Why would a person have feelings for a person only to realize the expectations of the other would just be too unrealistic? Would you find that fact out for yourself or from another person? Both Sammy in “A & P” by James Updike and the narrator in “Araby” by James Joyce find this out, only in altering ways. They are both on this lonely quest to find love with interesting ways to go about it, publicly or privately. The characters in each story provide contrasting opinions to the main character, making it hard to achieve what they feel needs to be done. Updike and Joyce present similar themes because they both introduce main characters and their unrealistic expectations of women as well as their romantic fantasies. However, the setting of both
…show more content…
To start, both main characters have unrealistic expectations. In “A & P”, Sammy is completely enthralled by the “queen” of the three girls, mentioning her “white primadonna legs”(452). He begins to feel obsessive towards this woman that comes into the department store he works at. You could tell this by the way the girls made Sammy’s “stomach turn” when he saw them (452). Sammy was completely befuddled by her, and anything she had said, he would do because of this love he felt. However, what the “queen” and Sammy did not notice until later on was that they were controlled by an underlying situation. Lengel, the manager, had strict policy. Despite the girls coming into the store multiple times before, one Thursday evening he decided to crack down on what was going on. Eventually, Sammy, not agreeing with Lengel because of his opposition towards the three girls, decided to quit the job no matter how others would view him. Unrealistic expectations sink into him when he looks back and does not see them, and he realizes how his life will change after this obstruction of events. Similarly, in “Araby”, the narrator is completely ostracized by other events in life because he wanted to make sure and get his lover something from Araby, a bazaar. However, he does not take into consideration in that his uncle is perhaps a drunkard. His uncle had gotten home a lot later than supposed, and had “forgotten of when James …show more content…
This happened to be the time of young rebels, and how they would try to influctuate the social hierarchy. Young men and women were not at all trying to adapt to society as they were waiting for a time to capitalize. Sammy did not want to be strict and to-the-point like Lengel. All in all, he wanted to start a movement, and these girls further proclaimed what he had intended to do. One might feel that Sammy wanted to start a revolution of renowned public decency, where it would be okay to go into a store with whatever clothing pleased the person. However, in “Araby”, the setting was outlined by the historic rivalry between the Irish and the English. Most of the Irish had conformed to the English, but an interesting point is brought up when the narrator implies that the women helping him was English. Perhaps the English felt as if they would not help him since he was Irish, bringing up an idea of
To start, both main characters have unrealistic expectations. In “A & P”, Sammy is completely enthralled by the “queen” of the three girls, mentioning her “white primadonna legs”(452). He begins to feel obsessive towards this woman that comes into the department store he works at. You could tell this by the way the girls made Sammy’s “stomach turn” when he saw them (452). Sammy was completely befuddled by her, and anything she had said, he would do because of this love he felt. However, what the “queen” and Sammy did not notice until later on was that they were controlled by an underlying situation. Lengel, the manager, had strict policy. Despite the girls coming into the store multiple times before, one Thursday evening he decided to crack down on what was going on. Eventually, Sammy, not agreeing with Lengel because of his opposition towards the three girls, decided to quit the job no matter how others would view him. Unrealistic expectations sink into him when he looks back and does not see them, and he realizes how his life will change after this obstruction of events. Similarly, in “Araby”, the narrator is completely ostracized by other events in life because he wanted to make sure and get his lover something from Araby, a bazaar. However, he does not take into consideration in that his uncle is perhaps a drunkard. His uncle had gotten home a lot later than supposed, and had “forgotten of when James …show more content…
This happened to be the time of young rebels, and how they would try to influctuate the social hierarchy. Young men and women were not at all trying to adapt to society as they were waiting for a time to capitalize. Sammy did not want to be strict and to-the-point like Lengel. All in all, he wanted to start a movement, and these girls further proclaimed what he had intended to do. One might feel that Sammy wanted to start a revolution of renowned public decency, where it would be okay to go into a store with whatever clothing pleased the person. However, in “Araby”, the setting was outlined by the historic rivalry between the Irish and the English. Most of the Irish had conformed to the English, but an interesting point is brought up when the narrator implies that the women helping him was English. Perhaps the English felt as if they would not help him since he was Irish, bringing up an idea of