Compare And Contrast Araby And A & P

Araby and A&P are both short stories that are exceptional for character analysis, right down to similar male narrators and ladies they wish to impress. The short story “Araby” is about a young boy who travels to a fair-like market because his crush requested something, though she, herself, was unable to attend. After trouble and worry and anxiety, the narrator finally arrives at Araby to discover it is closing and empty. In “A&P,” our narrator is a teenage boy who works at a supermarket when a group of girls in bathing suits enter in order to purchase a few items. He develops a crush on the group’s lead girl and tries to impress her by standing up against their embarrassment. Both of these short stories demonstrate disappointment and inexperienced innocence. While comparing these two stories, notable similarities include the naiveness of the narrators, the untouchable feel of the female interests, the setting of which these stories take place, and how the narrators experience an epiphany in the end. The themes of these two stories are no strangers, as they both include a sudden, misguided

Queenie and her friends entered the store A&P dressed only in bathing suits and in turn the manger lectured their dress code and told them to come fully clothed next time they chose to shop in that location. Sammy, the narrator, chose to quit his job when he witnessed the embarrassment of the young girls, but his consequence was their lack of caring. The narrator experiences his epiphany when he exits the store once he quit his job and the girls were nowhere in sight. The story quotes “…and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (Updike 243), that quote reveals how Sammy becomes aware of his poor decision and how he will make it in the world if he continues to act without thinking. Both themes revolve around a loss of