Comparison Of Personal Identity In James Joyce's 'Sucker'

743 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What is being described in "araby" araby by james joyce

Originating from the Latin verb “adolescere”, adolescence is the period in which an individual develops personal identity and autonomy in the pursuit of comfortable affiliations, goals and convictions. Narrated by Pete; Carson McCullers’s story “Sucker” portrays how Pete and his cousin Sucker’s struggle to transition from childhood to adulthood. The story covers a flashback in which the narrator reflects on his relationship with his younger cousin, who has lived with him since his “folks were killed in a wreck when he was a baby” (McCullers 2). Pete treats Sucker with little respect causing the latter to isolate himself. However, once Pete falls for a girl named Maybelle their relationship changes allowing Pete to confide in Sucker and treat him as a brother. …show more content…

Consequently, Pete reverts to his mistreatment of his cousin, causing their relationship to deteriorate. On the other hand, James Joyce’s short story “Araby,” is about a young Catholic boy who becomes infatuated with a girl living across the street. When the young girl mentions her desire to attend a certain bazaar called Araby, he sees this as an opportunity to prove his love; by attending the bazaar himself and bringing her back a gift. Araby to the narrator represents excitement and a chance to prove his love, however, it fills neither of these expectations and instead the boy finds himself in utter disillusionment and despair. Similarly, both “Araby” and “Sucker” are narrated by a mature man reflecting on, how as a child he transitioned to adulthood. Both Joyce and McCullers portray a confused adolescent who struggles to discover their identity as they assimilate into the adult world. The adolescent is incapable of having an adult relationship yet desires one, idolizes others, and completes their transition to adulthood through an epiphany. The aforementioned conflicts are found in the adolescents of both

Show More
Related

  • Similiaries and Differences in Characters in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Can some people so different be so a like? Can some people so alike be so different? Dally and Johnny are those two who are so different, but yet they are similar. In the book S.E. Hinton writes The Outsiders, Johnny Cade and Dally Winston come from two completely different backgrounds, and have completely different scruples. Yet, at the same time they are alike. Dally and Johnny’s parents both repudiate them, making Johnny and Dally mentally tough, and the boys do not value their lives. At the same time though they are different, Dally is stronger than Johnny. Though, Johnny has a soft heart and Dally would not even pay any attention if someone is dying right next to him.

    Read More

  • Unrealisticism In A & P By John Updike And Araby

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    The protagonist of Araby is a young boy who is infatuated with his friend Mangan 's sister. The setting, and the introduction of the this woman is nearly identical to that in A&P. Joyce 's narrator spends his time “lay[ing] on the floor in the front parlour watching [Magnan 's sister 's] door” (Joyce 182). Immediately from the outset of the story, Joyce has rendered the narrator as someone who frivolously awaits his female interest with no other motivation. The main character then finally encounters Magnan 's sister personally, where she tells him about a bazaar near town called Araby. Joyce 's protagonist is shocked when Magnan 's sister “addresse[s] the first words to [him]” (Joyce 183) as he has spent a plethora of time yearning for an interaction with her. Joyce has implemented the idea into Araby that males are inherently reliant on females. Interestingly, Joyce has incorporated another male character in his story that is presented as inferior to his female counterpart. The purpose of the narrator 's uncle in the story is to slow the main character from going to Araby. The Uncle comes home much later than expected, and is chastised my his wife: “Can 't you give him the money and let him go? You 'v kept him late enough as it

    Read More

  • John Updike’s A & P, Richard Wright’s The Man Who Was Almost a Man, and James Joyce’s Araby

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stories about youth and the transition from that stage of life into adulthood form a very solidly populated segment of literature. In three such stories, John Updike’s “A & P,” Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” and James Joyce’s “Araby”, young men face their transitions into adulthood. Each of these boys faces a different element of youth that requires a fundamental shift in their attitudes. Sammy, in “A&P”, must make a moral decision about his associations with adult institutions that mistreat others. Dave, in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” struggles with the idea that what defines a man is physical power. The narrator of “Araby,” struggles with the mistaken belief that the world can be easily categorized and kept within only one limited framework of thought. Each of these stories gives us a surprise ending, a view of ourselves as young people, and a confirmation that the fears of youth are but the foundation of our adulthood.

    Read More

  • Self-Concept In The Outsiders

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    ”Because most people identify as separate from other people, they have what we call some "concept" of themselves. Self-concept refers to how people “think about, evaluate, or perceive” themselves.” Self-concept can be split into categories that make people who they are. Throughout “The Outsiders”, Ponyboy the protagonist, describes his brother and his friends in relation to him, giving insight on what makes each of them who they are. After reading an article on this topic “Self-Concept “by Saul McLeod (1), and reading chapters 1-3 of the novel “The Outsiders” (2). One can see the major reasons that make people who they are: self-image and self-esteem/self-worth.

