The imagery of light and darkness in James Joyce's Araby is arguably the most overwhelmingly powerful throughout the narrative. The light, usually appearing as a luminous aura, seems to be constantly accompanying the unnamed female. The boy dreams and yearns for her light to guide him to his meaning in order to escape his reality. The ever lingering darkness portrays the boy's inescapable reality, one that is bleak, cold, and somber. His childhood street, his family home, and the market "Araby" leave the boy surrounded by darkness; this is his undesirable reality. Throughout the journey of the young boy, Joyce uses the infatuation for Mangan's sister and her luminescent description to demonstrate the false hope conjured by desperation, whilst using darkness to portray the reality and entrapment one must face when the illegitimacy of these dreams are realized.
The setting is laid out for the reader within the opening paragraphs. The story begins in the cold winter months, taking place in the evenings due to the "short days." The street inhabited by the boy is home to dwellings with "brown imperturbable faces" that "grew sombre before [the boys] could meet" beneath the violet sky and the "feeble lanterns."(18) A gloomy, light deprived environment is pictured, thus suggesting an area where the working class of Dublin call home. The images of darkness and dullness indicate the reality of his situation. Poverty in the Irish capital is common; the boy finds himself one of the many entrapped by his social class. The gloomy description suggests he may lack motivation or the means to find reason in his stark world; a mindset which could be attributed to his class. In contrast to the dark surroundings, the boy and his friend play until their bodies "glow."(18) Young and naive, the children are still unaware or merely not bothered by the reality of their state.