Dubliners

The first three stories in the collection—“The Sisters,” “An Encounter,” and “Araby”—are voiced by a first-person, unnamed protagonist implied to be a middle-grade to preteen boy. While the stories are separate narratives, they can also be interpreted as episodes in a single boy’s life. Both the first and third narrators live with an uncle, and “Araby” references the death of the priest that took place in “The Sisters.” Joyce positions this narrator as an everyman character that many young boys living in this time and place would find relatable. He is impulsive and adventurous, as illustrated by his choice to skip school and to go on a quest to the Araby market; he is also eager to prove himself to others, shown by his need to impress the priest, Mangan’s sister, his school friends, and the older man in “An Encounter.” In the latter instance, the narrator initially feels eager to show off his intellectualism: “I pretended that I had read every book he mentioned […] because I was afraid the man would think I was as stupid as Mahony” (22-23). However, he also shows himself to be easily taken in and led astray, pointing to his youth and inexperience.