"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger"

Pick a line in Araby and explains what it evokes to you

"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger".

These are the final words from James Joyce, Araby. For me, these words are the most impacting in the story. The story climaxes when the boy talks to his neighbor , and as I was reading it, I was anticipating something to happen at Araby, for him to meet someone else, or see the girl there with someone else. But Araby wasn't a love story, it was a story of growing up, of disappointments and the let downs life brings. As I read the story, these words surprised me. Joyce gives us insight on all the emotions running through the boy's mind, arriving late to Araby, not this "magical place" and eventually realizing the trip had been in vain.He feels ashamed and ridiculed by his earlier inability to communicate with Mangan's sister. He notices how distracted by his anticipation of the bazaar he was," distracting him from serious school work."

The final words evoke a realization of reality, the feeling of disappointment we are all so family with. Part of growing up is letdowns, and that first eye opening hurts, it burns with anger and anguish, but it is necessary. It awakens us up from fantasy and takes us deeper into reality.