Comparing Araby And Rushmore

1064 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Araby essay james joyce

There are always books and movies about girls falling in love and rarely about boys. That theme changes when it comes to Araby by James Joyce and Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson. Araby follows the story of a young boy who falls in love with his neighbor. While Rushmore is a movie about a fifteen year old boy, Max Fischer, who falls in love with a preschool teacher at his school. James Joyce and Wes Anderson both exemplify how boys too fall in love and have their own tribulations. The boy in Araby was completely smitten with his neighbor and saw everything through the eyes of love. Everyday he has his own routine to make sure he would be able to see the girl. "Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door. The …show more content…

Cross, is at the top. Max stumbles upon Ms. Cross due to a quote she wrote in a book. Max becomes intrigued by Ms. Cross to the point that, "She puts a cigarette in her mouth and searches in her pocket for a lighter. A lit match appears in front of her. Max is holding it" (Rushmore). Max although he does not know Ms. Cross takes it upon himself to seek her out. He somehow finds her as she is on the bleachers and as soon as she needs a light for her cigarette he is there to provide it. He does not know this woman but becomes smitten with her quickly. That same day Ms. Cross expresses an interest in languages and Max brings up the fact that Rushmore is cancelling Latin. The next time they talk Max says, "I thought you 'd be pleased to hear they 're going to continue the Latin program" (Rushmore). Max makes a petition and an argument to the school to keep Latin in order to impress Ms. Cross. Without even truly having a full conversation with Ms. Cross, Max is already trying to impress her. Max may not be truly in love with Ms. Cross yet but he is showing extreme signs of liking her. Boys although they fall in love often do it recklessly without …show more content…

The boy from Araby decides to go to that bazaar for the girl. When he is there he concludes, "gazing up into the darkness I saw just as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger" (Joyce 1206). The boy goes to the bazaar for the girl even though she is a nun. At the end of the night he realizes how crazy his love and actions are. He calls himself a "creature driven and derided by vanity". This statement shows that what he thought was love truly was not but him just getting wrapped up in vanity. The love he thought he had has just caused him "anguish" and "anger". Where the boy from Araby comes to terms with reality Max continues to live in a fantasy. One day as Max helps Ms. Cross in her classroom she brings up the fact that Max is too young for her. Max after a few words between the two says, "and the truth is neither one of us has the slightest idea where this relationships is going. We can 't predict the future" (Rushmore). In Max saying this it shows just how far gone his imagination has gone with delusions of being in a relationship with Ms. Cross. He is aware of their age difference and the rules that prohibit it but continues to hold hope for a "future". Max is not living in reality and is letting his emotions cloud his judgment. Love can lead people to do a number of things it led the boy to the bazaar and Max to live in a

Show More
Related

  • Unrealisticism In A & P By John Updike And Araby

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    The protagonist of Araby is a young boy who is infatuated with his friend Mangan 's sister. The setting, and the introduction of the this woman is nearly identical to that in A&P. Joyce 's narrator spends his time “lay[ing] on the floor in the front parlour watching [Magnan 's sister 's] door” (Joyce 182). Immediately from the outset of the story, Joyce has rendered the narrator as someone who frivolously awaits his female interest with no other motivation. The main character then finally encounters Magnan 's sister personally, where she tells him about a bazaar near town called Araby. Joyce 's protagonist is shocked when Magnan 's sister “addresse[s] the first words to [him]” (Joyce 183) as he has spent a plethora of time yearning for an interaction with her. Joyce has implemented the idea into Araby that males are inherently reliant on females. Interestingly, Joyce has incorporated another male character in his story that is presented as inferior to his female counterpart. The purpose of the narrator 's uncle in the story is to slow the main character from going to Araby. The Uncle comes home much later than expected, and is chastised my his wife: “Can 't you give him the money and let him go? You 'v kept him late enough as it

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried and Araby

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    The idea of love is very complex and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Both “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “Araby” by James Joyce portray the lives of two individuals who are in love. “The Things They Carried” is about a young lieutenant named Jimmy Cross during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Cross was incapable of focusing on the war because of his constant thoughts of the girl he loved, Martha. “Araby” is about a boy who is infatuated with a girl he has never had a conversation with. Although both protagonists in “The Things They Carried” and “Araby” eventually realize that the girls they loved didn’t feel the same way about them, Lieutenant Cross tried to move on by destroying everything he had that reminded him of Martha, while the boy in “Araby” was left disappointed.

    Read More

  • Compare Araby And A & P

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    He describes For the boy in “Araby” He finds out that his crush on his friend’s Sister was just a fantasy. He goes to Araby in search of getting a gift for his lover. He arrives late to the bazaar and finds out the bazaar was closing and the sales people where uninterested in his presence, so the boy is left frustrated because to him Araby was supposed to represent a world full of romance, which would have helped his crush on his friend’s sister become a realistic one because he believed getting a gift from Araby would have convinced his friend’s sister to have a love relationship with him. At the end of the story the Boy says this, “I saw myself as creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce 90).

    Read More

  • The Reality of World in Araby and Boys and Girls

    1184 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story “Araby” opens with a description of North Richmond Street. This gives reader the first view of the young boy's world. The Richmond Street “was a quiet street except.....the boys free” (Joyce 345). The young boy in “Araby” lives with his aunt a...

