A&P/Araby Comparison

Christopher Nguyen Dr. Pedersen, 1130-1230 Araby and A&P Araby, written by James Joyce 1914 was about a young boy on a quest to woo over the girl of his adolescent dreams. A&P, written by John Updike in a completely different time period, was a story about a young store clerk trying to impress three teenagers by defend them from his manager. Both story lines are different, as well as the time periods and morals, but somehow and in some way, they share many similarities.Between the two stories, you could go through a bunch of examples of how they are similar, but one and only(a) of the more distinct ones is the fact that both stories are told from a first person propose of view. In our first story Araby, it is told from the young boys point of view. Although zip fastener is said much about the little boy himself, we can tell from his point of view that he has a very big crush on his friends older sister. We also see from his point of view that he lives with an unappreciative uncle and a concerning aunt. From our other story A&P we go into the life of Sammy.In his point of view, we find out that Sammy is a store clerk for a small-town A&P store start in Georgia. He obviously isnt excited about his rail line, but when three teenage girls wearing nothing but bikinis on a random hot summer day, he takes notice. In the end, when his manager comes out and ridicules the girls for coming into the store looking indecent, Sammy decides to quit his job in bon ton to defend the ladies thinking that they would commend him for his efforts. Sadly his actions go unnoticed and thats when we all pick up that life from there on go out be harder for him.Theres another element in these two stories that share similar traits. Its the conflict between the main character and the antagonist. In Araby, its the little kid falls for the pretty girl, only to be stopped by the antagonist, this case his drunken and broke uncle. A&P is a eccentric person similar and it starts out with Sammy falling for Queenie and eventually Lengel, the store manager, is his opposition. Neither characters end up with what they truly wanted in the beginning, but it makes them realize that this is only the beginning.There is one special similarity between these two stories is so great that the authors hid well in the text was the vast imagery. In Araby, there was a vast fare of imagery and a lot of it referred back to the bible such as when he talks about Mangans sisters holding her spikes, how her brothers were chip over a cap, and how her hair fell over on side of her dress. In A&P, it referred to how Queenie was in some way a mermaid because of her long, white prima-donna lets and how she came down heavy on her heals.Sammy was in a way, mesmerized like Oedipus had been when they cross paths with the sirens. Although A&P and Araby have different story lines and plots, what they do have in common are hidden messages and dilemmas. Both main characters took the road of chivalry a nd romance, but obviously it didnt work out for them. However it did make them realize that nothing in life is going to be so easy, and in order to achieve their goals, they would have to go through more experiences in order to get what they want later in life.