Romantic gestures have been seen as a useful motive for winning the hearts of women for centuries. However, as society constantly evolves, the effectiveness of these chivalrous acts has diminished. In James Joyce's "Araby" and John Updike's "A&P" this theory is explored, both telling the story of a boy whose efforts to impress the girl with his desires fail. As Well's puts it in his critical analysis of these stories, "both protagonists realized that romantic gestures – indeed, that the whole chivalric [sic] vision – are, in modern times, counterproductive." These stories, despite the differences between the two characters, make it clear that the character's world is changing, with chivalry becoming more and more obsolete. “Araby” tells the story of a young boy who romances his friend’s older sister. He spends a lot of time admiring the girl from afar. When the young girl finally speaks to him, she reveals to him that she cannot go to the bazaar which takes place this weekend, he sees it as a chance to impress her. He tells her that he is going there and that he will buy her something. The boy is overwhelmed by the opportunity to perform this chivalrous act for her, surely allowing him to win the girl's affections. On the evening of the bazaar, he is forced to wait for his drunken uncle to return home to give him money to leave. Unfortunately, this causes the boy to arrive at the bazaar just as it is closing. Among the stands that remained open, he visited one where the owner, an Englishwoman, “seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty” (Joyce 89) and he knows that he will not be able to buy anything from her. He decides to return home, realizing that he is “a creature driven and ridiculed by vanity” (Joyce 90). He is angry with himself and embarrassed as he...... middle of paper ... proves how romantic gestures become stale as time passes. As noted above, Sammy and the boy went to great lengths to impress the girls. However, their quest failed simply because it didn't matter to the girls. This shows that as society evolves over time, these chivalrous gestures become more and more unnecessary. Work cited DiYanni, Robert. Literature: approaches to fiction, poetry and theater. Boston: McGraw Hill. 2008. Print. Joyce, James. "Arab." The Norton Introduction to Literature, Eighth Shorter Edition. Ed. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: WWNorton. Updike, John. “A&P.” Bedford's Introduction to Literature. Ed. Name(s) of publisher. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2005. Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A&P': A Return Visit to 'Araby.' » Studies in Short Fiction 30, 2 (spring 1993)