    Read More

  • The Decline of Chivalry Explored in Araby and A&P

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Araby” tells the story of a young boy who romanticizes over his friend’s older sister. He spends a lot of time admiring the girl from a distance. When the girl finally talks to him, she reveals she cannot go to the bazaar taking place that weekend, he sees it as a chance to impress her. He tells her that he is going and will buy her something. The boy becomes overwhelmed by the opportunity to perform this chivalrous act for her, surely allowing him to win the affections of the girl. The night of the bazaar, he is forced to wait for his drunken uncle to return home to give him money to go. Unfortunately, this causes the boy to arrive at the bazaar as it is closing. Of the stalls that remained open, he visited one where the owner, and English woman, “seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty” (Joyce 89) and he knows he will not be able to buy anything for her. He decides to just go home, realizing he is “a creature driven and derided with vanity” (Joyce 90). He is angry with himself and embarrassed as he...

    Read More

  • Story Of Adeline Wiesel's Beleben

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    The once fragile, nervous boy was now a strong, confident man. He never did see Adeline again though, he had hoped he would magically run into her somehow, but he knew that was impossible – at least, he thought. In the markets that very same day, there she was. He confidently approached her and went to introduce himself, and much to his surprise she immediately remembered his face and who he was.

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence in Araby by James Joyce

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story “Araby” by James Joyce is told by what seems to be the first person point of view of a boy who lives just north of Dublin. As events unfold the boy struggles with dreams versus reality. From the descriptions of his street and neighbors who live close by, the reader gets an image of what the boy’s life is like. His love interest also plays an important role in his quest from boyhood to manhood. The final trip to the bazaar is what pushes him over the edge into a foreshadowed realization. The reader gets the impression that the narrator is the boy looking back on his epiphany as a matured man. The narrator of “Araby” looses his innocence because of the place he lives, his love interest, and his trip to the bazaar.

    Read More

  • Araby: A Lesson in Adolescence

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... quest ends when he arrives at the bazaar and realizes with slow, tortured clarity that Araby is not at all what he imagined. It is tawdry and dark and thrives on the profit motive and the eternal lure its name evokes in men. The boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a world that does not exist except in his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and realizes his self-deception. He feels he is "a creature driven and derided by vanity" and the vanity is his own. At no other point in the story is characterization as brilliant as at the end. Joyce draws his protagonist with strokes designed to let us recognize in "the creature driven and derided by vanity" a boy who is initiated into knowledge through a loss of innocence who does not fully realize the incompatibility between the beautiful, innocent world of the imagination and the very real world of fact. In "Araby," Joyce uses the boyhood character with the manhood narrator to embody the theme of his story. Joyce, James. “Araby”. Literature and It’s Writers.

    Read More

  • Themes in James Joyce's Araby

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrator alienated himself from friends and family which caused loneliness and despair, being one of the first themes of the story. He developed a crush on Mangan's sister, who is somewhat older than the boys, however he never had the confidence to confess his inner-most feelings to her. Mentally, he began to drift away from his childlike games, and started having fantasies about Mangan's sister in his own isolation. He desperately wanted to share his feelings, however, he didn't know how to explain his "confused adoration." (Joyce 390). Later in the story, she asked him if he was going to Araby, the bazaar held in Dublin, and he replied, "If I go I will bring you something.' (Joyce 390). She was consumed in his thoughts, and all he could think about was the upcoming bazaar, and his latest desire. The boy's aunt and uncle forgot about the bazaar and didn't understand his need to go, which deepened the isolation he felt (Borey).

    Read More

  • The Motivation for Anguish

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...om Joyce’s childhood. The young boy may have felt anguish, but the adult that looks back at himself sees someone who desires romance and happiness. Joyce explains “Araby” as the life of a young boy who has dreams and high expectations of the world, but instead the young boy gets a bitter taste of reality.

    Read More

  • Themes of Alienation and Control in James Joyce's Araby

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although “Araby” is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce’s uses the boy in “Araby” to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Epiphany In Araby By James Joyce

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    The visual and emblematic details established throughout the story are highly concentrated, with Araby culminating, largely, in the epiphany of the young unnamed narrator. To Joyce, an epiphany occurs at the instant when the essence of a character is revealed, when all the forces that endure and influence his life converge, and when we can, in that moment, comprehend and appreciate him. As follows, Araby is a story of an epiphany that is centered on a principal deception or failure, a fundamental imperfection that results in an ultimate realization of life, spirit, and disillusionment. The significance is exposed in the boy’s intellectual and emotional journey from first love to first dejection,

    Read More

  • A Journey into Self-Discovery in Araby by James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield’s, The Garden Party

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout “Araby”, the main character experiences a dynamic character shift as he recognizes that his idealized vision of his love, as well as the bazaar Araby, is not as grandiose as he once thought. The main character is infatuated with the sister of his friend Mangan; as “every morning [he] lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door…when she came on the doorstep [his] heart leaped” (Joyce 108). Although the main character had never spoken to her before, “her name was like a summons to all [his] foolish blood” (Joyce 108). In a sense, the image of Mangan’s sister was the light to his fantasy. She seemed to serve as a person who would lift him up out of the darkness of the life that he lived. This infatuation knew no bounds as “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance…her name sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which [he] did not understand” (Joyce 109). The first encounter the narrator ex...

    Read More

  • James Joyce's Araby - An Analysis of Araby

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    The boy sees the bazaar at Araby as an opportunity to win her over, as a way to light the candle in her eyes. However, the boy is more awkward then shy, his adolescence is an impediment to his quest and he lost for words to speak. I vividly recall those times in my young life, driven by desires and struggling with the lack of experience to get through the moment.

    Read More

  • THE CHRISTIAN HOME

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    He swung on the gate and looked down the street Awaiting the sound of familiar feet, Then suddenly came to the sweet child’s eyes the marvelous glory of morning skies; for a manly form, with a steady stride, drew near to the gate that opened wide, as the boy sprang forward and joyfully cried Papas coming !

    Read More

More about Comparing Araby And Rushmore

Open Document