Comparing Adolescence In Araby And A & P

John Updike's "A & P" and James Joyce's "Araby" are very similar. The theme of the two stories is about a young man who is interested in figuring out the difference between reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head and of the mistaken thoughts each has about their world, the girls, and themselves. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character has built up unrealistic expectations of women. Both characters have focused upon one girl which they place all their affection. Both Sammy and the boy suffer rejection in the end. Both stories also dive into the unstable mind of a young man who is faced with one of life's most difficult lessons. Their

The adolescence stage in one’s life is often portrayed as a time of ‘storm and stress’ (Lipsitz, 1980). However, there are

“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.

Joyce’s “Araby” and Bambara’s “Lesson” pose surprising similarities to each other. Despite the narrators’ strikingly clear differences, such as time period, ethnicity, social class, and gender the characters have important similarities. Both narrators are at crucial developmental stages in their lives, are faced with severe adversities, and have a point of clarity that affects their future.

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

In Araby, the boy is younger than his playmates sister. Joyce does not give us any ages of the characters but we can assume because the main character goes outside and plays games with his friends still. Additionally, through his actions we can tell that he is starting to hit puberty. Normally when boys are young kids, all they tend to care about is having fun and wrecking havoc. In Araby however, the boy is starting to have an attraction feeling for his friends sister. Thus, hinting to the reader that the boy is hitting his puberty stage.

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

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

How can two completely different characters from two completely different stories be so similar? In the story A&P by John Updike, the protagonist is a 19 year old boy trying to figure out his place in life, and feels trapped in his “slot” stuck in the boring town, doing nothing of significants. In Araby by James Joyce, the protagonist is an adolescent teen boy who he is trying to find a place for himself in an adult world. As you grow into an adulthood, the feelings of entrapment or confusion may arise multiple times, because adolescents are just beginning to find a place in the world and finding out how it works, that’s true in all aspect including the most complicated one, sexuality and the pursuit of a potential partner. The story both are the views of a teenage boy, and they both are still trying to figure out what they want and how to get there, either through good choices or poor.

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.

First of all, with the use of plot and character as dramatic elements, MacLeod is able to depict the main characteristics of the nature of adolescence, mainly the search for identity and the quest for independence. Among the scientific community, adolescence is believed to be the most crucial period in human development. It is a period of “rapid biological, social and psychological change” (Soto, et al. 330). There are the transformations that define puberty, there are changes in the relationships and attitudes towards adults and peers, and many teenagers struggle to form a coherent identity (331). In the process of discovering their identities, most adolescents become self-centered. Having not yet

Despite their differences in social status, Gabriel and the boy are similar in their emotional makeup. The narrator of “Araby” is a sensitive boy whose romantic notions are easily aroused and

John Updike's “A & P” and James Joyce's “Araby” are very similar. The theme of the two stories is about a young man who is interested in figuring out the difference between reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head and of the mistaken thoughts each has about their world, the girls, and themselves. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character has built up unrealistic expectations of women. Both characters have focused upon one girl in which they place all their affection. Both Sammy and the boy suffer rejection in the end. Both stories also dive into the unstable mind of a young man who is faced with one of life's most difficult lessons. The lesson learned is that things are not

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.

John Updike's A & P and James Joyce's Araby share many of the same literary traits. The primary focus of the two stories revolves around a young man who is compelled to decipher the difference between cruel reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head. That the man does, indeed, discover the difference is what sets him off into emotional collapse. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character, who is also the protagonist, has built up incredible, yet unrealistic, expectations of women, having focused upon one in particular towards which he places all his unrequited affection. The expectation these men hold when finally "face