Learning Journal Unit 1

Nang Shun Lei Win

English Composition 2

University of the People

9th September, 2022

The story “Araby” by James Joyce, was about a teenage boy, obsessed with a girl who live

opposite to his house. When the girl said that she wished she had been to the ‘Araby’ , he

wanted to impress her by going there himself and buy her a gift. However, things didn’t go as

planned and he was left with disappointed. (Joyce, 1914, p.2)

To emphasize the feeling of the boy over the neighbor girl, the author wrote “I had never

spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my

foolish blood. Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance.”

(Joyce, 1914, p.2).

The boy was infatuated with the girl that when she told him that she would like to go to

Araby, he didn’t realize himself what he replied (Joyce, 1914, p.2). Nevertheless, he insisted

on going to the bazaar to impress the girl and told her that he would buy a gift for her (Joyce,

1914, p.2).

Although the boy went there enthusiastically, he was disappointed and realize that things

don’t always happen as planned. To highlight how the boy felt, the author use the phrases “I

saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity” and “my eyes burned with anguish

and anger” (Joyce, 1914, p.2).

Reference

Joyce,J. (1914). Araby. Retrieved form

https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1605307/mod_book/chapter/364522/

ENGL1102.U1.Reading.James%20Joyce%20Araby.pdf