Joyce's Bitter Ending to a Sweet Story

For tomorrow's class we were assigned to read various short stories, one of which entitled Araby by James Joyce. I had heard of Joyce prior to this assignment, and had seen his portrait painted upon Barnes and Noble's Coffee Bar mural a dozen times. However, it wasn't until tonight that I was actually exposed to his writing.  I thoroughly enjoyed Araby, and I appreciate Joyce for several reasons. Firstly, I find it refreshing that although Joyce was an expat, all of his work is set in his home city of Dublin. I think that no matter where we end up in life, our home will always have a place in our memory's and I respect Joyce for embracing that. Also, I love the imagery Joyce uses in this short story, like when he describes the houses on his street as "conscious of decent lives within them," and gazing "at one another with brown imperturbable faces." What a beautiful line that gives such life to what could have been just regular brown houses!

The ending, on the other hand, left me feeling bereaved and, slightly disturbed.

Okay, so the last sentence of Araby really caught me off guard.
"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."

Suddenly, this innocent tale of a boy's first love turns sour! Towards the end of the story, the narrator was examining prospective gifts for Mangan's sister. When the sales woman is reluctant to help the narrator with his purchase, he then completely gives up on his entire mission. Perhaps the narrator not only gives up on his mission to buy Mangan's sister something from the bazar, but also on his love for Mangan's sister all together? The last line says that the narrator was "driven and derided by vanity." Could the woman from the bazar really have wounded the narrators pride that badly? Or is there something deeper? Joyce mentions that Mangan's sister is required to go on a retreat with her convent. Could Mangan's sister be a nun, and the narrator now realizes that his adoration for her could never go anywhere?

Regardless of the disappointing ending, I cannot deny that Araby was beautifully written and enjoyable to read.