Compare And Contrast Araby And A & P

Both narrators from story “Araby” and “A&P” came to the realization that their immature imagination were way differed from their harsher realities. Story of “Araby” tell us about a young innocent boy who grew up in a cold, silent street with his aunt’s family. Even the house that he lived, had a dead sense of lost past. Bored of his dull-life and loneliness, one day he discovered his romantic feelings toward Mangan's sister. He found something special about her which changed his dream of life dramatically. He became obsessed with her and slowly began to forget his harsher realities little by little “I ran to the hall. Seized my books, and followed her” (108). Finally to win her heart, one day he promised her to bring a gift from nearby Bazar

named Araby. On the other hand, “A&P” tell us a story about a teenage boy named Sammy who was not very fond of his job or the community that he lived in. He thinks of his customers as a domestic animals who have no complaining for anything “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (295). But he was whining all the time and complaining how dull his life is. One day he noticed three beautiful girls in a bathing suits in his store. From the moment he laid his eyes on one of them whom he named “Queenie” he felt a deeper connection with her. He was fascinated about her and began to think, how his life would be besides of her. He observed every bit of her move before the group came to his counter for checkout. Suddenly, Lengel, the store manager came out to the front and began to argue with the girls about their outfits.
It was so late and Bazar was closing, when our young narrator arrived in “Araby”. He instantly realized, “Araby” which he thought would be so exotic, has clearly no sign of it. Then he entered in a stall and the owner lady came to him and asked- did he wishes to buy something. “The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty” (111). Which also forced him to realize, his small chatting with Mangan’s sister could also be as meaningless for her. Thus he became upset all of a sudden and decides to leave Araby. On other hand, their arguing suddenly triggered Sammy’s rebellious mind. He felt ashamed for those girls and began to think, being different is not a problem at all. He quickly rung them up and announced to Lengel he is quitting. He was so blind in his thoughts that he hoped girls will look back to him as their hero. But they kept going. Lengel explained him the situation but he could not stop his rebellious mind and followed those girls to the parking garage “I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course” (299). He finishes his story by indicating, his coming days will be no different as he thought “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (299). While in “Araby” it was much harder for the young narrator to give up his false dream “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (111). In both of these stories, narrator felt so alone in the end and forced to accept their harsher realties by giving up their false hope.