Difficulties of Youth in Araby and A&P

Araby and A&P give accounts of difficulties people going through the crisis period of youth face. The problems may be rooted in the frustration adolescents experience when the alluring promises of new love, opportunities, magical and distant places are crushed by tedious daily existence and conventions.

Araby displays the difficult way young people go to enter adulthood. When the main character becomes fascinated with the image of the neighbor’s sister he discovers that the world around him is vulgar, dull, and “hostile to romance” (Joyce 87). He “grows out” of his familiar reality; his soul begins to yearn for freedom and harmony. The main character no longer sees himself as a child and everyday tasks become “ugly monotonous child’s play” (Joyce 88). He sees the opportunity to go to Araby and buy a gift for his neighbor’s sister as the chance to escape prosaic reality and live his dreams. In this view, going to the enchanting bazaar gives new sense to his existence, it becomes the symbol of entry into adult life. However, a visit to the deserted bazaar, where familiar-looking people speak English and use the word ‘fib’, crashes the main character’s dreams. He learns that the change he longed for is unattainable and adult life is not about going to magic places but about suffering and disillusionment. Thus, discrepancy between imagination and reality may be called the root of the main character’s problem.

However, the main character’s reaction to the events might have been different if his uncle and teacher had paid more attention to the boy’s feelings. In this view, Araby is also the story of loneliness. As soon as the main character focuses on the desire to travel to the bazaar his usual course of actions is interrupted and ...

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...sibility is the difficulty young people face when they make choices. Sammy’s problem is that trying to prove his point to the manager he forgot about the consequences of his actions. The exit from the shop was triumphant “I just saunter into the electric eye in my white shirt that my mother ironed the night before, and the door heaves itself open, and outside the sunshine is skating around on the asphalt” (Updike 36). However, outside the real life awaits Sammy: “my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (Updike 36). The root of the problem is Sammy’s stubbornness and inability to think about the effect his actions on other people. Even giving account of the events Sammy tries to argue and disagree: “here comes the sad part of the story, at least my family says it’s sad but I don't think it’s sad myself” (Updike 34).