Comparison Of John Joyce's A & P And James Joyce

In the end, the two boys are faced with the grim reality that the girls have no desire for their company. This is their awakening of themselves. It shows how despair can be both disheartening and uplifting at the same time. The gifts each young man offered his love interest are not well received. No matter their efforts, both young men fail miserably in their attempts to win their respective ladies. Sammy knows what he has done will change his life forever and that nothing can change that now but, is also very exited at what the future holds. The boy from "Araby" is left alone, in the middle of the bazaar, realizing the foolishness of his thought. The final line of "Araby" summarizes the feeling that both boys share, "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger".

The main character of “Araby” and “A&P” differ in just about every way imaginable. In “A&P”, the main character, Sammy, is in the late stages of his adolescence; whereas, the boy in “Araby” new to this stage of life. Yet, they both end up misconceiving emotions for girls who have a higher social class than them. For example, in “Araby” although age is never explicitly stated, we assume that that newly pubescent boy becomes infatuated with his friends older sister

This is shown in “A & P” when Sammy quits his job in protest over the girls being mistreated. He hopes to impress the girls with this. It is this example of self-deception that both stories concentrate that brings the young man to his emotional knees as he is forced to return to normal life after the rejection by the girls. For example, one aspect of the girls that fascinates and interests both boys is the whiteness of the girls' skin. In “Araby” the boy mentions the softness and "the white curve of her neck". This demonstrates the interest he places in the less noticed features. Sammy is equally as enthralled by the sensuality of his lady's "long white prima-donna legs". Also, in “A &P”, Sammy has found himself holding a dollar bill that he obtained from his lady love, to which he says to himself" it just having come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known".

Both stories delve into the unstable psyche of a young man who is faced with one of life's most difficult lessons: that things are not always as they appear to be. Telling the tale as a way of looking back on his life, the protagonist allows the reader to follow his life's lessons as they are learned, imparting upon the audience all the emotional pain and suffering endured for each one. The primary focal point is the young man's love for a completely unattainable girl who unknowingly riles the man into such a sexual and emotional frenzy that he begins to confuse "sexual impulses for those of honor and chivalry" (Wells, 1993, p. 127). It is this very situation of self-deception upon which both stories concentrate that brings the young man to his emotional knees as he is forced to "compensate for the emptiness and longing in the young boy's life" (Norris 309). As much as Updike's rendition is different from Joyce's original work, the two pieces are as closely related as any literary writings can be. Specifically addressing details, it can be argued that Updike missed no opportunity to fashion A & P as much after Araby as possible. For example, one aspect of womanhood that fascinates and intrigues both young men is the whiteness of the girls' skin. This explicit detail is not to be taken lightly in either piece, for the implication is integral to the other important story elements, particularly as they deal with female obsession. Focusing

"Araby" is a story of first love; even more, it is a portrait of a world that defies

One major difference between Joyce’s Araby and Updike’s A&P is the age gap between the two young men, with Joyce’s is of a much younger and inexperienced age while Updike’s character Sammy is entering his twenties. The reader should be able to understand and accept the truth that the young man in Araby has not obtained the understanding to determine the differences between love’s reality; apart from, it is not simple to

The plot in “A&P” begins when the three girls who walk into the grocery store wearing their bathing suits. The conflict of the plot is the the girls who walked into the grocery store wearing nothing but their bathing suits. In this time period it was socially unacceptable for girls to walk around showing a lot of skin. The manager, Lengel confronted the girls for dressing inappropriately and because of this Sammy quits his job right after Lengle confronted the girls. Sammy removed his apron and bow tie and walked out of the store. When Sammy gets outside he expects the girls to be waiting for him but they are gone. The plot in “Araby” starts by the narrator telling the readers how he is obsessed with Mangan’s sister. He says “Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped” (Joyce 331). Mangan's sister tells the narrator about the Araby. She tells him that she wants to go but cannot. The narrator decides that he is going to go to the Araby to get his crush a gift. When he gets there most of the stalls are closed and he does not have enough money to buy her anything so he comes home with nothing. The

