There are some periods in life when our precious existence itself become a burden for us and before we can realize, our desire for happiness starts to scream for solutions. Especially in our youth, when people begin to acknowledge all of their suffering and discrimination towards them, their feelings for reject everything which life has offered them eventually grows stronger. And before it’s too late most of us never realizes that the false freedom of our rebellious mind can only bring more chaos than happiness. While in a society, everyone differs person to person as how we live and how we act, both the narrator and Eveline from the stories “Araby” and “Eveline” have many similarities in their story. Both of their attempts to escape from …show more content…
As we look closely to their description of surrounding environment, situation and their inner thoughts, it becomes more visible that they both were frustrated with their life. From Araby, narrator said it was a blind neighborhood most of time so quiet, gloomy and lifeless with a vacant house to the end. Which could signify about his restricted boring life that took his happiness suddenly. Also his indication of uncle saying “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”(110) could also mean he had to study hard and had very little reach of entertainment. Soon after his declaration “The high, cold, empty, gloomy rooms liberated me”(109) also give us a clear indication of his physiological breakdown and his lone life. On other hand, story of Eveline starts by saying “She was tired”(01). Also some criticizing of Miss Gavan from the story give us a large illustration of Eveline’s characteristic more clearly. Even so she was working hard for her family sake maybe she was not very responsive in her job. Maybe she never had any sympathy or positive credit from her coworker, as Gavan often told her "Miss Hill, don 't you see these ladies are waiting?”(02) or sometimes "Look lively, Miss Hill, please"(02). Which indicates she was perhaps too tired to even give a fake smile to her customer or she was really bored with her daily job. And her statement of not to …show more content…
Out of their duty sense, in Araby, narrator slowly build up an immature imagination towards his friend’s elder sister while Eveline on other hand decided not to do the same mistake as her mother did. Her mother’s pitiful last dying words also began to give her a new inspiration to escape from her father brutality. In Araby, narrator became very obsessed with Mangan 's sister and began to “followed her” (108) everywhere. It was hard for him to ignore her even in his prayers too. He state “I thought little of the future”(108) and to win her heart decided to bring her a gift from nearby Bazar named Araby. Eveline also fell in love with a sailor and thought Frank as her savior. She began to dream of to be his wife and live in a distant country with respect. She expected “He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she wanted to
A person’s life is often a journey of study and learning from errors and mistakes made in the past. In both James Joyce’s Araby and John Updike’s A&P, the main characters, subjected to the events of their respective stories, are forced to reflect upon their actions which failed to accomplish their original goal in impressing another character. Evidently, there is a similar thematic element that emerges from incidents in both short stories, which show maturity as an arduous process of learning from failures and a loss of innocence. By analyzing the consequences of the interaction of each main character; the Narrator in Araby and Sammy in A&P; and their persons of infatuation, Mangan’s sister
Society pressure themselves to be happy; they often ask questions like, “does that make you happy?” What they fail to understand is that sometimes doing the right thing, for the moment, might not seem to bring happiness in one’s life, but after trekking the ups and downs of life, happiness might be waiting on the other side. From time to time people also judge good and bad through happiness. “If something is good, we feel good. If something is
In this essay I will discuss the short stories A&P by John Updike and Araby by James Joyce which share several similarities as well as distinct differences between the themes and the main characters. I will compare or contrast two or more significant literary elements from each of the stories and discuss how those elements contribute to each story’s theme.
