A&P - ARABY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A&P - ARABY - Essay Example Taking up Updike’s story first will make the comparison easy and more meaningful. It is the story of Sammy, a boy of nineteen, who enters his adult life, his real worldly life. Three young girls â€Å"in nothing but bathing suits† enter the A & P store (Joyce). Sammy is a normal boy with innocent instincts and imagination. As the girls are being keenly observed by him, the readers’ attention shifts to the inner changes taking place in him. As a young boy, he is ignorant of the reality outside. However, as his desire gets hardened, he yields to some hard decisions. He realizes that taking risk in life is very essential. Not only the known people, but the strangers also seem to play a role in molding one’s fate. The mere appearance of the girls in their swimming suit precipitates Sammy’s desire to quit his present job. As his innocence slowly melts into boldness, he gets a firmer grip on the complexity of life. He also realizes that his routine life i n the store is very monotonous, â€Å"pretty dreary â€Å", and very stagnant. The girls seem to promise some adventure in his life, some new excitement. He foresees in his imagination a new world, like the one in which the girls live. In â€Å"Araby†, the boy gets trapped by the sight of a beautiful girl, Mangan’s sister. He is completely swept away by the charm of the girl. He says â€Å"Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance† (Joyce). Her response is not much available in the story, as Queenie’s to Sammy’s love remains remote in â€Å"A & P†. The Dublin boy loses interest in everything except the girl. He is on a journey now to please her and to get him accepted by her. He explains his romantic situation: â€Å"But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires† (Joyce). One day he gets a chance to meet her, and she suggests that he