Obsession in Araby of James Joyces Dubliners Essay -- Joyce Dubliner

Obsession in Araby In James Joyces short story Araby, the main character is a modern male child who confuses obsession with love. This son thinks he is in love with a young fille, but any of his thoughts, ideas, and actions show that he is merely obsessed. Throughout this short story, there ar many examples that show the boys obsession for the girl. There is also evidence that shows the boy does not really understand love or all of the feelings that go along with it. When the boy first describes the girl, you can collect his obsession for her. He seems to notice every detail such as her dress swung as she go her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side (Joyce 548). You do not usually remember every minute detail of someone unless you are very intrigued by them. Also, note the way he describes her hair as soft rope. This shows the intricate way the boy views her. Another way you can see the young boys obsession for the girl is through his actions. Every mor ning, he waits for the girl to appear, and then he follows her. The way in which the boy waits for the girl definitely shows that he is obsessed with her. The young boy lies on the floor in the front parlour watching her. The blind was pulled down to within an indium of the sash so that he could not be seen (Joyce 548). This sounds like spying, and spying on someone usually indicates that you have a fixation with that person. In this case, the young boy does demonstrate this fixation. For instance, while the young boy is following her, this is the way he describes his adventure I kept her brown figure always in my eye, and when we came uprise the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her. This happened morning ... ...ights go out, and he is in the dark. As he stands there in the darkness, he sees himself as a creature driven and derided by vanity and his eyes burn with anguish and anger (Joyce 551). I think this is when the young boy realizes that his w hole elusion to Araby was foolish because a gift from the bazaar is not going to make the young girl love him. The young boy finally realizes that everything he has make has been driven by some foolish notion that he thinks is love, but now he knows it is just a pathetic obsession for the young girl. The young boys eyes are burning because he feels so foolish about everything he has done supposedly for love, when he finally realizes all of his thoughts, actions, and ideas were just an obsession. Works Cited Joyce, James. Araby. The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed Sylvan Barnet. New York HarperCollins, 1986.