Comparing Araby And A & P

In “A&P” by John Updike, the narrator Sammy struggles for freedom. He fantasizes of breaking free from working in the A&P. He became smitten when he encounter with a girl he calls Queenie, she becomes a symbol that represents his longing desires in which he sees an opportunity to escape through her. On the other hand James Joyce in “Araby,” the young adolescent narrator is always alienated in darkness so he seeks for a "light," in which, he sees it in Mangan’s sister. He instantly became captivated with her, ultimately thinking by going to the Bazaar to give her a gift will grant a secure relationship between them. Despite the differences both narrators cannot identify between reality and fiction. The role of romance comes in to play when
both are absorb in their imagination in which their ideals become disoriented. Eventually, that leading their illusions to become “driven and derided by vanity” (Joyce 5), hence, experiencing the consequences of their infatuation.