The Passing of innocencea comparison essay on Araby and A&P

The brief but complex stories of "Araby" by James Joyce and, "A&P by John Updike focuses on character traits rather than on plot to reveal the ironies that inherent self deception. The theme for both Sammy from “A&P” and the narrator from “Araby” is the transition from childhood to adulthood, a process that everyone experiences in one’s own way and time. The transformation that both characters make from children to adults includes unrealistic expectations of women, focusing upon one girl in particular which he places all his unreciprocated affection, and the rejection they suffer is far too great for them to bear.
Sammy is working as a cashier at A&P when he spots her, the girl who he labels “Queenie”. She is leading a parade around the store with her two fiends following. The three of them are in nothing more than a bathing suit. Sammy longs to be like her and to be with her. “She kept her eyes moving across the racks, and stopped, and turned slow it mad...