Curtis Hooper
English II
Mrs. Southall
3/22/2015
Prematurity in Araby
When children cheat the laws of nature and pluck the fruit of maturity before they have grown tall enough to do so, lose their naiveté, and gain their maturity before rightfully earning it as nature intended. This precursory assumption of maturity strips away the immunity to the outside world that we all once possessed, leaving them ruined. James Joyce undermines this principle in his short-story, "Araby." The young protagonist unnaturally accelerates his mental development, and ultimately leaves himself withered and disappointed in the unmasked world around him.
The protagonist had begun to show his prematurity after his declaration of love towards Mangan's sister. The protagonist, demanding his maturity at his discretion, starts to notice subtleties in the world around him. Rather than jolly gentlemen and pretty girls, he rather notices ,"Drunken men and bargaining women" (Paragraph 6.) No child would view these profane acts as anything more than standard adult behavior, but yet he does. Thus proving, when we force maturity upon ourselves, our blinder's to the world are removed before we are ready to handle it. We subsequently realize that the world we once saw as perfect, is much more of a tainted place now that our innocence has diminished.
As the story progressed, the boys steady loss of naiveté further evolved to make him feel a sense of duty to fit within social normality's. In his own perception, “ I mounted the staircase and gained the upper part of the house. From the front window I saw my companions playing below in the street” (Paragraph 13.) James Joyce expert use of metaphors shows that the protagonist feels that he is above his peers. Though matched in age, his pompous feeling of superiority proves that he has ironically begun to disapprove of childish natures and that he has no time for such frivolities. Therefore, he proves that when we attempt to be mature before nature intends us to, we are ultimately left with a sense of