Lost in Love: A Comparison of "At the Pitt-Rivers" to "Araby"

In both Penelope Lively's "At the Pitt-Rivers" and James Joyce's "Araby" the boy narrators have skewed views about love. Throughout his particular story however, each narrator realizes that his ideas on love were mistaken and begins to modify his muddled thinking. In "At the Pitt-Rivers" the sixteen year-old narrator was certain that he knew all there was to know about love. "I mean, I've seen films and I've read books and I know a bit …

…love includes talking and spending time with another person, things he had not really considered before. The teenager learns his lessons through observing. The boy from "Araby" learns through personal experience. He realizes that no woman is perfect and that people need to know each other well before a truly successful and loving relationship can develop. In each short story the young narrator realizes that love is not what it seemed to be at first.