Thinkers and philosophers have been pondering misery since the dawn of civilization. At the dawn of humanity, humans existed to survive and reproduce; every day was a struggle. However, with the advent of civilization, humanity has moved further and further away from its original evolutionary drives, and it can be argued by secular thinkers that humans exist now to find happiness. Therefore, misery can be seen as the biggest obstacle to human happiness, yet misery itself is a mystery to many. Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto and Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents put forth the authors’ opinions on the origins of mortal misery, and suggest methods to solve the problem of misery. Although the two have differing views, both see
It is the challenges we face that make it look dark and gloomy. The key to a productive existence is not the emotions we feel when presented with adversity, but in our ability to overcome, grow and evolve. In comparison, examine the Spoken Indian searching for hope in hardships, or the extraordinary taste and smell of the wine connoisseur who lacks sight. See the trial & errors or the young man growing to love both parents, and the college student whose heart is blistering with pain from the loss of his mother, but finds healing in his new home as an emerging scholar. We are all exploring methods to handle
When an individual is too caught up in their own world, how are they to know what is truly valuable or significant? Throughout the short stories Everyday Use by Alice Walker and Araby by James Joyce there were many examples of people not having a clear understanding of the way the world works due to them being too distracted by their own thoughts and concerns. In Everyday Use it followed a black family and the outlook from the daughter, Dee. In Araby it followed a teenage boy and his desire for his neighbour, Mangan's sister. Viewing life through a false perception was a shared theme in these stories shown by the characters questioning different forms of tradition, isolating themselves
The irony connected with the obstacle in achieving happiness is the pursuit of happiness. Those who pursue happiness with deliberate effort find themselves having to work harder and harder over time to achieve their ends. By trying to pursue happiness, we look for obvious, insubstantial objectives to achieve the happy life. Existentialism, however, may provide both the antidote to this vicious cycle, and give direction on how to find happiness-- by filling our lives with what T.S. Eliot calls real substance. Purpose is not easily found and comes with a costly price tag; we must look into ourselves, find the hollowness that exists in each of us, and dive into the abyss of our inner self. Most people are easily discouraged by the idea of shining a light into the shadowy realm of our mind and heart. We do not want to discover what may lie in the shadows, but if we have the courage to grope in the dark, we may discover our truest self. The darkness is a gift and not a curse.
Throughout “Araby”, the main character experiences a dynamic character shift as he recognizes that his idealized vision of his love, as well as the bazaar Araby, is not as grandiose as he once thought. The main character is infatuated with the sister of his friend Mangan; as “every morning [he] lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door…when she came on the doorstep [his] heart leaped” (Joyce 108). Although the main character had never spoken to her before, “her name was like a summons to all [his] foolish blood” (Joyce 108). In a sense, the image of Mangan’s sister was the light to his fantasy. She seemed to serve as a person who would lift him up out of the darkness of the life that he lived. This infatuation knew no bounds as “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance…her name sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which [he] did not understand” (Joyce 109). The first encounter the narrator ex...
Everybody wants to escape from reality, but people are bound by the laws of society, social status and financial problems. The main characters of “Araby” and “Eveline” experience
The visual and emblematic details established throughout the story are highly concentrated, with Araby culminating, largely, in the epiphany of the young unnamed narrator. To Joyce, an epiphany occurs at the instant when the essence of a character is revealed, when all the forces that endure and influence his life converge, and when we can, in that moment, comprehend and appreciate him. As follows, Araby is a story of an epiphany that is centered on a principal deception or failure, a fundamental imperfection that results in an ultimate realization of life, spirit, and disillusionment. The significance is exposed in the boy’s intellectual and emotional journey from first love to first dejection,
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.
In the short story “Eveline “ by James Joyce, Eveline, the protagonist is given the opportunity to escape from her hard unendurable life at home and live a life of true happiness at Buenos Ayres with Frank, her lover. Throughout the story, Eveline is faced with a few good memories of her past from her childhood and her mother, but she also faces the horrible flashbacks of her mother’s illness and her father’s violence. In the end, she does not leave with Frank, Eveline’s indecisiveness and the burden of her family’s duties makes her stay.
Trapped in a world where mental anguish imprisons her, Eveline is another of James Joyce's paralyzed souls. Her life is full of ups and downs. Every day she struggles with burdens that she should not have to bear and when the opportunity comes for her to get away from this retched life, she denies herself the chance. The reasons why I feel Eveline did not leave for Buenos Aires with Frank is because she was obligated to her family, she was afraid of the unknown and she did not know how to receive love.
This protection both Asha and Rashid receive is ironic because just as Asha needs protection and comfort from the realities of her life, the world outside of jail needs to be protected from Rashid's crime. And protection is found in jail, a harsh, cold, and brutal lifestyle. Yet within this lifestyle, Asha reaches into her heart and soul to expose not only herself, but also Rashid to love that abides no rules or laws. The love has no strings attached. It is unconditional.
Notwithstanding happiness has long presented a conflict for the complex human condition. This is because the ideas we have about happiness are inherently paradoxical. If pleasure is what ultimately what brings us happiness than we are ignoring a crucial fact; in life pain and suffering are inevitable. Life can be described as a series of highs and lows. We are constantly apprehended by uncontrollable forces of nature. Unfortunately we can’t dismiss the fact that our human experience is rife with things like natural disasters, illness, and death.