Symbolism in James Joyce's "Araby" Essay

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Other characters serve as more direct and specific symbols in the story. Mrs. Mercer, the guest of the narrator's aunt on the evening that the narrator finally manages to get to the bazaar, is one such character. She, like the narrator, has been waiting for the narrator's uncle to return, and both expected him much earlier than he eventually appears. Mrs. Mercer, in fact -- a "garrulous woman, a pawnbroker's widow," as she is described -- eventually leaves, not wanting to be out at night. The freedom that this otherwise pathetic-seeming woman enjoys heightens the frustration that the narrator himself feels while waiting for his uncle, and symbolizes the workings of the adult world that completely ignore and discount the narrator's own feelings due to his youth. His sexual frustration is in part due to the lack of importance and adequacy he feels at the hands of the adults in his life; there is no guidance during this time, but only admonitions to behave.

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The character experiences a definite and in some ways devastating arc as this story reaches its conclusion, and it is here that the most major symbol in the story becomes clear. The bazaar itself, Araby, symbolizes the secret and unknown treasures that the narrator's sexuality promises to reveal at some point. This is what the narrator is seeking throughout the story -- he is trying desperately to get to Araby, for the purposes of buying a gift and staking his claim on his love -- and the bazaar's association with the East ties it to exoticism and excitement quite explicitly in the tale. The eventual disappointment that the narrator feels is deeply personal and painful because of the full symbolic depth of his failure......

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