Negatve Infatuation
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“Negative Infatuations”
“Araby,” by James Joyce tells the story of a young boy who lives in Ireland. He lives across the road from his friend Mangan. Mangan has an older sister who always tells him it is time to come inside (Joyce 217). Throughout the whole story the boy, Mangans friend, never tells his name. It is as if he does not want anyone to know who he is. However, Sammy, from “A&P,” by John Updike, is the story of a young man who, almost every one knows. Sammy works at the local “A&P” grocery store. Sammy’s supervisor, Lengel, has worked at the store for many years. In the stories, “Araby,” and “A&P,” there are two main underlying similarities and one core difference in the outcome.
Both Sammy, from “A&P,” and the Narrator from “Araby” are infatuated with women they barely know. Sammy had seen three girls walk into the “A&P” grocery store and thought that the third girl, “She was the Queen” (Updike 333). Queenie walked around the store with her bathing suit straps off her shoulders (Updike 333). As the girls continued to walk around the store, Sammy stared at the Queen. Eventually, the girls came to the cash register with a can of Herring snacks (Updike 335). Sammy hears Queenie telling Lengel, she has to pick up the snacks for her mother, and then he thought, “Her voice kind of startled me …” (Updike 335). The only thing he said to her was .49 cents (Updike 335). For this, Sammy sacrificed his job, maybe even his future. Like “A&P,” “Araby” is similar in the same way, where the Narrator is infatuated with a girl he barely knows. The girl is his friend’s sister. He does not know her name so he calls her Mangans sister (Joyce 217). The boy watches Mangans house for her to come outside (Joyce 217). “[He] had never spoken to her, except a few casual words …” (Joyce 217). Everyday the boy became more infatuated with Mangans sister. Eventually, the girl talked to him about the bazaar. He told her, “If I go, … “I will bring you something” (Joyce 218). Like “A&P” the boy in “Araby” did something for a girl he hardly knew.
Another way both “Araby” and “A&P” are alike is, Sammy and the Narrator learn that facing reality can have negative outcomes. The boy, or Narrator, in “Araby” experiences a negative outcome after he goes to the bazaar. On the way to the bazaar the boy is so excited. When he gets there he pays a shilling for an adult admission instead of sixpenny for a child’s admission (Joyce 219). The boy examines, “… Porcelain vases and flowered tea-sets” for Mangans sister (Joyce 219). “Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out a sense of duty” (Joyce 220). After this, he realized that Mangans sister only spoke to him because he was a friend of Mangans. Like “Araby,” “A&P” has a negative outcome. The girl that Sammy calls Queenie does not show any affection for him, what so ever. The only thing that Queenie says is that her mother sent her to pick up the Herring snacks (Updike 335). The way Lengel was talking to the girls made Sammy angry. This caused Sammy to tell Lengel that he quits his job (Updike 336). Sammy wanted to be “… Their unsuspected hero” (Updike 336). Sammy quitting his job like this can have many negative outcomes for him. Sammy’s parents will be upset with him because of this. “Lengel says, “You’ll feel this for the rest