araby and the things they carried Essay - 848 Words

Head in the Clouds The main characters in â€Å"Araby† by James Joyce and â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien are both at war with fantasy and reality. Both of these characters are ones motivated by their infatuation with woman they hardly know but believe that they love them. Both these stories tell us that their fantasizing and objectification of these women are used to cover up their true feelings. In return this offers the main characters an escape from reality. Through the exchange of letters between Lt. Jimmy Cross and the center of his infatuation Martha in â€Å"The Things They Carried†, he allowed himself to become more obsessed with the thought of her. The letters simply state the events Martha encounter in her daily life, lines†¦show more content†¦With religion being a very prominent factor in the lives of the characters in this story, the narrator neglects to realize that this factor will make it nearly impossible for them to be together. With the inability to realize this, mixed with his teenage hormones, this causes him to be engulfed by his objectification of Manegen’s sister. â€Å"My body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running along the wires† (Joyce, 217). He allows her to control him so heavily; simply by the way she moves or speaks, he doesn’t allow himself to live his own life as the person he truly is. By not allowing himself to see anything else past this girl he is idealizing, he shuts himself off from the rest of the things in his life, the more important things, such as work and school. We know that the narrator doesn’t come from very much money, which means for him to take what little money he is given and plan to spend it on this girl, he is truly obsessed. A child in his right mind would save the money he is given, to get the things he needs or even wants for himself. His infatuation with her makes him feel as though he has to do anything he could to please her, even giving her all he had. Through an epiphany at the end he realizes that he was romanticizing his relationship with Manegen’s sister far too much. He was willing to give up the little money he has in order to please a girl he hardly knows in order to simply entertain a fantasy. When theShow MoreRelatedThe Things They Carried and Araby Essay1353 Words   |  6 PagesBoth â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien and â€Å"Araby† by James Joyce portray the lives of two individuals who are in love. â€Å"The Things They Carried† is about a young lieutenant na med Jimmy Cross during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Cross was incapable of focusing on the war because of his constant thoughts of the girl he loved, Martha. â€Å"Araby† is about a boy who is infatuated with a girl he has never had a conversation with. Although both protagonists in â€Å"The Things They Carried† and â€Å"Araby† eventuallyRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien And Araby By James Joyce892 Words   |  4 Pagesboth pieces of literature â€Å"The Things They Carried† by Tim O’Brien and â€Å"Araby† by James Joyce. The authors portray the lives of two individuals who are in love. The idea of love concerning a girl and expectations on being with this girl they love. The authors in both texts demonstrate too us that love can be very hopeful, but it can emotionally and mentally change us. The authors assert to the reader attention in the literature â€Å"Araby† and â€Å" The Things They Carried† that love can be hopeful butRead More The Decline of Chivalry Explored in Araby and AP Essay1211 Words   |  5 PagesRomantic gestures have been seen as a useful motive to win hearts of women for centuries. However, as society constantly changes, the effectiveness of these chivalrous acts has diminished. 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