Adults in both stories are in the background; the children are the focus of the short stories. The
adults are there to show how complicated is the adult's life; showing the conflicts and how
adults deal with them.
In "Up in the Tree", only Keisuke's parents are mentioned; they do not have a good
relationship and fight between each other because Keisuke's father has other woman.
Knowing of this conflict, the reader can understand why the children want to stay up in the
tree and hidden from the real world.
As well, in "Araby" the boy lives with his uncle and aunt, and they do not show too much
interest on him. The uncle is a heavy drinker; he probably wants to forget family's problems.
Because of this gap of how his uncle and aunt treat the boy, which is not like a real family with
love, the boy feels a need to find something to love.
