Obsession and its Consequences in James Joyce’s Araby
Araby is a romantic story narrated by an unnamed narrator. James Joyce, who authored the story, deliberately employed the intimate thoughts and feelings of a first-person narrator to make the story more interesting. The narrator is a little boy who develops strange feelings for a girl living in a home opposite his house. Although the boy’s age is not specified, he is depicted as old enough to attend a neighbouring school and make to a night event. As a teenager, the narrator is attracted by his friend’s sister, and he becomes obsessed with her. His excessive obsession with the girl drives him into doing peculiar acts, including ignoring his schoolwork and beating all odds to attend a bazaar event in an effort to meet her. His efforts end badly when he fails to acquire a gift for the girl leaving him disappointed (Salma, 67). The story is undeniably full of obsessive tendencies which are portrayed solely by the narrator. This paper will, therefore, uncover how obsession has been depicted in the narrative and its associated consequences.
At the beginning of the story, the narrator is introduced as a young boy who has developed a powerful obsession for Mangan’s sister, a girl who lives across the street. Mangan is one of the boys who play with him in the streets and backyards of their neighbourhood. His strong feelings for the girl begin when she calls Mangan to come home for his tea. Upon learning her name, the narrator describes it to resemble “a summons to all his blood” (‘Owl Eyes’), which shows that he has been deeply attracted by her. He goes on to describe her body to be like “a harp and her words and gestures…like fingers running upon the wires” (‘Owl Eyes’). The imagination of a sexy girl standing in the lighted doorway has taken up his mind. To show that he has been obsessed by the girl, the narrator begins to pursue her shyly in the street, without the knowledge of his friend Mangan.
The narrator acknowledges that he had developed confused adoration when he fails to speak to the girl on Saturday evening when he had followed her aunt to the shopping centre. He feels that he lacks enough courage to speak to the girl and express his feelings. Just like other adolescent boys, the narrator is building castles in the air, and he is clearly acting out his conscience. At the fifth paragraph, the narrator reveals that he has, on many occasions, cried for the girl who does not even bother much about him. His obsession for her gathers momentum when he comes to the doorstep to watch her leave her house every moment he wakes up in the morning. He not only watches her at the doorstep, but he also rushes to walk behind her quietly until finally passing her. At all this time, he never speaks to her except for a few casual words than can only worsen his obsession for her.
His obsession for the girl climaxes when she asks him if he plans to go bazaar, an event locally called Araby. The narrator becomes confused about what to answer her, showing that he has no plans to attend the event or he is not even aware of it. To avoid annoying or letting himself down in front of her, he hesitantly answers her that he will be going to the bazaar. The boy has revealed all signs that he is obsessed with the girl. He probably answered so because he thought the girl might be attending the event as she was the first one to pose the question. His wishes never came through as the girl tells him he will be having a retreat in her school that Saturday. After failing to persuade the girl to attend the event, he promises to bring her a gift instead.
The brief conversation that he has with the girl causes the boy to lose concentration in class and leave his playmates in disdain. At this point, the boy’s obsession has begun to interfere with his studies and has cut him off from his friends. While the girl is attending an important function in her school, the boy had decided to concentrate on winning attention from the girl through all means.
The boy’s attempt to obtain the gift is another ordeal that puts him a bad situation. Days before the bazaar, he can think of nothing but the bazaar. He has seemingly transferred his obsession from the girl herself to an obsession with the gift and the bazaar, where he will be getting the gift. Things turn from bad to worse when his uncle cannot return home at a usual time during the day of the bazaar. After a long waiting, his uncle arrives and gives him money to catch a train to the bazaar. He sets out for Araby but unfortunately arrives there late. At this time, nearly all the stalls are closed, and the whole place is in darkness. He strolls to look for a shop in the lonely streets of the bazaar. After a long search, he finds an open stall but feels unwanted by the woman watching over the goods. His eyes cannot also find a decent gift which he can buy for Mangan’ sister. He finally decides not to make any purchase and stands angrily in the deserted bazaar as the lights go out. On realizing that he will not be buying anything for the girl, he turns away slowly and walks into the middle of the bazaar and begins to cry. He describes his eyes to be burning with “anguish and anger” (‘Owl Eyes’).
As discussed above, obsession is a very bad habit that can drive an individual into doing ridiculous things. It can be normal for adolescents to have intense feelings of love that can be difficult to manage, but the narrator’s case is a not a love instance and rather blatant obsession in the name of love. What the narrator is having is an illusion of love and not true love. If it had been real love, the boy would not have undergone all these setbacks. Firstly, we see him developing imaginations of the girl in his mind, which apparently control his behaviours and actions thereafter. The preliminary effect of his obsession is him waking up and following the girl in the streets every day in the morning. The next misery is the boy trying all means to speak to the girl, which eventually happens but instead let him into another ordeal. This time the boy persuades his uncle to give him money to attend the bazaar where he will buy the girl a gift. As a build-up of his impending misery, his uncle returns home behind time, causing the boy to arrive in the bazaar late. He never gets anything to buy for the girl from the market. Everything ends in disarray. Love is supposed to give happiness and not agony. Instead of reaping goodies that come with true love, the boy behaves as if he is suffering from obsessive disorder throughout the story. This kind of sickness leaves him a disappointed man at the end.
Works Cited
Owl Eyes. “Araby.” Retrieved from <https://www.owleyes.org/text/araby/read/chapter-ii>
Salma, Umme. Orientalism in James Joyce’s “Araby.”Research on Humanities and Social
Sciences (2012), Vol.2, No.2, 1-14.