A&P and Araby essays

A&P and Araby essays John Updike's A characteristic of both writers' works, each rendition offers its own unique perspective upon the young man's romantic infatuation. Not only are descriptive phrases shared by both stories, but parallels occur with each ending, as well (Doloff 113). What is even more telling of Updike's imitation of Joyce's Araby is the fact that the A & P title is hauntingly close in pronunciation to the original story's title. The theme of A & P and Araby are so close to each other that the subtle differences might be somewhat imperceptible to the untrained eye. Both stories delve into the unstable psyche of a young man who is faced with one of life's most difficult lessons: that things are not always as the...

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan, somewhere around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire began on the eighth floor. What started the fire has never been determined, but theories include that a cigarette butt was thrown into one of the scrap bins or there was a spark from a machine or faulty electrical wiring. Most on the eighth floor of the factory building escaped, and a phone call to the tenth floor led to most of those workers evacuating. Some made it to the roof of the next door building, where they were later rescued. The workers on the ninth floor with only a single unlocked exit door did not receive notice, and only realized something was wrong when they saw the smoke and flames that had spread. By that time, the only accessible stairwell was filled with smoke. The elevators stopped working. The fire department arrived quickly but their ladders did not reach to the ninth floor to allow escape by those trapped. The hoses didnt reach adequately to put out the flames quickly enough to save those trapped on the ninth floor. Workers sought escape by hiding in dressing rooms or the bathroom, where they were overcome with smoke or flame and died there. Some tried to open the locked door, and died there of suffocation or the flames. Others went to the windows, and some 60 of them chose to jump from the ninth floor rather than die from the fire and smoke. The fire escape was not strong enough for the weight of those on it. It twisted and collapsed; 24 died falling from it, and it was not of use to any others trying to escape. Thousands of spectators gathered in the park and streets, watching the fire and then the horror of those jumping. The fire department had the flames under control by 5 p.m., but when firefighters entered the floors to continue to bring the smouldering fire under control, they found charred machines, intense heat and bodies. By 5:15, they had the fire completely under control and 146 had died or suffered injuries from which theyd die shortly. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Index of Articles Quick Overview of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire1911 - Conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist FactoryThe 1909 Uprising of the Twenty Thousand  and the 1910 Cloakmakers Strike: background​After the Fire: identifying victims, news coverage, relief efforts, memorial and funeral march, investigations, trialFrances Perkins and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Related: Josephine GoldmarkILGWUWomen’s Trade Union League (WTUL)