Monday, 20 February 2012

In "Araby" by James Joyce, what does Mangan's sister do to make a trip to the bazaar so important to the narrator?

All Mangan's
sister does is to mention how much she would like to go the bazaar called , which is coming to
Dublin. She thinks it will be "splendid," but she is going away on a school trip, so
she can't attend.

The narrator has a crush on Mangan's sister, who has no
other name in the story, so when she speaks to him about the splendid bazaar, it gets conflated
(combined) in his mind with his desire for her. His desire for her is heightened as she speaks
about Araby, for the light illuminates her neck and the white hem of her petticoat. He mentions
getting something for her at the bazaar:

If I go, I said,
I will bring you something.

From that time on, the
narrator dreams of going to the bazaar, and can't concentrate on anything else. School,
schoolwork, and the neighborhood seem dull and mundane against his expectations:


The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the
silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me.


However, the enchantment will prove to be an
illusion.

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