"Araby" by James Joyce.

The Initiation of a Young Boy by the Realization of His Own Narcissism As humans grow they pass through various stages of development, often some stages are never reached, when a new stage is successfully reached the person has under gone some sort of initiation. James Joyce's short story "Araby" is in simple terms about initiation, it is a story is about a young boy's adventure that allows him to progress from one stage to …

…in trying to make his fantasy a reality, treating a simple gift as if it was the window of opportunity. When the boy became aware of how vain this method was, he awoke to the reality that it cannot be so simple, and that in the real world things don't work out, uncles get drunk and bazaars close and the universe doesn't wait. With this realization he gained self-awareness, the initiation to a new step.