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The characters stories “A&P” by John Updike, “Greasy Lake” by T. C. Boyle, and James Joyce’s “Araby” are all similar in that they are young characters who all experiences a moment of insight in their life. The three stories discuss the theme of young boys, through certain events in their lives, leads to a closer step into manhood. However, there are differing influences and factors that routes them into their epiphanies. The protagonist of the story in “Greasy Lake” is the narrator himself, whose name is never given. The main characters are nineteen years old and is different in that, unlike Sammy or the boy in Araby, thought it was “good to be bad” (p129) and tried to go against the rules, it was time when “courtesy and winning ways went out of style.” (p129). The setting seems to be around 1960’s when it was cool to be a dangerous character, “We wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether and what somebody claimed was cocaine.” (p129). The narrator and his friend’s merely want-to-be tough guys, when in fact the narrator drives his parents whining Bel Air Oldsmobile, whose parents also pay for their education. They are students who actua