In "Araby," what does the narrator's neighborhood symbolize?

North
Richmond Street, where the boy narrator lives, is in a shabby genteel part of town. Though
outwardly respectable, the people who live in this neck of the woods are somewhat impoverished.
Nothing much happens in this dead-end street except the daily tolling of the school bell. It's
no wonder that the boy should yearn to escape from all this to the magical fantasy land ofand
all it represents.

This rundown little street, cut off from the rest of town,
is symbolic of the condition of Ireland in Joyce's day. A constant refrain throughout the
various stories that make up is the cultural and intellectual paralysis
of Ireland. The air of national decay is palpable in North Richmond...