Araby

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Throughout the story, Joyce intertwines the concepts of Catholicism and adoration from the narrator’s point of view.

• In what way does religion influence the narrator’s idea of love? (topic sentence)
• Identify and analyze 2-3 examples from the text in which the narrator intertwines his religion and his emotions.
• How does the narrator’s point of view regarding these concepts speak to Joyce’s larger theme of Love and Religion?

2. In his quest for love, the narrator also finds himself grappling with his own immaturity and naivety.

• Does his role as a narrator suggest that he has dealt with his embarrassment? (topic sentence)
• Find 1-2 examples from the story and discuss how the narrator’s epiphany of his emotions relates to his maturity.
• In which way is the narrator’s epiphany linked to the theme of Innocence and Shame?

3. The narrator describes the possessions left behind in the house by the previous tenant, a priest who died on the premises.

• What is the context in which the narrator mentions the recently deceased priest? (topic sentence)
• Identify the objects left behind and compare them to the narrator’s character.
• In which way does this reference to the dead priest reveal information about the narrator’s feelings of Death and Absence?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the setting of Joyce’s story. How is the narrator influenced by the city of Dublin? How does the physical space of the city affect his development? Analyze the references that the narrator makes to his surrounding space, identifying the language and tone used in the descriptions.

2. What is the symbolic meaning of Araby’s Bazaar? Why does Joyce use the name of the bazaar as the title for the story? How does this title link to the central point that Joyce is trying to convey in this story?

3. Consider how the narrator’s character develops throughout the story. In which ways does he mature? How is his growth a result of his actions? Does this growth result in self-awareness and, ultimately, contentedness? Why or why not?