Romance is a term that is described as a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love. With the coming of age for adolescents, it is normal to experience such emotions towards another individual. However, sometimes these feelings are misinterpreted or misdirected. In John Updike’s short story “A&P” and James Joyce “Araby”, both authors tell of a tale of teenagers and their struggles with young love.
Updike allows reader’s to see through the eyes of a teenager in his story “A&P”. The story begins with Sammy, a young clerk who becomes fascinated with the arrival of three girls in his store. The girl that grabs his attention the most is Queenie, by carefully observing her walk through the aisles and talk to her friends, he goes through a tremendous change in his character. At first, Updike shows us the immature side of Sammy, he quotes “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece…where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs” (pg. 835), this shows the reader that Sammy is immature concentrating on the girls instead of doing his job. However, as we go further into the story, his somewhat obsession for Queenie leads him to question his own life. His feelings become so powerful that he forms his own conclusions about Queenie and her life and wonders if he could be part of that life too. When the girls finally approach the register, they are embarrassed by Lengel. This angers Sammy and causes him to change from an immature teenager to a person who takes a stand for what he believes is wrong. Queenie was the catalyst in Sammy’s journey to maturity. After Sammy quits, he makes his way into the parking lot only to realize the girls are long gone. "His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he's just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.” (pg. 839), this quote tells us that Sammy knows that his parents will not like the fact that he quit, but he realizes that he has to take charge with his life, and make his own choices without being afraid of what his parents would think. James Joyce also demonstrates the struggles of young love in his story “Araby”. Joyce begins by saying “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street…gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces” (pg. 430), this quote gives the reader a sense of hostility and restriction from this community. The main character is a young boy, who, like Sammy from the previous story, becomes infatuated with a young girl but does not dare approach her. Although this story may seem like a love story, there is deeper meaning. The nature of these feelings are natural, the young boy simply becomes attracted to a young girl. However, he tries to transform this neighbor girl into something larger than life, a spot of light in a dark community where free thoughts seem to be prohibited. His goal is to impress the girl and he agrees to go to Araby and bring something back for her. When he arrives there he realizes he is too late and all the stores are closing down. He walks over to one store where he is rudely helped by a woman, “I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless…then I turned away slowly and walked down the middle of the bazaar.” (pg. 434), it is at this point where the boy is put back into reality. Being approached by this woman in this matter makes him realize life isn’t easy and there are bigger events in one’s lives and that perhaps in the future, this crush will be nothing important. Joyce described the upper part of the hall as being completely dark, this is a comparison to the boy’s dark reality of life. In the beginning the boy fantasized of nothing but impressing the young girl but at the end faces the harsh truth that not everything works out the way one wants it to and there are more colors to one’s life, it’s not just a simple black and white.
The nature of romance and romantic feelings can be confusing and at the times blindly. As shown in both author’s stories, love can sometimes lead one to a realization of their own lives. We can see that such experiences can change a person’s attitude and values. Romance is a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love. Sometimes the mystery is not regarding the other person but about one’s self and finding one’s identity.