Draw Connections: “A&P” by John Updike

Draw Connections: “A & P” and “Araby”

Both John Updike’s “A & P” (1961) and James Joyce’s “Araby” (1914) include protagonists who have important realizations, or epiphanies, about the world as a result of their attempts to be heroes for girls who aren’t quite interested in them. Both stories follow similar narrative patterns, and in the protagonists’ failings, they push the reader to recognize a moment when innocence about the world is lost. While the stories were written at different times and present different circumstances, they both remind the reader of this common experience in growing up.

Document links:

Annotated text of “A & P”

Annotated text of “Araby”

  1. In what ways do these two narrators overestimate their importance to the young women in the stories? How does this overestimation affect each narrator’s attempts to impress the young women?

    Question

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  2. The narrator of “Araby” is several years younger than the narrator of “A & P” when the events of each story happen. How does this affect the way that each narrator sees his attempted heroism for the young women? How does the age of the narrator at the telling of the story further complicate this view?

    Question

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  3. How do the settings of each story influence the narrators? Do similarities exist, despite the distance of time and location between the stories?

    Question

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  4. How does the way the narrator of “Araby” views the adult world contrast with the way that the narrator of “A & P” views it? How do those contrasting views affect the narrators’ decisions?

    Question

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  5. Does each narrator regret what he’s done? Why or why not? How do their ages make a difference in their understanding of their epiphanies?

    Question

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