In James Joyce’s “Araby”, the narrator depicts what love ideally meant to the main character and what it was in actuality. The boy in the story is overcome with sensual desire for this young girl; he’s straying away from everything around his life as he undergoes the pain of love. Emotional desire to be with his “true love” prevailed over him and he wanted nothing but to be with her. But soon enough reality hits and he realizes that his love only truly existed in his mind. For the reason that romantic love is treated as a mere thought that exists in one’s mind rather than a reality. The narrator’s main character depicts the inevitable disappointment and realization of the true nature of love in this world. “Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty […] the young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went back to the two young men.”(599) The boy’s sense of love was destroyed at the bazaar when the young lady showed more interest in the two men flirting with her than him.
“Araby” portrays the difference amid the real and ideal love through the emotions felt by the boy before and after the bazaar.