In the next paragraph Joyce invites the reader into a dead priests drawing room, giving the reader great detailed description that plays on our senses. This description of the priest’s room allows us to look deeper into the character of the priest. The reader is provided with a clear, concise description, “curled and damp” pages, the “wild garden behind the house…contained a central apple tree.” When the narrator mentions the “curled and damp” pages he is referring to the collection of book he found in the drawing room that belonged to the priest. We know the priest read these books frequently due to their “curled”, “damp”, “yellow” pages which suggests they have been read many time and exposed to sunlight. The Abbot, The Devout Communicant and The Memoirs of Vidocq were not considered to be suitable reading material for a priest due to their romantic nature, especially the latter that was written by a man who spent his life in the sexual conquest of a woman. This causes the narrator to have mixed emotions towards his love for the girl, his love for religion and also his love for materialistic items. The “wild garden” in the back yard that can be seen from the window inside the room, is alluding to the Garden of Eden. In this paragraph there is also reference to the priest as being “very charitable”. In saying this the narrator is condemning the church and the priest as a hypocrite. When Araby was written it was understood that the priest was supposed to share and give generously to institutions as was required and not to keep them for his own selfish purposes. In bringing these issues to the surface the narrator was successful in presenting all Dubliners including the priest in an unflattering manor. This paragraph prepares the reader for the boy’s materialistic conquest to capture the girl’s love. This is the first insight the reader gets to begin to better understand the boy’s blinded view on love and religion.

“Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven by vanity and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” This Last sentence reveals anger, hostility and a sense of harsh realization. It also reveals the boys rashness that resulted from his inability to afford a gift for the girl. The boys own vanity and ignorance defeated him in his materialistic quest for the girl’s heart. The narrator looking back sees that his love for the girl was based on ignorance and self-deception. As the lights go out at the Bazaar, the lights go on inside the boy’s self absorbed materialistic mind. It is not until this moment that the boy realizes that his own vanity brought him to this situation. The boy sees himself as a sinner because he broke the first of the Ten Commandments. Before the boy came to this harsh realization he thought the world revolved around him, and when the lights go out at the Bazaar he discovers the world no longer revolves around his ignorance.

In the third paragraph Joyce creates a dim, drab, dreary, lifeless image one that seems to express unhappiness. The narrator uses such words as, “dark”, “dusk”, “feeble”, “shadow” and “somber”. It is possible that the narrator uses

Some topics in this essay:
Garden Eden, Catholic Church, Joyce’s Araby, Ten Commandments, Memoirs Vidocq, Brother’s School, James Joyce’s, catholic church, love girl, lights bazaar, reader begins, narrative technique, “curled damp” pages, boy narrator, love religion, deep meaning, impression boy, harsh realization, despite loud commotion,