    Read More

  • The Decline of Chivalry Explored in Araby and A&P

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Araby” tells the story of a young boy who romanticizes over his friend’s older sister. He spends a lot of time admiring the girl from a distance. When the girl finally talks to him, she reveals she cannot go to the bazaar taking place that weekend, he sees it as a chance to impress her. He tells her that he is going and will buy her something. The boy becomes overwhelmed by the opportunity to perform this chivalrous act for her, surely allowing him to win the affections of the girl. The night of the bazaar, he is forced to wait for his drunken uncle to return home to give him money to go. Unfortunately, this causes the boy to arrive at the bazaar as it is closing. Of the stalls that remained open, he visited one where the owner, and English woman, “seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty” (Joyce 89) and he knows he will not be able to buy anything for her. He decides to just go home, realizing he is “a creature driven and derided with vanity” (Joyce 90). He is angry with himself and embarrassed as he...

    Read More

  • Allusions In Araby Research Paper

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story “Araby,” James Joyce uses religious and biblical allusions to portray a young narrator’s feelings about a girl. Through these allusions, readers gather an image of the narrator’s adoration of his friend’s, Mangan’s, sister. James Joyce’s allusions to the Bible and religion relate to the idolized image the narrator has of a girl.

    Read More

  • Arby

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some of these issues show up early on in the story "Araby." To begin with, the narrator--the voice of a young Joyce, surely, if not entirely autobiographical--lives in a house whose former t...

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Essay On The Outsiders

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.

    Read More

  • Anguishing Araby (An analysis of the Araby’s Character)

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Araby” by James Joyce, is a fantastic story that shares the sad story of a young boy, who is faced with heart crushing impediments, which eventually stop him right in his tracks. The story starts out with a young boy, who develops a dying love to a girl across the street from his household. This girl is Mangan’s sister, who a brief description is given. One evening his love asks him if he will be attending the local Bazaar, which is a fair like celebration to raise money for a cause, this party is called Araby, and this is where the title of this story comes from. The girl states that she will be gone during this celebration, and seeing his chance to impress her, this small boy states that he will get her a present from the Araby. He then goes and asks for permission to be able to attend, which he is granted. When the night comes along when he needs to start to leave, his uncle isn’t home and he returns late. This tardiness is inference that he was having a drink at the pub after work, after much aguish waiting, the boy gets some money to run to the Araby. But because of his uncle being late, he arrives too late. The event was shutting down for the evening. Then the terrible story then comes to an end when the Child realizes that he did not have enough money to buy something for his new love anyway, it ends with the boy crying alone in the street with complete hopelessness. Throughout this story, this little boy is crushed by sadness and misfortune, where there are many examples from, but there is a light in the darkness with lessons that he has learned.

    Read More

  • The Memoirs of Vidocq

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    This paragraph from James Joyce’s “Araby” appears at the beginning of the story. This passage opens the story with a description of the boy’s home and neighbourhood. The passage also describes the boy’s life using symbolism and imagery done through the priest, the house and neighbourhood, and the garden.

    Read More

  • Themes of Alienation and Control in James Joyce's Araby

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although “Araby” is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce’s uses the boy in “Araby” to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence in Araby by James Joyce

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story “Araby” by James Joyce is told by what seems to be the first person point of view of a boy who lives just north of Dublin. As events unfold the boy struggles with dreams versus reality. From the descriptions of his street and neighbors who live close by, the reader gets an image of what the boy’s life is like. His love interest also plays an important role in his quest from boyhood to manhood. The final trip to the bazaar is what pushes him over the edge into a foreshadowed realization. The reader gets the impression that the narrator is the boy looking back on his epiphany as a matured man. The narrator of “Araby” looses his innocence because of the place he lives, his love interest, and his trip to the bazaar.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Epiphany In Araby By James Joyce

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Coming of Age in Hemingway's Indian Camp and Joyce's Araby

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    In reading Hemingway's "Indian Camp" and Joyce's "Araby", about 2 young boy's not so ceremonial passage to life's coming of age. The protagonist Nick in "Indian Camp" witnessed in one night the joy of going on a journey to an unknown destination with his father and uncle Charlie. Later, Nick receives an expedited course in life and death. Joyce's "Araby" protagonist whis friends with Mangan but has a secret desirable infatuation with his sister. The young protagonist in this short story eventually come to terms with being deceived by a woman's beauty into doing something naively rash.

    Read More

  • A contradiction between reality and the imaginary in Joyce’s “Araby” and Ross’s “One’s a Heifer”

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Joyce’s “Araby,” the point of view is first-person, told from the main character, an unnamed boy. Joyce portrays the thoughts of this boy well, showing his strong, passionate feelings for his friend Mangan’s sister. The reader learns that Mangan’s sister is from an eastern descent, keeping “her brown figure always in [his] eye,” and that this is one of the main components the boy likes about her (cite). She fascinates him, hardly able to talk whenever in her presence. When he does speak, it is about going to Araby, a bazaar in Dublin. She explains how she will not be able to attend, “because there would be a retreat that week in her convent” (cite). The boy states that he will go, and that he will buy her somethi...

    Read More

More about Comparison Of Personal Identity In James Joyce's 'Sucker'

Open Document