James Joyce's "Araby"

        There are many statements in the story "Araby" that are both surprising and puzzling. The statement that perhaps gives us the most insight into the narrator's thoughts and feelings is found at the end of the story. "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger. (32)" By breaking this statement into small pieces and key words, we can see it …

…Enduring the gossip of the tea-table (17)" causes him to clinch his fists and feel bitter. His uncle's late arrival home also added to the narrator's feelings of suffering.         When the narrator comes to the realization that vanity drives and derides him, feelings of anguish and anger overwhelm him. The narrator's experience over the weeks preceding the bazaar, coupled with the surroundings he faces leaves him with a painful empty feeling many adults find in life.