(278) and he listens "to the fall of the coins."(278) The young lady who should attend him ignores him to exchange inane vulgarities with two "young gentlemen.",(278) destroying the boy's sense of an "Eastern enchantment (277)The boy senses the falsity of his dreams and his eyes burn "with anguish and anger."The boy's manner of thought is made clear in the opening scenes. Religion controls the lives of the inhabitants of North Richmond Street. The boy, however, entering the new experience of first love, finds his vocabulary within the experiences of his religious training and the romantic novels he has read. The result is an idealistic and confused interpretation of love based on the imagery of romance. This creates an epiphany for the boy as he accompanies his aunt through the market place, lets us experience the texture and content of his mind. We see the futility and stubbornness of his quest. But despite all the evidence of the dead house on a dead street the boy determines to bear his "chalice safely through a throng of foes. Mangan's sister is saintly; her name evokes in him "strange prayers and praises." The boy is extraordinarily lovesick, and from his innocent idealism and stubbornness, we realized that he can not keep the dream. He must wake to the demands of the world around him and react. Thus the first half of the story foreshadows the boy's awakening and disillusionment.The account of the boy's futile quest emphasizes both his lonely idealism and his ability to achieve the perspectives he now has. The quest ends when he arrives at the bazaar and realizes with slow, tortured clarity that Araby is not at all what he imagined. It is tawdry and dark and thrives on the profit motive and the eternal lure its name evokes in men. The boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a world that does not exist except in his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and realizes his self-deception. He feels he is "a creature ...
