Coming of Age

Both Araby by James Joyce, and A&P by John Updike, are similar in that they discuss the coming of age of young men who are infatuated with the opposite sex. Both stories discuss the universal theme of boys entering manhood and the maturity with which each young man leaves the last stage of his adolescence and steps into adulthood. Both of the narrators of James Joyce’s Araby and John Updike’s A&P …

…be some deeper meaning to this story and not just that in the end the boy does not get the girl and doesn’t understand why. The reader wants the author to give them a lesson at the very end. And the lesson is clear, even though subtle: not all young men are ready to enter into adulthood. Sammy clearly is not, especially with regard to making major life decisions and dealing with their consequences.