Sammy gets a glimpse of independence from queenie when she buys her mother’s crackers. As Sammy thinks of queenie with her herring snacks he imagines “queenies parents standing around eating and drinking only the best things in life” (Updike 288). This imagery shows how desperate Sammy is at becoming independent to be his own person. All of his fantasies are crushed when the girls are told to leave and Sammy tries to stand up and say “I quit “(Updike 289). Shocking one of his family’s longtime friends the store manager, and also not even getting the girl of his dreams. Sammy finds himself stuck without a job because of his unthoughtful outburst. While Sammy may have gained independence he lost thing in life to help him be more independent. His impulsive uneducated action made him loose a job and have to deal with things more on his own since his parents got him that job. With A&P Sammy acted more on impulse and not thinking through his plan. This leaves him independent from his job but not really independent in the since that he really wanted.

The unnamed protagonist in “Araby” is just an average adolescent boy. His schedule never changes; week to week it is always the same. Each week he helps his Aunt shop for groceries and for fun he plays outside with other boys his age. There is nothing special about his family either. He lives with his aunt and uncle in an average house, in a normal town. Like most kids, his best friend is his neighbor, Mangan. His uncle is a business man and seems to follow the same routine every day. The only thing that makes the boy excited each day is the thought of Mangan’s sister. He would time his mornings around her and make sure that when she left her house, he left his. He would follow behind her down the street until he had the chance to quickly walk by her. He has only spoken to her a couple times, but the thought of her drives him

A&P by John Updike and Araby by James Joyce are two short stories that have multiple differences and similarities. A&P is about a teenager and his lust for young ladies and Araby is about a young boy who had a crush on a older girl. I will be comparing and contrasting the portrayal of women, love and epiphany in the two short stories A&P and Araby.

In her story, "Araby," James Joyce concentrates on character rather than on plot to reveal the ironies inherent in self-deception. On one level "Araby" is a story of initiation, of a boy’s quest for the ideal. The quest ends in failure but results in an inner awareness and a first step into manhood. On another level the story consists of a grown man's remembered experience, for the story is told in retrospect by a man who looks back to a particular moment of intense meaning and insight. As such, the boy's experience is not restricted to youth's encounter with first love. Rather, it is a portrayal of a continuing problem all through life: the incompatibility of the ideal, of the dream

“Araby,” is a story of emotional passion carefully articulated by the author, James Joyce, to mark the end of childhood and the start of adolescence. It is told from the perspective of a young boy who is filled with lust for his friend, Mangan’s, sister. He lives in a cheerless town on a street hosting simply complacent families who own brown faced houses that stare vacantly into one another. The boy temporarily detaches himself from this gloomy atmosphere and dwells on the keeper of his affection. Only when he journeys to a festival titled Araby, does he realize that his attempt at winning the heart of Mangan’s sister has been done in an act of vanity. Joyce takes advantage of literary elements such as diction and imagery to convey an at times dreary and foolishly optimistic tone.

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. Love is in the air like the aroma of a fresh lit candle lingering in a room. People are consistently looking and finding love each and every day, in all sorts of ways and places. In Araby written by James Joyce the story of a boy who falls in love with one of his playmate’s sister. Love is seen all throughout the book, making this book have relatable connections to the reader; due to its relevance in the world today. Araby is a prime example of a child hitting puberty, and starting to fall in love. In this book, Joyce shows us how love can make one change their ways and give someone purpose.

Both kids seem lonely and in their own realm. They are both going through a time in their life where they are changing. Each character, in his or her own way, came to a realization. The boy in “Araby”, found the “finer” things in life. He no longer will be a little kid playing ball in the street, like his friends. He now frowns upon them for being such “children”. I think his revolution came when he went to Araby to buy a gift. He was so distraught by being late and having to wait upon somebody else that, he now wants to be his own man. He wants to be in charge of his own self, without having to wait around for permission from other people, especially when their not even his parents.

The story of “Araby” is that of a young boy probably about the age of adolescence who is having his first crush on his friends sister. Although the boy seems to have no intention of realistically perusing the situation when the girl