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A & P by John Updike and Araby by James Joyce are both spectacular stories because they share many of the same literary personalities. The primary focus of the two stories revolves around a young man who is forced to recognize the difference between cruel reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head. A & P is a story about a young man’s who struggle with morality, authority, and freedom and Araby is a story where the main character struggle with reality and his fructiferous imagination when becoming an adult.
One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the protagonist, has built up incredible, but unrealistic, expectations of women, having focused upon one in particular towards which he places all his affection. The expectation these men hold when finally they face with their love is what sends the final and crushing blow of reality: The rejection they suffer is far too great for them to bear. Both have lost sight of what is important within their lives.
Updike’s story is a tale of Sammy, the main character, who lets his desires and his anger get a little too far ahead of him and in the end winds up quitting his job. The 18 years old boy from a small suburb outside Boston seems like an average boy who is tired of the regular customers who come into the store, including those older married women with multiples kids and the nit picking old ladies who spend years trying to catch an error by the cashier. Trying to make an impression on Quennie, a beautiful young lady is what ends up leaving Sammy unemployed. When Lengel, Sammy’s bad-tempered and tedious manager quickly notices the outfits of the girls, he proceeds to annoy and embarrass Quennie and her friends about their clothes. Whether it was his hope just to catch the attention of the girl or it was his anger toward the manager for ruin that moment, he said: “I quit”. The girls continued to walk, ignoring him, and because his pride it was too late for him to...