," the young narrator has dreamed of Mangan's sister, on whom he has a crush, and of the bazaar, Araby. The two conflate, or come together in his mind, especially as he has promised Mangan's sister a gift from the bazaar if he goes. Both the bazaar and the girl represent to him his aspirations of finding a better, more beautiful, more exotic life than the one he leads. His life is characterized by being dull and brown, lived at the end of a blind alley or cut-de-sac, hemmed in by an alcoholic uncle and the restraints of school.

Instead, when he gets to Araby just as it is closing, he realizes he has been deluding himself. The bazaar, dusty and junky, with booths manned by ordinary Dubliners, is nothing like the enchanting place he expected. He realizes that both a better world and Mangan's sister are out of his reach. He feels he has been vain, puffing himself with the fantasy of being more than he is, and his eyes (the source of insight) burn with anguish at this knowledge.

The final passage of "Araby" represents a loss of innocence for the unnamed boy narrator. He was so looking forward to going to the bazaar, to buying a gift for Mangan's sister, for whom he's developed such strong feelings. Yet due to circumstances beyond his control, he arrives there too late, just as the bazaar is closing down. As he stands alone in the enveloping darkness, the boy suddenly starts to feel like a complete fool, a victim of his own vanity. He so much wanted to escape, however briefly, from his drab, humdrum little world. But even that was a forlorn hope. The darkness into which the upper part of the hall has fallen ironically provides illumination to the boy. For now he has truly seen the light, truly seen the fantastical, unattainable nature of his boyhood wishes.