a short story that is part of a collection titled Dubliners by James Augustine

Aloysius Joyce. Dubliners is consisting of fifteen short stories that comprise a depiction of the

Irish working-class life in the city of Dublin and is arranged from childhood, adolescence, and

maturity. James Joyce is one of the most esteemed writers in the English language. He was an

Irish novelist, poet, and short story writer, who is known for his eccentric and complex content.

His works are mostly centered on his birthplace, the City of Dublin, the city that he both love and

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hate.

eing the third short story, Araby’s narrator is in his adolescence stage slowly transitioning

to maturity. It is about a young boy who falls in love with his neighbor’s sister. He spends his

time watching her from his house or thinking about her. He and the girl finally talk, and she

suggests that he visit a bazaar called Araby, which she cannot attend. The boy plans to go and

purchase something for the girl, but he arrives late and buys nothing.

A s I’ve read the short story on my first reading, I somehow felt disappointed. I was like, is

that it? What’s the plot? The boy saw the girl, the boy talks to the girl, the boy tries to impress

the girl by buying her something, then the boy ended up buying nothing and became sad. When I

read it again, I tried to understand it by focusing on other things other than the plot. I tried to

search for the goal of this short story. That’s the time when I shifted my attention to the narrator.

I
I notice how detailed he narrates the story. From the colors of the houses that may represent how

dull the 19th Century Dublin is to the things like his uncle’s reaction from coming home from

work. I can freely say that he must be observant which is normal for a young person because

they are extremely curious and they tend to explore everything. Another thing that caught my
attention was that he was raised by his aunt and uncle. Where are his parents? What happened to

them? We do not know about them instead we only know that he is being taken care of by his

aunt and uncle who doesn’t apprehend what he’s going through at this stage of his life. That is

quite saddening for me because I understand how hard it is to not have your parents around.

They should act as your safe ground whom you’ll freely share your thoughts and stories and they

will give their inspiring advices for you. I saw this as the reason why he quite matured earlier

than his playmates, who are still going on with their kind of early childhood life, for the reason

that he’s the first to fall for a girl. I assume that because of the absence of his parents, he’s

longing for worldly love from other people. But what he’s longing for is not that easy to possess.

As the story progresses, he had the moment to talk with this girl who asked him whether he is

going to Araby. This made him thrilled, enlivened, and electrified that he tried to impress the girl

by saying that he’ll get something for her after he went to Araby. On the day that he’ll go to

Araby, he anticipates that something will turn out badly, even after his uncle consoles him, and

this perhaps shows that he knows that he has unrealistic expectations for the bazaar—however he

actually can't resist sticking to them. All he thinks of about is the girl. And when the night came,

he got his first disappointment because his Uncle arrived late and forgot about the money, he

asked for earlier that day. Anyway, he still went to the bazaar. However, inside the bazaar his

awe disappears, most of the stalls are closed and silence is comparable to that of a church after

the service has ended. The narrator’s realization that people flirt to pass the time, even at the

bazaar, makes his feelings for the girl seem ordinary. He rapidly loses certainty as he

understands that the shopkeeper doesn't pay attention to him, and he likewise understands that

both the bazaar and his affections for the girl are something more normal than what he had

developed them to be. This ending is really striking because this is not the typical story where it
ends when they lived happily ever after, instead the boy realizes that what he felt is not love and

he perceives that his emotional attachment to the girl can lead to no bright future. It does not lead

anywhere at all. I feel sad for the narrator. I can see how the girl seemed to be his bright light in

the dull and dark street of Dublin. I see this as part of a character development for the boy. In my

own life, I consider everything that happens in the present is for my character development. I

remember how I lost friends because I cut them off for they betrayed me. I saw that experience

as traumatizing but on the other side, I see it as a way for me to not give my trust easily to other

people to prepare me for the outside world and the people I may encounter in the future.

can somehow relate this story to John Green’s Paper Towns where the protagonist

Quentin Jacobsen is in love with Margo Spiegelman and the situation of things are not like what

he thought so. After seeing the movie adaptation of it, it made me sad for days. I’m not used to

stories that lacks a happy ending. I’ve never been deeply in love with someone that’s why I am

not directly aware of the realities of being in love. I see myself as a career-focused person who

has no time for those things but there are times when I wonder, out of my curiosity, what does it

really feel to be in love. I have crushes, of course, and I only see them as fuel for my inspiration

to pursue my dreams. I am afraid that if I’ve been in love with someone and I started a

relationship while I am in College, it will shift my focus from studying because it’ll be my first

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time, I’ll be so hooked up to it.

his short story is worth reading for you can distinguish the relationship between dream

and reality. Reality can somehow be a bit disappointing but we should never stop dreaming.

Keep dreaming and reading!