Tyler W. Walker Mrs. Hoyer English 1302 21 February, 2008 “Araby”: A Story of Selfish Desire Unquestionably, all human beings experience moments in their life where they seem to drown out the minor details of life except for themselves. In particular, individuals get caught up in themselves and partake in extremely selfish desires to satisfy only themselves. Many times for a person it takes a great fall or failure to abstain from selfish desires and come to the realization of his or her selfish attitude. In “Araby” an innocent boy becomes wholly infatuated with his friend’s old sister, and he wishes to please her regardless of what it takes. The attitude the boy demonstrates can be directly related to certain scriptural references pertaining to cravings and lust. Clearly, the theme of this story can be applied to a Christian’s life because parallels can be drawn from the Bible. Without doubt, the Bible is very clear on what can happen to men that become consumed with infatuation in one single thing. For example, in 1 John 2:17 it clearly states that “the world, along with its cravings, is passing away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17 can be compared to the theme in “Araby” because the boy realized that by giving up his heart for his desire only lead to his fall in the end. The man that invests his entire heart for God will ultimately achieve true pleasure and communion with God in heaven. In an example from the story itself, when the boy reaches Araby, a bazaar, and sees a woman flirting with two young men, he says,
“I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” From the example, it is clear that the boy realizes his quest is in vain because he has devoted himself to pleasing a girl he hasn’t even talked to. Also, as the boy saw the woman flirting with the men at the market, he fathomed how foolish he was to let one thing consume his entire being when the person he was infatuated with could have felt no passion towards the boy. Overall, these examples show how the theme of “Araby” relates to scriptural parallels of what can cause a man’s fall. Certainly, the author of “Araby” intended there to be many different themes in this work, but the theme of infatuation with the things of this world leading to man’s failure is a definite moral theme in this short story. In conclusion, the boy’s insignificant life encounter with love shows how a vast number of selfish desires can ultimately tear a man to pieces.