Comparison and contrast (Chekhov’s “Vanka” and James Joyce’s “Araby” )

Comparison and contrast

In both Chekhov’s “Vanka” and James Joyce’s “Araby” the reader is given a glimpse into the lives of two young orphan boys living in different worlds but sharing many similar characteristics. Both Vanka and the boy in Araby are searching for love but they fail to find it through the authors, use of language, imagery and plot, it becomes clear to the reader that Vanka is more sympathetic and effected mind than the boy in Araby.

Vanka and the boy in Araby lives in very different world. Vanka is a nine year old boy. He is an apprentice to a shoemaker. He does not have his own house. He does not go to school and does not play games. His master does not give him enough food for eating. His master gives him bread in morning, porridge for dinner, and again in the evening bread. He allows want to meet his grandfather but he can not meet to his grandfather because he does not know his grandfather’s adders. On the other hand the boy in Araby goes to school and plays game with his friends. He lives in his uncle’s house. He is a young boy and fells in love a girl who is beautiful in his (Araby boy) mind. We don’t know about his age but as a reader we can find he is more agar than Vanka. Because he fell in love a young girl, it is possible because his mind is matured. He can go to bazaar (Araby).

Vanka and the boy in Araby both live without their parents and are alone. Vanka is a nine year old boy who had been apprenticed to the shoemaker. He lives in his master’s house; a house which was that was the very dark and miserable like his bed room is not so clearer where he sleeps alone. In “Vanka” he writes a latter to his grandfather “I wish you a merry Christmas and everything good from the Lord God. I have neither father nor mother, you alone are left me”. He has no friend. On the other hand the boy in Araby lives in his uncle’s house. He works in his uncle’s house, because he has no parents. He continues his studies from live in uncle’s house. He observes a girl every morning (he lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her [the girl] door) because he is very alone and his has no opportunity to speak other person that’s why he fell in love the girl. He goes to bazaar alone for buying something for the girl. So we can say both boys are orphan and live alone.

In both stories the two boys are dependent on two other characters. Vanka is a boy who works in his master’s house. He lives alone and thinks about his family. He knows only about his grandfather but he does not see him. Everyday Vanka fells and thinks about his grandfather. He writes a letter to his grandfather and thinks he (grandfather) will be come for taking him (Vanka). So he wants to go to his grandfather. His life is so miserable. His master does not give food enough. If he does fail any work then his master beat him. So his things, he lives in hell. That’s why he wrote a letter to his grandfather to take him away form this hell where his life is more miserable than a dog. In “Vanka” however, the reader can identify with title character and feel sympathy for him because of the lonely life he leads and he is very much dependent to his grandfather. Similarly the boy in Araby feels in love with a girl but he is very much depending on his uncle because he lives in his uncle’s house. He works there. He wants to go bazaar but he is late go to bazaar because his uncle forget to give him money. He also depends on the girl. He loves her. He wants to give her something. That’s why we can say the boy in Araby depends on the girl. The situation for both of these characters is that they don’t have contact with the ones they love though Vanka depends on his grandfather and the boy in Araby depends on the girl.

Both the writers use imagery to create different mood of the story. The imagery in “Vanka” keeps the reader from identifying with Vanka by creating several morbid images of him. For example there are many images of decay throughout the story “...He got an inkpot and a penholder with a rusty nib…a crumpled sheet of paper … the dark icon”. In “Vanka” Chekhov describes Vanka’s life as very miserable. Vanka also describes his own life like “my life is miserable, worse than dogs”. In “Araby” however, James Joyce uses more imagery. For example the “kitchen was littered with old useless papers. Among this I found a few papers- covered books, the pages of which were curled and damp: the abbot, by Walter Scott, the devout communicant and the memoirs of vidocq”. The boy in Araby fells in love a girl. One day he thinks about the girl and murmured “O love! O love!” “Araby” is a story of first person narrator and “Vanka” is a story of third person narrator but letters are in first person narrator ( in invited commas paragraph) so we get a bit of both.

Through the plot of the both stories the reader can see that James Joyce has created a great effect. “Vanka” starts with a sad, as a reader we feel more sympathy for him. He does not go to school. He does not play. He is an apprentice. If he does not work his master beats him. He is an innocent boy. He only imagines his grandfather’s picture. He dropped the letter to his grandfather in the postbox without the proper address. On the other hand the boy in Araby goes to school and plays games with his friends. He lives in his uncle’s house. The Araby boy thinks he is let down by someone else like his uncle. The boy prepared to go to bazaar but his uncle forgot to give him the money. The boy in Araby goes to the bazaar to buy something for the girl. But he is very disappointed because he sees a woman selling some product and two young gentlemen want to buy the product but the woman is flirting with the two young gentlemen. So the reader can say that Vanka lives in his imagination, but the Araby boy lives in reality.

In “Vanka” and “Araby” the authors` use of language and the plots of the stories illustrate that “Vanka” is an innocent boy and sadder than the boy in Araby. We have discussed two stories, one is “Vanka” and the other is “Araby” Both of the stories` main characters are orphan boys. Vanka and the boy in Araby are similar in their situations, for example both are orphan boys. Both feel in love but do not have contact with the one they love and they are alone in their own position. Even though these characters are similar the effect is different. Vanka is worse off and more innocent than the boy in Araby. So as a reader we feel sadder for Vanka than the boy in Araby.


(Source: This format of the comparison and contrast essay adopted from Karen Humphrey, a student at California State University at Long Beach.)