Jonathan Abrams is the founder, CEO, and Junior Computer Programmer at Socializr, an online service for sharing event and party information with friends. He is an award-winning serial entrepreneur who created Friendster, the pioneering social networking service, in 2002.
Jonathan, the inventor of a United States Patent for a “System, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks,” has previous experience as the founder & CEO of bookmarking community HotLinks and as a software engineer at companies like Netscape and Nortel. He also holds an Honors B. Sc.
Despite facing initial challenges in engineering school, Jonathan successfully completed his studies at McMaster University and obtained a degree in Computer Science. His achievements include being acknowledged as a “Breakout star” by Entertainment Weekly in 2003 and recognized as one of Advertising Age Magazine’s “Entertainment Marketers of the Year.” The MIT Technology Review also honored him as one of the world’s top young innovators, while he received a nomination for the software designer category at the 2004 Wired Rave Awards. Additionally, even Lenny, who is Jonathan’s friend, named him among the ten sexiest Canadian Jewish Internet entrepreneurs in San Francisco.
Jonathan is the co-owner of Slide, a new modern speakeasy in San Francisco, and an investor in Mamacita, a restaurant owned by Vintage 415. In addition to this, he has co-hosted parties with various organizations including GenArt, Hands on Bay Area, Delicious Karma, Mixed Elements, Donovan, and Martel & Nabiel. Jonathan also serves as a member of the advisory board of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs and actively participates in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community. Previously, he held positions as the co-chair of the SDForum Venture Finance SIG and as a judge for business plan contests such as the Stanford Entrepreneur’s Challenge, UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, and Stanford-Berkeley Innovators’ Challenge. http://www.
On jabrams.com/bio/Themes, there is no symbol more significant in the story than the Araby market. The market’s lack of life, hinted greed (with men counting money but no transactions taking place), and darkness, particularly considering the narrator’s high hopes for it, serve as symbols for the narrator’s realization about his immature beliefs and his understanding of love. It feels as though he is walking through his shattered dreams by the conclusion of the narrative.
Furthermore, throughout the story, every object encountered serves as a reminder of the dull and repressed life in Dublin. The books left behind by the priest suggest he secretly enjoyed scandalous details more than he could openly express. The ineffectual streetlights show how attempts to illuminate the city are rejected. Joyce’s allusion to “An Arab’s Farewell to His Steed” can only be seen as a sad and ironic contrast to the lives of the people in North Richmond. However, the greatest symbol that dismantles the narrator’s naïve and romantic ideals is the bazaar. The other symbols in the story convey the same message but to a lesser extent.
The short story explores various themes, including coming of age, loss of innocence, poverty, idealization, the diminishing significance of the church, and the disappointment of love. These themes interconnect to convey a deeper message. We empathize with the narrator as he experiences shame and anger upon realizing that the love he believed in was mostly fiction. Yet, we hope that he will eventually learn to love real people rather than creating ideal versions in his mind. Although the bleak living conditions may cause distress, we find solace in the narrator’s survival and ability to share his story, indicating that his imagination remains intact.
Despite the possible consolation we may find in balancing opposing themes, we must weigh our reservations against Joyce’s relentless bombardment of somber and impoverished imagery in “Araby.” This assault shapes a vision of childhood devoid of vitality and optimism. While the structure of the story follows the Nelson monomyth pattern, it is important to note that “Araby” serves as an anti-romance. The protagonist, a young boy, is enthralled by romantic stories but constantly confronted with harsh reality and sexual repression. In the end, his innocent journey to purchase a special gift for his neighbor’s sister leads him to confront the insurmountable gap between desire and reality.
He comes back frustrated and without his gift, his dream world shattered: Araby shares many themes and characteristics that are common to Joyce in general and Dubliners in particular. Similar to several stories in the collection, Araby showcases a character embarking on a journey that ultimately proves fruitless, leading them to return to their starting point. Like Evelyn and other stories in Dubliners, it features a circular journey of this nature. Additionally, the narrator resides with his aunt and uncle, with the uncle potentially serving as a representation of Joyce’s father and a precursor to Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses.
The narrator’s contempt for his uncle mirrors Joyce’s disdain for his father, and the absence of “good” parents is relevant. The story introduces an unnamed protagonist in “Araby,” a boy exploring his burgeoning sexual identity. Through the protagonist’s first-person narration, we witness the dull existence endured by North Richmond Street’s inhabitants, which only the children’s liveliness and imagination manage to brighten. Despite the encroaching winter darkness, they persist in playing until they radiate with energy. Despite the dismal conditions of their neighborhood, the children perceive the world with a nearly magical perspective, which the narrator faithfully conveys to us. However, although the boys play like typical children, they also possess an awareness of and curiosity about the adult world. They spy on the narrator’s uncle returning home from work and, more significantly, on Mangan’s sister, whose dress elegantly sways as she walks and whose soft strands of hair sway with her movements. These boys hover on the precipice of sexual consciousness and are hungry for knowledge, marveling at the enigmatic nature of the opposite sex.
The narrator is particularly fascinated by Mangan’s sister and experiences overwhelming emotions towards her. One evening, in a silent and dark drawing-room, he expresses his feelings for her by clasping his hands together and murmuring “O love! O love!” repeatedly until his hands tremble. This climactic moment reveals the narrator’s increasingly romantic idealization of Mangan’s sister. When he finally converses with her, he has romanticized her to such an extent that he is unable to speak coherently: “When she spoke to me for the first time, I was so confused that I didn’t know how to respond.”
Enquiring if I intended to visit Araby, she inquired about my response. I am unable to recollect whether it was affirmative or negative. Regardless, the narrator responds with grace: upon Mangan’s sister expressing her sadness at being unable to attend Araby, he kindly offers to bring her a memento. Now filled with anticipation, the narrator eagerly awaits his journey to the Araby bazaar, thrilled by the prospect of obtaining a magnificent present that will make his beloved cherish him deeply.
Despite his aunt’s worries about it being a “Freemason affair” and his uncle’s uncertain and tardy behavior, the determined narrator sets off for the bazaar, holding onto a florin tightly and ignoring the lateness of the hour. However, his hopes for a magical experience at the Araby market are dashed as he arrives to find that most of the stalls are closed and the only sound is the counting of money by men.
Despite the remaining open stalls, the vision of sexuality and his future that he received from one of them was the worst. In this stall, a young woman was engaged in an inane conversation with two young men. Despite being a potential customer, she only reluctantly waited on him briefly before returning to her frivolous talk. This destroyed his idealized vision of Araby, as well as his idealized vision of Mangan’s sister and love.
