Evenline And A & P

Rings and hearts represent love; the heart, because it's the organ of the body that keeps you living, breathing, and feeling that passion for a loved one. A ring is round expressing an ongoing pact, a promise to another. Similarly, authors express themselves through symbolism using objects, nature, or anything meaningful. Two authors do just this in their rite of passage stories: James Joyce in, "Eveline," and, John Updike, in "A & P."

Eveline is the story of a young, nineteen year-old girl who feels she's living a terrible, trapped life. She finally finds a way to escape it all when her one love, Frank, tries to rescue her from her violent father, her everyday, difficult tasks, and death. He wants to take her to the east to sail away from all the drama. As Eveline waits to leave, she starts thinking about everything she's gone through living in her house. She doesn't want to end up like her mother who was, "living a life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness." As Frank calls her into the "seas of the world," she gets scared. She now knows that in order to start a new, unknown future, she must leave behind the duties that were diminishing her life. This frightens her because she doesn't know what might happen to her in the future. The sea represents a new life, a new, adult beginning for finding peace, love, and adventure, which she didn't have at home. Eveline finally rejecting the sea, because she's afraid of "drowning," informs us that she prohibits herself from encountering passionate contentment. James Joyce used the sea well in symbolizing it as the waters of "rejuvenation."

"A & P," is a story about a young man who ends up quitting his supermarket job because of a certain circumstance he puts himself in, not knowing at the time what his consequences would be. While Sammy's working one day he notices all the "regular" people who come to shop, (in this