The Power of a Female's Appearance

The Power of A Female’s Appearance- James Joyce Essay

In Araby, the female in the story is his friend, Mangan’s sister. She’s a very beautiful woman who the narrator falls for. She’s older and much wiser and has no idea that he has a crush on her. He talks about her figure and how she holds herself. He loves the fact that she’s a beautiful young woman who focuses on herself and what she wants out of life. He daydreams about her and gets in a moment of imaginary love with her. Her appearance is the main thing that has him so caught up in love with her. She has a power that most men fall for especially young boys like himself. One main thing the narrator talks about is how she present herself.

The narrator, who is a unknown boy, moved into a home where a church priest died in. He doesn’t really care all too much for it as much as he does for Mangan’s sister. He does talk about all the games and fun times him and his friends have in the streets. He said they would run throughout the back of the houses and hide in the shadows and bushes. Throughout the whole time they hide from the people in the street and people walking throughout the neighborhood. But the narrator is actually hiding from the girl, Mangan’s sister, or his uncle. He tries to be as subtle as possible not trying to ruin any chances with this girl, and to not have her see him as a kid.

The boy says that when she comes out to call Mangan inside, he “savors” that moment to look at her. He always has little daydreams and nightdreams about her. Everytime she leaves the house he goes and sits in the front room of his house so he can see her leave. He basically stalks her by following behind her. And he’ll walk with her for so long and then finally passes her creepily. He always thinks about her like she’s constantly running through his mind. There is not a moment where he savors her and falls heavily for her. He constantly thinks as if “she’s the one”. He falls into a puppy dog phase.

Everytime he thinks about her, he still gets discouraged to even say ‘hi’ to her. When he finally gains the courage to talk to her, he talks to her about a Dublin festival that she cannot attend. So he feels bad for her, that he talks about buying her a souvenir so that it’s something that she can have something since she couldn’t go. She talks about how much she would like that, and it makes him so excited. He gets so eager that he can’t even focus on anything else except going to a festival and buy souvenirs. He can’t focus on his schoolwork, friends, or anything else that matters for that fact.

This female is much older than the boy that she doesn’t even see, that has a crush on her. She had this boy wrapped around her pinky finger, and she doesn’t even know it. Females have a strong power of controlling a male just by her appearance. If she really