James Joyce’s short story Araby is definitely a quest per Thomas Foster’s definition of a quest in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. There are five distinct criteria the author outlines for this definition; Araby adheres to each of them. It has someone seeking something (a quester), a place for the protagonist to go, a stated reason to go there, trials along the way, and a real reason to go there. A close examination of the Joyce’s text in the context of these parameters reveals how the elements of fiction are used by the author for the purpose of sending his protagonist on the quest. The element of fiction pertaining to setting certainly reinforces this thesis statement. The short story is set in Ireland, presumably in Dublin because it is part of the collection entitled Dubliners. The protagonist is a young boy smitten with a young woman who talks to him about attending a bazaar. When he learns the young woman cannot attend the bazaar yet wishes she could, the protagonist tells her, “If I go,” I said, “I will bring you something” (Joyce paragraph 15). This quotation not only illustrates the most...

The most important part of the story will take place at the bazaar, which is the setting. Also, this quote tells the reader who the seeker (or quester) is, where the place is for his quest, and a stated reason for the quest—to bring the girl something. The author uses the setting to develop the central aspects of a quest.
The fictional element of character is also used to show how this tale is a quest. Joyce uses this element to elucidate the trials along the way that make the protagonist’s journey to Araby a quest. The main trial the protagonist endures is the delay in going to the bazaar because his uncle is so late. His uncle is supposed to give him money to go. When the protagonist asks for it after waiting a long time to depart, his uncle responds “The people are in bed and after their first sleep now,” he said. I did not smile” (Joyce paragraphs 20-21) The protagonist fails to smile because attending the bazaar is not a matter of fun for him, but rather a serious quest. He still goes to the bazaar despite…