The short stories “A&P” by John Updike and “Araby” by James Joyce tell the boring lives of two overwhelmed young men who try to escape their ordinary lives in different ways. John Updike's "Sammy" and James Joyce's Boy (unnamed) have many similarities. Despite the differences in the stories, setting and message behind them, the authors' feelings and thoughts are deliberately similar. The two boys feel an immediate attraction to the girls they meet at first sight. Changes happened and risks were taken to transform their daily lives into something new. Their desire for an exciting life will benefit them or deceive them. In both stories, the protagonists begin by describing their setting in detail. Their daily life in the different cities in which everyone lives, the neighborhoods and their surroundings exactly as everyone sees it. The boy in the story "Araby" describes its setting as "An uninhabited two-story house stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbors on a square lot... (p. 321)", giving readers a best description of how unwelcoming his neighborhood is. Similarly, Sammy in "A&P" refers to his town's residents as sheep, as the majority are elderly and the town itself is unintriguing. Sammy has lived in his town for a while now and has worked at the same store almost his entire life. For him, nothing is ever exciting in his life and he has no motivation to strive for anything. Both protagonists believe they have nothing to lose, but soon realize they both have a lot to risk for a few changes along the way. The only way out of their boring lives was to commit to being noticed and loved by the girls they have strong. feelings for... middle of paper ... it's never worth it. They didn't see boys the way they saw girls, they were just in their little fantasies. The boy in “Araby” realizes that he is too young to go to such lengths to buy a gift at the bazaar for a girl much older than him. Sammy thinks about his old job and how big a mistake he made when he realized all he could really do was be a cashier. They both felt superior when it came to girls, but that was the last thing they were. They knew that deep down, things would never work out between them and the girls. It was simply too good to be true. Even though the boys' intention was similar, they both found different ways to escape what they are used to. Walking away from their lives is much harder than they initially thought. Now they have to try even harder to balance their environment and their feelings towards their environment..