Setting Analysis Based on Araby and A&P. Free Essay in Literature

Stories are of great importance to the modern society as they help in entertaining the society and educating the young ones about various issues of social life. It is of great importance for the society to appreciate the read stories in order to understand the settings of the past lives and appreciate the developments that have taken place in eth society. The effectiveness of stories in educating the society closely relates to the use of literary elements as it is such elements that help in the bringing out the true meanings of stories and making such to be easy to understand (Updike 34). There is need for the society to appreciate the importance of literary elements in stories and the importance of the same in the society. Literary elements, such as plot, character, narration and point of view, theme, symbol and figurative language and setting, greatly affect the overall meaning of short stories and this proves the need to analyze the impact that literary devices affect the meanings of two short stories. The short stories Araby by James Joyce and A&P by John Updike greatly employ the use of narration and point of view in their stories and this is of great importance in understanding the short stories.

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The story, Araby by James Joyce is a story of love and this is evident in the manner in which the persona talks of his affection towards the girl of his dreams. The author has greatly and perfectly used narration to bring out the meaning of love in various ways. Through the use of narration and point of view, the author is able to show the audience how his love for Mangans sister came to develop. His narration about how they used to interact on daily basis on their way to school and the qualities of the girl that he admires the most comes out through the use of narration and point of view. Through narration, the author clearly paints a picture in the minds of the audience and absorbs the audience in the situation to help in understanding in a better way. Through narration, the author elaborates on the efforts that he went through in order to make the girl he seeks to fall in love with him (Joyce 44). The narration of the steps the persona went through ranging from seeking permission from his uncle to go to the bazaar at night, requesting for money, boarding the train and braving his way to the bazaar although he knew the bazaar was almost closing and most of the shops were already is a sign of true love elicited in the story.

The second story of A&P is another story of love where the persona wishes to have a moment with Queenie but he lacks the opportunity to talk to her and try his luck of winning her. The author in this case uses the element of narration and point of view to express his feelings about how he wishes to have a chance with the girl but him continuously. Additionally, the author explains narrates the several chances that he misses to talk to the girl and the differences that the two have. Another meaning that the author brings out is that of class difference and the effects of the same in the society. It is evident that the author and his dream girl, Queenie, are in different social classes and the queenie come from a rich family and is able to enjoy all that life can offer. On the other hand, the persona comes from a poor family and this makes him unable to provide the girl with all the pleasantries she needs (Updike 50). The persona highlights the class difference through his narration and highlighting the point of view by wondering how easy his dream girl is able to afford anything at the store.

The examination of the two books reveal various similarities and differences, this proves the need to analyze the two in order to improve on the understanding of both and the impacts that they have on the society.

Similarities

One of the similarities between the two short stories is that both stories are centered on love. The story of Araby shows how the person seeks the love of Mangans sister and how he wishes to express to her but lack the confidence to do that. Additionally, the story of A&P also talks about love and this is evident in the manner in which the persona admires Queenie and but lacks the researches to propose to her (Updike 33). The second similarity is that, in the end, both personas get the opportunity to propose to the ladies of their choice and this is evident in the first story where the person has been successful in attending the bazaar and buying his dream girl a present that he promised her. The second story also shows a window of opportunity opening for the male persona to confess her love for the girl of his dreams. Finally, there is the similarity in that both stories deal with youth and the challenges that the youth get when falling in love, the stories highlight the struggles that the males go through in the effort of seeking love (Joyce 17).

Differences

Despite the various similarities in the two stories, there are various differences evident from the stories and one of them is that in the story of Araby, the girl and the boy in focus are of the same social class and they live in the same street (Joyce 21). In this case, both interact freely as is evident in the way they follow the same path to school. However, in the story of A&P, the story highlight people of different classes and the effects of social classes on the interaction of the youth in the society. His is evident in the difficulty that the persona, who is the admirer, has in accessing the girl he admires as a result of the differences in social classes. The second difference evident from the two stories is that the cause of the challenges affecting the relationship between the girl and the boy in the story of Araby is psychological and emotion as the boy only lacks the confidence to express his love to the girl. However, the challenge affecting the relationship between the boy and the girl in the story of A&P is more material as the admirer, who is the persona, has the confidence but lack the finances and resources that he can use to please the girl of his dreams (Updike 36). The two stories therefore make proper use of narration and point of view to aid in the description of the situations in the society to improve the understanding of the audience.

Works Cited

Joyce, James. Araby. ProQuest LLC, 2002.Updike, John, and James Plath. Conversations with John Updike. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1994.