Analysis Of John Updike s Araby - 1967 Words

John Updike s penchant for appropriating great works of literature and giving them contemporary restatement in his own fiction is abundantly documented--as is the fact that, among his favorite sources, James Joyce looms large.[1] With special affinity for Dubliners, Updike has, by common acknowledgment, written at least one short story that strongly resembles the acclaimed Araby, not only in plot and theme, but in incidental detail. That story, the 1960 You ll Never Know, Dear, How Much I Love You--like Araby--tells the tale of a poor, romantically infatuated young boy who, though obstructed by parental slowness, journeys with innocent urgency, coins in hand, to a seemingly magical carnival--only to find there, behind its facades,†¦show more content†¦The self-delusion in both cases leads quickly to an emotional fall. At 19, Updike s protagonist, Sammy, is a good bit older than Joyce s--at the opposite end of adolescence, it would seem. While in Joyce s boy we readily believe such confusion between the gallant and profane, I think we needn t assume that Sammy is likewise unable to distinguish between the two quite normal impulses. His attraction to the girl in the aisle is certainly far more anatomically and less ambiguously expressed than that of Joyce s boy to Mangan s sister. But it is Beauty that confounds the issue. When human aesthetics come into play, when the object of a young man s carnal desire also gratifies him aesthetically, that is when the confusion arises. in Irish-Catholic Dublin of the 1890s,[3] such youthful beauty not surprisingly invokes analogies between Mangan s sister and the Queen of Heaven (though the swinging of her body and the soft rope of her hair toss[ing] from side to side [Joyce 30]), which captivate the boy, hint at something less spiritual than Madonna worship). And while beauty s benchmarks in Sammy s more secular mid-century America are more anatomical than spiritual, Updike does have Sammy call his young femme fatal Queenie, and he does make her the center of a trinity of sorts, showing her two friends at one point huddl[ing] against her for relief (A P 189). Once smitten, both youngShow MoreRelated The Decline of Chivalry Explored in Araby and AP Essay1211 Words   |  5 Pagesmotive to win hearts of women for centuries. However, as society constantly changes, the effectiveness of these chivalrous acts has diminished. In James Joyce’s â€Å"Araby† and John Updike’s â€Å"AP†, this theory is explored, both telling the story of a boy whose efforts to impress the girl of their desires fail. As said by Well’s in his critical analysis of these stories, â€Å"Both the protagonists have come to realize that romantic gestures—in fact, that the whole chivalric view [sic] --- are, in modern times,Read MoreBusiness and Management2600 Words   |  11 Pagesat the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Barnet, S., Cain, W.E., Burto, W. (2011). Literature for composition: Essays, stories, poems, and plays (9th ed.). New York, NY: Longman. All electronic materials are available on the student website. |Week One: Elements of Literature—Stories