Epiphany :: Literary Analysis, Joyce and Calvino

World War I and World II are basically the analogous, proper? If so, Araby, written around WWI by James Joyce, and The Flash, written around WWII by Italo Calvino, are also the same, no? Indeed, these short stories have many similarities. At the same time, some(prenominal) stories have many differences. Thus, it is difficult to compare some(prenominal) stories when considering all the details. If the subject of comparison is more specific, such as epiphany, then more speech pattern and effort can be put into the comparison. In Araby, the protagonist falls in be intimate with a girl, but love deceives him. In his moment of epiphany, gazing up into the darkness he saw himself as a creature driven and derided by vanity and his eyes burned with anguish and anger (Joyce 1). In The Flash, the protagonist unawares grasps a reality, but only for an instant He stopped, blinked He understood nothing. Nothing, nothing about anything. He didnt understand the reasons for things or for people, it was all senseless, absurd. And he started to laugh (Calvino 1). The comparison between the epiphanies of both short stories reveals the relationship amongst the similarities and differences regarding theme, symbolism and setting. Most importantly, comparing the themes of both epiphanies reveals they can simultaneously be similar and different. An important common theme in both epiphanies is facing reality. In Araby, the protagonist realizes his stay was useless (Joyce 6) since the young lady only spoke to him out of a sense of duty (Joyce 6). Likewise, in The Flash, the protagonist realizes he accepted everything traffic lights, cars, posters, uniforms, monuments, things completely detached from any sense of the world, accepted them as if there some necessity, some chain of cause and effect that cringe them together (Calvino 1). Both characters face the reality and randomness of the world. Even so, each epiphany implies each protagonist faces a different so rt of reality. The protagonist of Araby faces the reality of love and sees himself as a creature driven and derived by vanity (Joyce 6). On the other hand, the protagonist of The Flash faces the reality of existence and hopes he shall grasp that other friendship (Calvino 2). Therefore, reviewing the theme similar to both epiphanies leads to discovering different themes as well.Conversely, looking at the differences in the symbolism of each epiphany hints at a comparable aspect of symbolism.