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In "Araby," what does the sentence "I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes" indicate about the narrator's attitude to love?

The youth both romanticizes and idealizes his love for Mangan's sister.


As he helps his aunt with her shopping on Saturday evenings by carrying some of the parcels, the youth's imagination merges the mundane with chivalric and religious ideals in his description of his efforts:



...amid the curses of labourers, the shrill litanies of shop-boys...These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises.... 



The phrases that elevate the mundane outing to the spiritual and romantic ideal of a quest for the Holy Grail indicate the deluded and romantic imagination of the youth. Further, the youth carries in his mind the image of Mangan's sister standing against the lighted window during the day and at night in his bedroom. Then, when he hears of Araby, he feels the influence of an "Eastern enchantment."
However, when the youth finally arrives at the bazaar, he experiences a crushing moment of self-realization as all is tawdry there. The mystery and spiritual fervor of his infatuation abruptly ends as he perceives himself as "a creature driven and derided by vanity."

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