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Similarities between araby and a&p theme
Comparison between a&p by John Updike and araby by James Joyce
Compare john updike’s “a&p” (links to an external site). to james joyce’s “araby”
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Araby and A & P are both interesting short stories written by authors who were famous in their own ways. A & P was written by John Updike in 1961, while Araby was written by James Joyce in 1914. There are many obvious similarities between the two stories, however, there are many subtle differences also. Some of the clear differences that was emphasized includes the young boys overall introduction in the story and personality, the setting of the story, and of course the epiphanies of the young boys. Even though the main characters of the story A&P and Araby are two young boys, they are different in age, personality, and the way they were introduced to the readers. For instance, we all knew the boy from A&P’s name was Sammy, however, there …show more content…
A&P happened during the summer in New England. A lot of sunlight and sunshine was talked about in A&P, the story talks about lightness, and half naked girls in the supermarket, and sexuality. Sammy’s love for Queenie was lustful and infatuated, Sammy is drawn to the girls nakedness, and my not have noticed them if they were not half naked. In addition, the theme of A&P seemed to be centered on the girls’ half naked body. In contrast, Araby happened during the winter “…when the short days of winter came…” (Joyce 251) in North Richmond street, Dublin. The story about Araby talked about the death of the priest…a priest, had died in the back drawing room… (Joyce 251), the description of the story is in a sort of way heavier than that of A&P. In Araby, there was no nudity, and the boy’s expression of love for the girl was more or less agonized and sounds like an obsession. Unlike A&P, the story about the Araby boy was not a sexual story, but was very sensual and he was very descriptive of the girl’s movement and behavior “…she was waiting… her figure defined by light. Her dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side…” (Joyce 252) or when he said …while she spoke she turned her bracelet round and round her wrist…she held one of her spikes bowing her head towards me… (Joyce 253). Also, the boy in Araby’s character is drawn to the purity of the girl rather than her female
A person’s life is often a journey of study and learning from errors and mistakes made in the past. In both James Joyce’s Araby and John Updike’s A&P, the main characters, subjected to the events of their respective stories, are forced to reflect upon their actions which failed to accomplish their original goal in impressing another character. Evidently, there is a similar thematic element that emerges from incidents in both short stories, which show maturity as an arduous process of learning from failures and a loss of innocence. By analyzing the consequences of the interaction of each main character; the Narrator in Araby and Sammy in A&P; and their persons of infatuation, Mangan’s sister
John Updike’s “A & P,” Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” and James Joyce’s “Araby”
Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A & P': A Return Visit to Araby." Studies in Short Fiction 30.2 (Spring 1993): 127-133. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
In this essay I will discuss the short stories A&P by John Updike and Araby by James Joyce which share several similarities as well as distinct differences between the themes and the main characters. I will compare or contrast two or more significant literary elements from each of the stories and discuss how those elements contribute to each story’s theme.
In “Araby” and “Boys and Girls” the plots illustrate that both of the adolescents experience the common phase of growing up. They learn the universal lesson of how different the world is, compared to how they would like to see. The young boy in “Araby” grows into a young man and the girl in “Boys and Girls” accepts the reality that she is a girl. Freeing the horse was like freeing herself. The protagonists in both stories go through learning experience that we all go through, but the way in which these learning experience occur differs with each of us.
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 as one wishes it to be, with the bleakness of reality. This double focus-the boy who first experiences, and the man who has not forgotten-provides for the dramatic rendering of a story of first love told by a narrator who, with his wider, adult vision, can employ the sophisticated use of irony and symbolic imagery necessary to reveal the story's meaning.
Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A&P': a return visit to 'Araby.'" Studies in Short Fiction 30, 2 (Spring 1993)
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 to face with their object of worship" (Wells, 1993, p. 127) is what sends the final and crushing blow of reality: The rejection they suffer is far too great for them to bear.
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.
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.
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,
In “Araby”, author James Joyce presents a male adolescent who becomes infatuated with an idealized version of a schoolgirl, and explores the consequences which result from the disillusionment of his dreams. While living with his uncle and aunt, the main character acts a joyous presence in an otherwise depressing neighborhood. In Katherine Mansfield’s, The Garden Party, Mansfield’s depicts a young woman, Laura Sherridan, as she struggles through confusion, enlightenment, and the complication of class distinctions on her path to adulthood. Both James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield expertly use the literary elements of characterization to illustrate the journey of self-discovery while both main characters recognize that reality is not what they previously conceptualized it as.
Araby is about escaping into the world of fantasy. The narrator is infatuated with his friend's sister; he hides in the shadows, peering secluded from a distance trying to spy her "brown figure"(Joyce 38). She is the light in his fantasy, someone who will lift him out of darkness. I see many parallels to my life as a boy growing up in the inner city of Jersey City. We looked for escape also, a trip uptown to Lincoln Park, or take a train ride to New York City where we would gaze at the beauties on 7th Ave.
In many cultures, childhood is considered a carefree time, with none of the worries and constraints of the “real world.” In “Araby,” Joyce presents a story in which the central themes are frustration, the longing for adventure and escape, and the awakening and confusing passion experienced by a boy on the brink of adulthood. The author uses a single narrator, a somber setting, and symbolism, in a minimalist style, to remind the reader of the struggles and disappointments we all face, even during a time that is supposed to be carefree.