Epiphany :: Literary Analysis, Joyce and Calvino

World War I and World II are fundamentally the same, right? If so, Araby, written nearly WWI by James Joyce, and The Flash, written around WWII by Italo Calvino, are also the same, no? Indeed, these on the spur of the moment stories have some similarities. At the same time, two stories have many differences. Thus, it is difficult to compare both stories when considering all the details. If the subject of comparison is more specific, such as epiphany, then more emphasis and effort can be instal into the comparison. In Araby, the jock falls in love with a girl, save love deceives him. In his moment of epiphany, gazing up into the darkness he saw himself as a creature drive and derided by vanity and his eyes burned with anguish and anger (Joyce 1). In The Flash, the protagonist suddenly grasps a earthly concern, hardly only for an instant He stopped, blinked He understood nothing. Nothing, nothing about anything. He didnt take the reasons for things or for people , it was all perceiveless, 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 skirt 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 start out and effect that bound them together (Calvino 1). Both characters face the reality and randomness of the world. Even so, distributively epiphany implies each protagonist faces a diff erent enlighten 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 knowledge (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.