Originally Posted by
kasie
I wonder if the OP has read Araby within its context? Although it is a story complete in itself, it is also part of the whole of Dubliners, in which Joyce paints a portrait of the city through the people who live there: it's often regarded as a kind of novel made up of short stories. Each story represents some aspect of Life, Birth, Death, Youth, age etc. I seem to remember Araby is (Male) Youth. My favourite is Clay, a heart-breaking cameo of Death, where every detail, even down to the song the 'heroine' sings, is a symbolic facet of Death.