I would like to just comment by saying the narrator, who is the little boy in this book, was unnamed. The "Araby" that you speak of was the name of the bazaar that came to the Irish town where the narrator lived. A bazaar is like a market place.
Why Did James Joyce Wrote The Story Araby?
James Joyce was a popular and influential writer of the 20th century. He was an Irish Expatriate and is best known for his novel Ulysses.
The short story Araby was written by James Joyce in the year 1914. It is from his collection of short stories called Dubliners. It is about a character name Araby who goes through a physical and emotional journey through this story.
This story has many themes and traits that are common to Joyce and his personal life. One reason that might have persuaded Joyce to write this particular story and certain other stories was that he lacked a good father and always scorned upon him. He has emphasized on the merits of a good upbringing. Like in this story Araby grows up into a man but his journey is fruitless. He has described several issues through this story such as coming of age, loss of innocence, dangers in idealization, decreasing importance of the church etc. So James wanted to give the youth a lesson that is why he wrote this story.
