Excellent question. Of course, when the protagonist of
this excellent short story finally arrives at the place of his dreams and imagination,
he experiences a rude awakening. Although he had clearly in his mind imagined the bazaar
to be something mystical and mysterious, he is overwhelmed by how normal it is and how
it does not, in any way, live up to his expectations. Note how he thought of the bazaar
before arriving there:
The syllables of the word Araby
were called ot me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an
Eastern enchantment over
me.
Yet in reality, when he
arrives, he finds that it is nothing more than a group of Englishmen selling shoddy
wares. There are no Arabs and no Eastern enchantment whatsoever. As if to underline his
disappointment and how his illusions have been destroyed, the conversation he overhears
is shockingly banal, with two people arguing over whether one of them had said anything
or not. It is of course a combination of all of these facts that force the boy to
experience his epiphany at the end of the story that makes him realise the grim
realities of life.
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