Araby, by James Joyce (1914)

 Rating: 9/10


  The narrator of the story made it easy for me to immerse myself in the story. Everyone will have an experience of being in love as a little kid. Even though our behavior when we were in love as a kid will look silly and funny as we reminisce those days, I can say for sure that we were as passionate as any adult can be back then, too. In the short story, the young boy went to Araby, the bazaar, because of Mangan's sister. She asked the boy if he was going to Araby, saying that she can't go because of a retreat that week in her convent. The boy ensures Mangan's sister that he will go to the bazaar and get something for her. He eventually arrives at the bazaar about 10 minutes before the closure, but he then realizes the reality and gets filled up with anger and anguish.

 I liked the depiction of the boy opening his eye towards reality, apart from idealism. Blinded by love, the boy went to Araby but eventually escapes from the fantasy and illusion he was seeing about love and Araby. I enjoyed how the author showed the perception about love.

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