Intro to fiction

Araby and A Woman on a Roof The story of “ Araby” by James Joyce resembles the story of “ A woman on a roof” by Doris Lessing because of the behavior of the men characters when they see women. The two stories have the theme of rejection. It shows the way men and boys feel when they are rejected with women. The story of “ Araby” shows the ways small boys begin to behave when they start to get interested in girls. The main character in the story of “ Araby” is a small boy who remembers the way he was very much attracted to a girl who was a sister of his friend. His friend was called Mangan. The main character in the story sees Mangan’s sister at the time when they were playing with other boys. The boys used to admire the way Mangan’s sister walked and the ways she had made her hair. This desire in the boy is brought out when he describes the ways the hair of Mangan’s sister moved as she walked. “ soft rope of hair tossed from side to side,”(Joyce 14). This story shows the way in which boys get mental confusion as they begin to notice the beauty in women.
The main character in the story is still too young to understand issues of love. He does not know how to please a beautiful girl. He decides to go to the market to buy a good present for the girl hoping to win her love. However, he starts to feel some sense of confusion as he realizes the confusion of love. He fails to win the love of the girl and suffers deeply because of rejection. The behavior of the boys in the story by James Joyce is almost similar to the behavior of the three men in the story called “ A Woman on a Roof.” In this second story the three men see a woman sunbathing on the roof of her house. The woman is dressed scantily and the men can see most of her nakedness. The men are caught up by desire and want to catch the attention of the women. All of them try in different ways to attract the woman but she refuses to listen to them. However, she remains on the roof as she enjoys the sun. The men are Tom, Stanley, and Harry.
Tom is the youngest of them while Harry is the oldest. Tom is very much interested in loving the woman. He does not have a lot of experience in issues of love and thinks that he is the only one who can love the woman in the proper way. He does not want the other men to win the love of the woman. However, the woman rejects all of them. Stanley is very angry with the woman because he thinks that women must love men. According to Stanley, the actions of the woman are equal to “ a crime gotten away with,” (Lessing 858). This means that Stanley likes to control women. He does not like the idea of being rejected. The three men struggle with the feeling of rejection in very different ways. However , all of them suffer in their emotions. They suffer in the same way in which the boy in James Joyce story suffers when he cannot win the love of Mangan’s sister.
Works Cited
Joyce, James. Araby. Dubliners. London: Cengage, 1914.
Lessing, Doris. ” A Woman on a Roof.” The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. 856-862.