A&P/Araby Comparison Essay Example
Christopher Nguyen
Dr. Pedersen, 11:30-12:30
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 defending 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 find a bunch of examples of how they are similar, but one of the more distinct ones is the fact that both stories are told from a first person point of view. In our first story Araby, it is told from the young boy’s point of view. Although nothing 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 friend’s 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 down in Georgia. He obviously isn’t excited about his job, 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 order to defend the ladies thinking that they would commend him for his efforts. Sadly his actions go unnoticed and that’s when we all realize that life from there on will be harder for him.
There’s another element in these two stories that share similar traits. It’s the conflict between the main character and the antagonist. In Araby, it’s 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 bit similar and it starts out with Sammy falling for
Dr. Pedersen, 11:30-12:30
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 defending 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 find a bunch of examples of how they are similar, but one of the more distinct ones is the fact that both stories are told from a first person point of view. In our first story Araby, it is told from the young boy’s point of view. Although nothing 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 friend’s 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 down in Georgia. He obviously isn’t excited about his job, 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 order to defend the ladies thinking that they would commend him for his efforts. Sadly his actions go unnoticed and that’s when we all realize that life from there on will be harder for him.
There’s another element in these two stories that share similar traits. It’s the conflict between the main character and the antagonist. In Araby, it’s 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 bit similar and it starts out with Sammy falling for