Faulkner and Joyce

William Faulkner famously said that "The human heart in conflict with itself" is the only topic worth writing about. Several short stories have proven this quote to be true. The narrators of both William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" and James Joyce's "Araby" are young men who are facing their first moments where childhood innocence and the adult world are coming into conflict. Both boys, for the text makes it evident that both narrators are indeed male, tell of moments in their youth when they first came to realize that childhood would not be eternal. Each boy believes has come to a point where he has to make a choice whether or not to follow his own convictions or to follow along with the mandates of the adults around him. The stories each have a young male presence narrator, an experience with the adult world that forces growth and...
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