Study Questions
1. Knowing how important religious symbols are in “Araby,” what do you make of the “wild garden” in the boy’s backyard, with its “central apple-tree”?

2. The first sentence of “Araby” describes the Christian Brothers’ School “set[ting] the boys free” at the day’s end. How is this wording significant?

3. Although the narrator is madly in love with Mangan’s sister, he reveals this to no one. What does this imply?

4. The narrator says that her name “sprang to his lips […] in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.” Why isn’t he able to understand or interpret them?

5. What is the significance of the fact that Mangan’s sister cannot attend Araby because of a retreat?

6. After making his promise, the boy loses all interest in learning, stating that he began to “chafe against the work of school.” Why does he have this reaction?

7. When the uncle returns home late and is talking to himself, the boy states: “I could interpret these signs.” Can you?

8. Although the boy rides in a “special train for the bazaar,” its atmosphere doesn’t seem very special at all. What is the significance of this?

9. How does the salesgirl treat the narrator?

10. Why doesn’t the boy buy anything at the bazaar?

Answers
1. The “wild garden” reminds us of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden and the fact that the boy lives in a falsely pious environment. The apple tree, of course, is another symbol of the Garden of Eden.

2. The school releases them at the day’s end, but the word “free” reminds us how oppressive Joyce felt a religious education could be.

3. He tells no one because in his emotions he is extremely isolated from everyone.

4. The boy has not understood for himself his attempt to substitute the young girl’s love for the love of God. Therefore, he doesn’t understand why her name is mingled with prayers.

5. Formal religion interferes with the narrator’s pursuit of her, isolating him further. Again, it recalls the oppressiveness Joyce saw in the Catholic church.

6. He reacts this way because he considers school “child’s play” and the love he feels for Mangan’s sister is an intense adult love.

7. The uncle is drunk.

8. The train’s empty and tawdry atmosphere shows us how isolated the boy is in his quest, and also how unlikely it is that he’ll find spiritual fulfillment at the fair.

9. She treats him with disdain and looks over her shoulder at him because she suspects he might steal something. This symbolizes the British and Irish dislike and distrust for each other.

10. He buys nothing because he realizes suddenly how futile his quest is, how impossible it would be to find cosmic fulfillment in the love of an ordinary teenage girl.