Rough Draft #1

Michelle LaRosa

ENG 195A

Essay #1

            The idea of women as strong symbolic figures shows up in a great deal of literature. From Greek mythology to modern day literature this has been a recurring theme in many works. Two that have really stuck out to me have been “A&P” by John Updike and “Araby” by James Joyce. Both of these stories show women as symbolic figures but in very different ways. While one focuses on transcendence and religious symbolism, the other focuses on the pursuit of power. I found it interesting reading these two texts and seeing how what different symbolisms women hold for different people.

            One passage I found interesting from “Araby” was when the narrator describes Mangan’s sister as a “figure” and how she was “defined by the light from the half opened door”. Also in this paragraph the setting was described as a “silent street” with “dark muddy lanes”. James Joyce definitely sets up a very dreary and dismal setting, which is then perforated by the image of Mangan’s sister, who is surrounded by light and is depicted as almost angelic. Describing her as "figure" instead of perhaps a body or a person says something about the narrator, because it shows that he sees her as someone more than a person he wants to get to know, but a symbol of something bigger. I think that by portraying her as higher up on the doorstep, having an authoritative voice with her brother, and being bathed in light sort of symbolizes the narrator’s wish to transcend everything that is dull around him. I see the narrator as someone who wants to be above everything that he lives in his daily life such as his lack of parents, his apathy towards school, and his overall unappealing landscape. Mangan’s sister is a symbol of this transcendence, which is why he keeps her in his mind all the time and makes excuses to see her, which is shown in the line “I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes”. He considers everything in his daily life the foe, which he battles by instead focusing on the girl, or rather the “chalice”. This dream of transcendence is also why he focuses all of his energy on going to the bazaar to bring back something for Mangan’s sister, because it is yet another excuse to not focus on things like school and be in a different place of mind. It is only in the end when he realizes all of his attempts at transcendence were in vain, when he says “gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”

            The idea of religion is a very prevalent theme in “Araby” and it holds a lot of meaning to the narrator. A chalice is traditionally referred to in religious aspects, and has been used in the bible since the 1300s. This idea of religion also pops up multiple times throughout the text of “Araby”. Another significant religious aspect of the story is the fact that a priest died in the narrator’s home. Religion is the ultimate form of transcendence because those who are believers believe that there is something beyond the nature world entirely, and they look to this higher force to guide them. It would make sense that this is included in the story “Araby” because it’s this transcendence from the natural world that is exactly what the narrator is looking for. It would also make sense that he would refer to Mangan’s sister as a “chalice” which is highly religious because it affirms the fact that she is the symbol of a higher power. In the Christian religion, a chalice is used to hold ceremonial wine, which is something very sacred. Therefore, a chalice is meant to hold something very sacred and holy. That is why I think that in the story Mangan’s sister is described as a chalice, because she means something very sacred and holy to the narrator. The priest’s death in his own home could mean that the narrator’s hope for transcendence from his life is dead in a way, which could be why he turns to Mangan’s sister to re-kindle that hope.

            In the short story “A&P” by John Updike there is also the idea of women as a symbol, but I think that the woman in “A&P” symbolizes power rather than transcendence. The main female character is nicknamed “Queenie” which puts her in a position of power right off the bat. Sammy even says in the story that “she kind of led them,” meaning the other girls. Queenie has a commanding presence throughout the story, especially in the passage when she is walking through the aisles. He describes her as going “against the usual traffic” in the aisles, which hints that she is above the norm in a sense. This is further supported by the fact that Sammy puts the rest of the shoppers in labels such as “sheep” and “houseslaves,” which suggests that he sees everyone in the town as submissive in comparison. Sammy’s boss towards the end of the story attempts to conform and disempower the girls, which sets off Sammy’s rebellion. I think that having power is important to Sammy and Queenie symbolizes the power that he wants. I also think that when Queenie was sort of disempowered at the end by Lengel, it was symbolic of how the town he lives in does that to everyone, including Sammy himself. All of this prompted his rebellion in the end, which wasn’t even acknowledged by the very women he was idealizing. Sammy, much like the narrator in “Araby”, made a vain attempt to impress the woman who embodied the very goal he was trying to achieve.