"Araby" Final Paragraph

      From a distance, James Joyce's "Araby" might appear to tell a rather pessimistic story about the tarnishing of childhood innocence. After all, when the nameless narrator looks into the reality of Araby - closing markets, a shallow shopkeeper, and a lack of money to actually buy anything - his innocent dreams to become a knight for the love of his life are shattered. However, on the other hand, we must ask ourselves if these fantasies reflect the innocence of a child or the blindness engendered by the society's frozen state of mind. in the beginning of the story, Joyce makes a reference to blindness of the neighborhood as he calls North Richmond Street "being blind," and  in the same sentence brings forth a religious institution, the Christian Brother's School. The small neighborhood of North Richmond Street, as small and inward looking it is, is heavily influenced by this religious institution, the Catholic Church. The Church extending to the personal living quarters of the inhabitants of North Richmond Street. The back drawing room of the boy's house, was a priest's former room in which he had died. The priest, however, was not "charitable" as the narrator associates him with. One comes to wonder how he had so much money to bequeath after his death. Did not engage in charitable deeds when living? A suggestion of corrupted religion is at work in this part of the story. This is the kind of religion that influences the narrator's way of thinking. He fails to fully realize that he is sexually attracted to Mangan’s sister, although the paragraph about "O love, O love" is highly suggestive, but rather sees in his crush what most would see in the Virgin Mary as "her figure defined by the light from the half-opened door.” This means that she is elevated in the splendor that would be found in a religious icon, which is certainly not the case. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that "Araby" is more focused on the satirical aspects of society rather than on childhood innocence. "Musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms," which he uses to describe the narrator's back drawing room can also mean the musty state of mind of Ireland that needs to be aired and freshened. In this sense, the narrator's naive fantasies might not have their roots solely in youthful innocence, but also in the pious views of a backward society.