How would the story be different if Joyce had not used the participant narrator in writing "Araby"?

"Araby" is a poignant initiation story told from the
first-person point of view by the boy who experiences the events. It is an example of
what might be called an interior plot--the heart of the story lies in the boy's thoughts
and emotions rather than in the series of external events. For example, the external
events are very simple: He watches Mangan's sister, he tells her he will buy a souvenir
for her at the bazaar; he manages to get to Araby, but arrives late. It is instead his
emotional journey, ending in disillusionment and despair, that drives the narrative and
develops its theme.

Joyce could have examined the boy's
feelings by writing the story in the third-person omniscient point of view, but it would
not have been as effective. No point of view brings the reader closer to a character
than the first-person point of view, and the power of "Araby" is developed through the
reader's understanding of this boy's deepest needs and desires. To really understand his
environment and his feelings, the reader must experience them as he does, and that is
best achieved by listening to him tell his own story.