A & P Araby Analysis

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Recommended: Compare and contrast "A&P and "Araby

“A & P” and “Araby”

James Joyce’s “Araby” and the story of “A & P” by John Updike have many characteristic similarities as well as literary traits. These stories focus on a young man trying to learn the difference between the romantic fantasies that play in their mind and the bitterness that reality can bring to a young man. In both stories a young man has built an unrealistic expectation of women only to meet the tragic despair of being rejected by the object of their boyish fantasy. In both of these stories the authors choose to show that life is not always what it may always appear.

John Updike is famous for taking other authors work and twisting it to show his own thoughts. This is the reason there are so many similarities with small twists between “A & P” and Joyce’s original piece of Araby. This is not to say that John Updike committed plagiarism, it just shows where he got his inspiration for this piece. The story of “A & P”, however close to the literary piece of Araby still maintains its own originality.

The story of John Updike’s “A & P” is set in 1962. This story is written from the first person narrative of a grocery store clerk. In this era of time a two piece bathing suit is almost unheard of, let alone for three girls to come waltzing in to a grocery store wearing nothing but this revealing article of clothing. Updike describes this later in the story saying “As I say, we’re right in the middle of town, and if you stand at our front doors you can see two banks and the Congregational church.” Given one the idea that this is not the place for a normal girl to stroll in wearing nothing but a two – piece.

This story brings to light a 19-year-old boy, Sammy, whom is completel...

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...fts that each young man offers are not even received by the woman of whom they are infatuated with. It is in that moment in each story that the reader feels the just how much despair has truly reached the character. In both of these stories the boys inteded on winning their love is the same. Joyce’s character of a young Irish boy offers a material gift to win over his young women, where Updike’s character offers himself up as a protector to his queen against anything circumstance that chooses to oppose her.

In the end of both stories no matter the efforts they use to obtain their desire, both fail miserably in their attempts to win the young woman over. It is the lesson of rude awakening that Joyce and Updike show in these crucial moments of despair. Both stories teach a life lesson that sometimes the painful road is needed to gain a life experience.

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