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Comparing Coming Of Age In Araby And A & P

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Coming of age signifies a change from childhood to adulthood. Two stories that are centered around “coming of age” are A&P and Araby. A&P is about a boy named Sammy who stands up for three girls who were being affronted about what they were wearing inside the grocery store. The conflict of the story and the coming of age moment revolves around what Sammy focused on when he saw them; until, he resolves to stand up for them. Araby on the other hand focuses on an unnamed narrator who is enamored with Magellan's sister and decides to go to Araby, a Dublin Bazaar, in order to get something for her. Comparing the two coming of age stories, Araby’s coming of age story is less apparent than A&Ps. The story lines depict the coming of age in two different …show more content…

Araby’s tone is very mellow and an angsty mood while A&P’s tone is serious but creates a very light hearted mood or a very raw mood. For example when both authors show their protagonists thoughts, Joyce uses much darker word choice which creates a very angsty mood as seen when the narrator describes his feelings for the girl. “All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: 'O love! O love!' many times,” (Joyce). In comparison to A&P when Sammy is describing his feelings towards the girls, “With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean, it was more than pretty,” (Updike). This description of the girls in A&P is much more raw in the sense that, Sammy describes them very materialistically but not in a way where it seems like he has an obsession with the girls. However in Araby, the way the narrator describes the feelings for his crush is almost creepy. It reminds us of a creepy middle school crush that wouldn’t stop following you

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The whole story, Sammy is watching these girls and noticing the way they move. He does not seem to care about any of the guests, and dismisses them as petty sheep; blindly following their grocery shopping lists and not giving notice to anything else going on around them. Sammy seems to have a coolness about him and does not care about what many people think of him; except those three girls in their bathing suits. He also serves to be a hero to the girls at the end of the story, but goes unnoticed when they leave the store. In an analysis of the story, it is stated that “In his focus on, his attitude about, and his description of the girls, Sammy represents conventional masculinity” (Bentley).

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It seems like Sammy does not have a girlfriend because he distinguishes the girls every move in the store. Also, the images that the girl’s portray with their swimming suits, causes chaos within the store. “After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy” (161). The girls are being confronted by the manager on how they should dress when they come in the store.

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They have a false sense of their identity because they are trying to impress these girls who do not even know who these guys truly are. Sammy and the narrator are heroes because they seek good for others. Sammy admits to his attempt to be a hero saying, “Hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” I believe this desire to be a hero gets overlooked by the reader because of their loneliness. In Araby, the narrator says, “From the front window I saw my companions playing below in the street.

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Sammy also states, “there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head, except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in light. I mean, it was more than pretty” (Updike, par 3). Sammy feels sexual attraction towards these girls, their physical attributes mesmerize him. At first, Sammy seems to come off as a sexist teen, but later he tries to prove that he is different. Sammy’s boss, Lengel, confronts the girls and calls them out for their attire.

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