The Human Condition
The human mind is an incredibly unique gift with which we are all given the benefit of having. Through the use of our individual mind-set, we are all conditioned to think and react in certain ways which affect our daily impact in life. In the short stories, The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, A & P by John Updike, and Araby by James Joyce each author illustrate their characters in such a way which allows the reader to envision the character’s meaning of life as they face different challenges. Jealousy, envy, power and seduction are all part of the drive which encourages these characters to indulge in events that define human condition, which generally “refers to anything unique about being human, no matter the gender, race …show more content…
Maupassant describes how Mathilde’s “hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it around her throat, outside her high necked dress, and remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself.” (601). Maupassant makes the power of the necklace more apparent when towards the end when delivering the news through Mme. Forestier that the original necklace which Mathilde had borrowed was not authentic, which further shows that it was never the necklace which gave Mathilde her high status appearance that night, but the power of Mathilde believing in her mind that it was …show more content…
The protagonist in A & P, Sammy who is an employee at A & P is quickly drawn into seduction by a young teenage girl who walks into the store wearing a bathing suit. Sammy’s seduction towards her appearance is so strong that it generates an entire argument between the store manager Lengel and himself in response to Lengel’s irritation towards the young teenager’s bathing suit and his retaliation towards having a customer dressed in such a way. Sammy even goes as far as quitting his job because of this, which further shows how empowered the act of seduction is for Sammy. Similarly, the protagonist in Joyce’s short story, Araby the character who is not named is also driven by seduction as the author describes how the protagonist stands day by day waiting to catch a glance of his friend Mangan’s sister as she walks out of her house. The influence of her beauty compels the protagonist to visit a Bazaar in order to gift something to her but days before his departure Joyce describes how the protagonist cannot focus on anything writing “I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play.” (455). For this reason, it is clear that the protagonist had no room for any other
The human mind is an incredibly unique gift with which we are all given the benefit of having. Through the use of our individual mind-set, we are all conditioned to think and react in certain ways which affect our daily impact in life. In the short stories, The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, A & P by John Updike, and Araby by James Joyce each author illustrate their characters in such a way which allows the reader to envision the character’s meaning of life as they face different challenges. Jealousy, envy, power and seduction are all part of the drive which encourages these characters to indulge in events that define human condition, which generally “refers to anything unique about being human, no matter the gender, race …show more content…
Maupassant describes how Mathilde’s “hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it around her throat, outside her high necked dress, and remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself.” (601). Maupassant makes the power of the necklace more apparent when towards the end when delivering the news through Mme. Forestier that the original necklace which Mathilde had borrowed was not authentic, which further shows that it was never the necklace which gave Mathilde her high status appearance that night, but the power of Mathilde believing in her mind that it was …show more content…
The protagonist in A & P, Sammy who is an employee at A & P is quickly drawn into seduction by a young teenage girl who walks into the store wearing a bathing suit. Sammy’s seduction towards her appearance is so strong that it generates an entire argument between the store manager Lengel and himself in response to Lengel’s irritation towards the young teenager’s bathing suit and his retaliation towards having a customer dressed in such a way. Sammy even goes as far as quitting his job because of this, which further shows how empowered the act of seduction is for Sammy. Similarly, the protagonist in Joyce’s short story, Araby the character who is not named is also driven by seduction as the author describes how the protagonist stands day by day waiting to catch a glance of his friend Mangan’s sister as she walks out of her house. The influence of her beauty compels the protagonist to visit a Bazaar in order to gift something to her but days before his departure Joyce describes how the protagonist cannot focus on anything writing “I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play.” (455). For this reason, it is clear that the protagonist had no room for any other