In James Joyce's "Araby," the main character is in love with his friend's sister. She tells him that she wants to go to Araby for the bazaar, but is unable to because of a retreat in her church's convent. The boy decides to go for her, and tells her he will get her something. It is at the bazaar, that the boy has paralysis and an epiphany.
The boy waited in anticipation for his trip to Araby. When he finally arrives, he goes to a shop and sees a young lady flirting with two young gentlemen. He finds out that the young lady works in the shop and asked him if he wanted to buy anything in a "voice [that] was not encouraging." He realizes that the young lady has no interest in selling the boy anything, so the boy leaves without purchasing anything. This is where he has his paralysis because he is unable to buy the girl anything. This paralysis also displays the fact that the boy is paralyzed from loving the girl.
Soon after, the lights go out and the boy is left standing there with his eyes filled "with anguish and anger." This is where the boy gets his epiphany. He thought that going to Araby was going to bring him closer to the girl, but after hearing the young lady flirt with the young gentlemen, he realizes that the girl doesn't love him. He now knows that buying her something won't make her love him the way he loves her. The way that the girl spoke of the bazaar made it sound so enchanted to the boy that he just had to go there to impress her, but it ended up being an illusion.
This paralysis and epiphany the boy goes through happens in Joyce's "Eveline" as well. Thinking of her mother's life, Eveline has an epiphany to go away with her boyfriend Frank in order to escape her father's abusive behavior. However, right when she is about to board the boat with Frank, she is paralyzed. Eveline is paralyzed because she realizes that she has to stay home and take care of the house and her father, even if he is abusive. She made a promise to her mother that she would maintain their home as long as she could.
Both the boy in "Araby" and Eveline realized that they cannot love who they thought they were in love with at the time. The boy realizes that the girl he was in love with didn't love her back. Eveline realizes that even if her father doesn't love her, she made a promise to her mother that she would take care of him.
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My perception of why the young boy left the stall at the bazaar was because he was unsure of what to get her and the saleswoman was not receptive, so he stood there for quite a while in indecision which was his paralysis. I like the idea that the boy is paralyzed from the girl and his epiphany came from the flirting of the saleswoman. I thought his epiphany occured because he ran out of time to buy the vase, but it didn't really explain an epiphany. This is a rather sad, but obvious (to the reader) realization of the boy. Eveline's realization of her father's "un-love" as unimportant in comparison to the obligation she made to her mother is important, but does not really affect her love of Frank. She had a realization that she idealized her situation with Frank and it may turn out to be just as awful as her relationship with her father, so she decided that Frank was not worth it and her family was. I liked your comparison!
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