Comarison Contrast Between A&P and I

Psychology has proven that young men, when in the presence of the opposite sex tend to overcompensate with an inflated ego. Such is the case in both short stories, in which both of the boys try to win over the opposite sex with some sort of grandiloquent gesture or word. In ?I?m A Fool?, the main character, when introduced to Lucy, decides to bluff about who he is to impress her. It is quite a magnificent yarn that he spins about being the son of a rich father who owns the horse that the group is betting on (Roberts 254). Sadly the main character figures out that Lucy has not fallen for him because of the stories of the magnificent stables or the elegant home that the main character had described so vividly described. Instead the girl had fallen for the main character purely out of love for who he is. Even though the main character finds out that this is indeed the case he cannot bring himself to rectify his mistake. It is again that pride and stubbornness

Finally, the results achieved by each of the main characters in both stories are different also. In ?I?m A Fool?, the main character won a hollow victory. Even though Lucy had fallen for him and the fact that they did spend a wonderful evening together that had climaxed when she kissed him before she left comes to mind, he was still left empty handed, unable to show anything for his troubles of trying to impress a girl (Botkin B.A). However it should be noted that the main character did indeed have some luck, so his ordeal was not totally a waste of time or money.

produced by an inflated ego that does not permit the main character to do this. Therefore he must go on with the realization that his victory of having Lucy fall for him is superficial, rather hollow, something not to be celebrated, but to be mourned (Rideout 97). The reason for that is because she stated, ?I will write to you all the time?(Roberts 256) Yet he had given her a false address in the process of developing his fallacious background and character, therefore he would not be able to bear the fruit of what he sowed, in other words he would not be able to receive the letters that she sent since he did not really live there.

Thus both ?A&P? and ?I?m A Fool? portray the irrational decisions that young men can make when in the presence of an attractive female. Sammy and the main character in ?I?m A Fool? are the embodiment of all the things that can or will go wrong when young men act out of impulse and indecisiveness. However both of these characters used completely different methods and the results of their ordeals were totally different.

Sammy, on the other hand, failed miserably. Not only was he not able to achieve any type of relationship with any of the girls but his quitting the job only made matters worse. Unlike the main character in ?I?m A Fool?, Sammy was only able to see with his eyes and fantasize about the girls. The only interaction that he had with the girls was when they came up to pay for the herrings, although that interaction was strictly based on business (Thornburn 168). Finally, unlike the main character in ?I?m A Fool?, who was left with his mangled pride, Sammy is left without a job, with a ruined reputation, and the reoccurring thought of, ?I?m a fool.?

With the following background in mind it is easy to point out the similarities of both stories. Simply put both boys knew or believed that they would not have a chance with the girls without making themselves look more than what they actually were. Their insecurities got the better of them and they overcompensated for them, each in his own way. As the author of Treasury of Time commented, Sammy?s insecurities lay in the fact that he was a lowly employee(Botkin B.A. 67). Each boy perceived the situation on his own and in both cases it the actions or words were not premeditated. The factor that catapaulted them into the final stages of their mistakes was impulse.

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