Comparing A&P and Araby: Analysis of Similarities and Differences
In the stories written by John Updike and James Joyce both authors use the perspective of first person to demonstrate how one's actions can be guided by their feelings of infatuation. Both stories effectively inform the audience how their narrator's feelings lead them to behave recklessly and what drives their actions. The underlying theme found in the two short stories, A&P and Araby is attraction. In both stories the protagonist is a boy who encounters a female that they become infatuated with. These boys will do anything to get these girls attention, and attempt to impress them. The results of their actions are not what they expected. By entering the situation blinded by attraction to these young girls these boys both miss their mark. They fail to impress and in the end suffer the consequences of following their strong desires.
In A&P the narrator Sammy is a cashier at a supermarket. His attraction is towards one of the three girls who came into the store where he works wearing nothing but a bikini. He gives the one he deems most worthy nickname Queenie. Even though the theme is the same for both stories Sammy’s attraction is more provocative than that of the Protagonist in Araby. Sammy gives the girl the nickname Queenie because in his eyes she leads the other girls, not only with her actions but with appearance her too. On page one paragraph two the narrator states She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. The author uses this line to indicate how strong Sammy’s feelings are for a girl whose name he does not even know. This line is important because it just begins to detail Sammy’s infatuation and overall lust over Queenie. It is the primary reason that the narrator tries to impress Queenie and get her attention by quitting. On page two in paragraph 3 Sammy tells us I increase the bill, tenderly as you may imagine, it just having come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known were there,... highlighting his sexual attraction towards Queenie who got the bill from her bikini top.
On page three paragraph 7 Queenie states “We are decent when confronted by the store manager Legnel”. He confronts her about breaking the store policy. This line is significant because it made think what made this girls attire indecent? Was it because of how it made boys like Sammy feel? His actions did not harm anyone in particular other than himself. His strong desire to impress Queenie lead to him losing his job for absolutely no reason.
In Araby the narrator's strong feelings of attraction are somewhat more innocent that Sammy’s. But it is still strong enough to cloud his vision and lead him down a failing path. In this Story the protagonist is a boy who lives in a quiet neighborhood and becomes infatuated with one of his peers sisters. On page two paragraph to the narrator says “Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen”, he is describing waiting for her day after day only miss out on the opportunity of actually having a conservation with her. His feelings are strong enough to land him on the thin line of being a stalker.
We can see the protagonist attraction towards the girl when he says "O love! O love!" On the day he finally has a conversation with her. She asks him if he will be attending a Bazaar called Arab. She then tells him that she is unable to go and he decides to make it up to her. Even though it is no fault of his own decides to say that he will get something for her when he goes. Unlike Sammy he does not describe her as a object meant for m consumption like two smooth scoops of vanilla but as an actual person.
