Comment on the narrative voice of the story. Why does the boy get disillusioned at the end of the story? Does the confrontation with the reality take place only at the end? At what moment in the story and in what details does he confront the actual?
             The narrative voice of Araby by James Joyce is the author taking on the role of a male whose name is never mentioned. From the description of the setting we learn that he lives with his aunt and uncle in a working class area of Dublin.
             In the beginning of the story we are led to believe that he is a boy, playing in the streets with his friends as children do "The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes ...." (Joyce, page 105). This same beginning if looked into in depth can also tell us a little about his overall view on life and himself. He mentions the uninhabited house at the end of the street "...detached from its neighbors ..." (Joyce, page 105). This gives us the illusion that he sees himself detached from the rest of the neighbors and feeling alone. He also makes mention of being conscious of the houses around him and of the decent lives within them. Maybe what he is saying is that he does not see his life as decent because he is having all these thoughts about Mangan's sister. He has all these bottled up emotions that he can not share with anyone and this makes him feel alone hence, the mention of the house standing alone.
             As the story progresses we come to realize that he is not a boy but a young adolescent who is fighting feelings of love for the girl next door. Thinking of her constantly, even in the most unromantic places like shopping with his aunt in the market place or standing in the small back room where the priest had died, obsesses him. He sums up his feelings for her perfectly when he says "But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." (Joyce, page 106).
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