“Araby” Questions
Answer thoroughly in complete sentences with textual support.
- It can be said that this story is so completely told from one narrator’s point of view that the characters, the surroundings, and the weather are colored by his feelings. How do you suppose North Richmond Street, the boy’s house, Mangan’s sister, and the bazaar would look to a detached observer? Does Joyce hint that there is another point of view? If so, how does he do it?
- How does the narrator’s description of the house, the street, and the weather reflect his attitude toward them? What might this setting reveal about the emotional lives of the characters? What doe the references to the former tenant of the house add to the story?
- What common element relates Mangan’s sister and the bazaar in the boy’s mind? Explain the experience in the bazaar as a symbol of the boy’s quest and his disillusionment.
- What does the last sentence of the story signify? Does it alter your thinking about the story as you consider it in retrospect? Explain. In what ways was the boy a victim of vanity?
Link to story: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/araby.html
