Short Stories

In the short story “Araby” and in the short story “B.Wordsworth” both characters go through life changing experiences. The boy in “Araby” invests his heart and his time into his first love while he dreams about her and follows her. The boy in “B.Wordsworth” learns to think outside society’s view of life because he new friend teaches him to take another look of everything he sees. Unfortunately, the boys’ short-term attachment ended. Both boy narrators both gained an enhanced experience, which resulted in loss. In “Araby” the boy experiences love for the first time and has an obsession with Mangan’s sister. He encounters the feeling of love and follows his crush on the way to school. The boy has fantasies about Mangan’s sister and endures strong emotions towards her. "But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." His love for Mangan’s sister explains why he is disappointed in the end when he is unable to get his love a gift from Araby. In “B.Wordsworth” the boy narrator trusts B.Wordsworth and experiences friendship for the first time. B.Wordsworth is a true friend to the boy and he is his only friend. He teaches the boy a life lesson on how to appreciate everything. The boy learns to be more reverential by being more patient and appreciative of life and nature. They beauty of life has to be recognized and not taken advantage of. Thinking poetically way makes the boy emotional and sensitive especially towards the death of B.Wordsworth. “I left the house, and ran home crying, like a poet, for everything I saw.” In both short stories, the boy narrators suffer loss and are hurting in the end. The boy in “Araby” is unable to achieve his own goals at an early age. He is furious and realizes he has been acting like a fool. "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." The boy from “B.Wordsworth” displays sadness experiencing his friend’s passing. B.Wordsworth is his only friend that teaches him the value of life and its beauties. “He didn’t even look sad, and that made me burst out crying loudly.” The outcome of the boys’ experience is unfortunate. The boy in “Araby” learns that he has been a fool because of his emotions. His love fails to show affection towards him. The boy in “B.Wordsworth” befriends a man who has such an impact on him. But the man dies and the boy is alone with only the man’s teachings to remember him. Their experiences may have resulted in loss but both boy narrators appreciated life more and lived more fully through their experiences.