Compare And Contrast John Updike And Boys And Girls

The plot in each of these short stories focuses on normal American, middle-class life. “A&P” is about a young man that does not want to conform to society and what others want him to do. Sammy deviates from the social norm by quitting his job at the A&P while attempting to defend the girls wearing bathing suits. M. Gilbert Porter wrote an essay in The English Journal called “John Updike’s ‘A&P’: The Establishment and an Emersonian Cashier”. In this essay, he states that “Updike reveals the sensitive character of a nineteen-year-old grocery store clerk named Sammy, who rejects the standards of the A&P and in doing so commits himself to a kind of individual freedom” (Porter 1155). Porter is describing Sammy as a martyr for quitting his job because he believes that the standards of the A&P are unjust. He also states that Sammy

A&P is in first person perspective and is portrayed by Sammy the nineteen-year-old cashier. You can easily tell that the point of view is based on a nineteen-year-old due to the first sentence. It reads “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits. I'm in the third check-out slot, with my back to the door, so I don't see them until they're over by the bread.” (Updike) The way that Sammy is talking is childish and someone that is in their thirties or older would not talk like that. John Updike made sure to make Sammy of a mind of a nineteen-year-old. Another proof of that is “I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course. There wasn't anybody but some young married screaming with her children about some candy they didn't get by the door of a powder-blue Falcon station wagon.”

Infrequency rather than frequency triggers the events that occur in the A&P grocery store. The sexually appealing nature of the girls provokes Sammy’s carnal appetite and engenders rebellious feelings towards conformity as well. This allows him to realize that his life has been tailored to that of the mundane lives of the other A&P employees and customers. However, this epiphany leads Sammy to act impulsively when the girls are being admonished for their revealing attire by Lengel. Lengel, the conventional and austere store manager, further embodies the conformity that surrounds Sammy as Lengel reprimands the girls for wearing bathing suits in a grocery store. As Sammy sees his manager embarrassing the girls, Sammy has the choice of being a “sheep” or breaking out of the conformed structure of the A&P store, such as the girls has done. Sammy is refreshed by the uniqueness the girls bring, and he also wants to be part of that. This shows that he wants to protect what the girls and what they represent, which is contrast to conformity. Sammy ultimately decides to defend the girls’ honor by quitting his job, and thus makes the statement of not being a “sheep” that is mindlessly led by society. Although this decision was driven partly by carnal feelings, it was primarily out of impulse and curiosity of what lies beyond the restricted borders of normalcy in the A&P grocery store. Even though Sammy quit his job for the girls,

In “A&P”, John Updike uses compelling diction, language, and description to enhance the perspective of Sammy within the story and his final decision to quit his job. The use of imagery within the supermarket develops the environment Sammy worked in to a greater extent and painted diverse pictures of the customers. The derogatory descriptions of Lengel and some customers was also significant in terms of revealing Sammy’s emotions about his job at A&P. The nature of the situation with the girls and descriptive language of the customers and environment were also significant factors.A spontaneous effort to portray Sammy’s power and independence was a significant aspect Updike made more interesting by implementing dialogue, diction, and theme.

This Story takes place in 1961, in a small New England town 's “A&P” grocery store. Sammy, the narrator, is introduced as a grocery checker and an observer of the store 's patrons. He finds himself fascinated by a particular group of girls. Just in from the beach and still in their bathing suits, they are a stark contrast, to the otherwise plain store interior. Though it takes place over the period of a few minutes, it represents a much larger process of maturation. From the time the girls enter the grocery store, to the moment they leave, you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he sees only the physicality of the girls: how they look and what they are wearing, seem to be his only observations. It fascinates Sammy because he has never seen any girls like that come into the store especially Queenie. As they go about their errands, Sammy observes the reactions, of the other customers, to this trio of young women. Sammy wants to get out and do what teenagers do while on summer break and not just work in their parents store. In “A&P”, the social class and society expectations come hand in hand depending on the symbols throughout the story, in fact it allows the readers to get a full understanding of what went on in Sammy 's “World”.

John Updike’s “A&P”, is a short story that relates an episode in the life of a teenage (male) grocery store employee, circa 1961. Many critics suggest that this story is told through the eyes of the main character Sammy, and not through those of the author, John Updike. The label placed upon teenage males in modern society is often that of an über sexist that views the female entity in only sexual lights. This assessment is supported in Updike’s story by means of diction and paragraph structure. In addition Sammy’s rash reaction to his manager’s chastising of three girls in the store is a result of his longing for the young women, rather than in his own best interest. Throughout the short story “A&P”, Sammy

In a continuing attempt to reveal this societal conflict, Updike introduces the character of Lengel, the manager. He accosts the girls and starts to make a scene accusing them of being indecent: “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.’ He turns his back. That’s policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want. What others want is juvenile delinquency” (Updike, 600). When the store manager confronts three girls in swimsuits because of their indecency (lack of proper clothes), they are forced to leave humiliated. At this moment Sammy makes the choice to quit his job in protest of the manager’s handling of the situation. In his mind, and arguably in John Updike’s mind, the standards of walking into a grocery store in a bathing suit and humiliating someone in front of other people are both unacceptable. This part of the story is pivotal for one main reason: a voice in the business community is speaking. As a manager at A & P, Lengel is the voice of The Establishment and guards the community ethics (Porter, 321). Queenie’s (the ringleader of the girls) blush is what moves Sammy to action. Here are three girls who came in from the beach to purchase only one thing, and this kingpin is embarrassing them in order to maintain an aura of morality, decency,

John Updike is viewed by his readers as a progressive voice in his work that promotes feminist issues. He makes these issues stand out more evidently, rather than hidden, in order for the reader to realize how women are viewed in society. From reading Updike’s A&P, the story sends the message to readers of genders working together to strive for equality. If readers do not carefully and actively read A&P they may miss key messages about the power men hold over women, not just in society but in literature as well. Even though Updike’s A&P seems to be a story about a teenager finally standing up to his boss and quitting the job he hates, the tone used reveals the hidden message on how women are in a male-oriented world. The relationship between both men are women are shown as unequals, men on the top and women always below them, Updike makes sure to open up the reader 's eyes in realizing the way females are being treated unfairly.

Sammy faces the decision of staying at his job or leaving. His parents are friends with the manager of the store, Lengel. One day three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Seeing it is a slow day, Sammy observes the girls as they go through the store and to his luck come to his check out station. Lengel then sees them at checkout and confronts the girls to tell them about the store’s policy that they should be dressed decently upon entering the store, “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy’” (Updike). This is where Sammy has his transitioning experience. Upon hearing this conversation, Sammy tries be a hero for the girls by making the decision to quit his job, “The girls, and who’d blame, them are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear,

As a gorgeous female enters the store, Sammy’s intellect dissolves. His shallow feelings at the moment causes his immediate rebellion. His only positive feelings come from what actions he carried out. No one praises him for quitting his job to defend the poorly dressed female. Sammy thought that he was the real deal when he claimed that Lengel “didn’t have to embarrass them” in their argument.

In John Updike’s short story “A&P” the thoughts of Sammy, representation of Lengel and, actions of Queenie shows societies disregard for female’s rights to express their thoughts, freedom and individuality.

A young man making a transition through adolescence and making more adult independent decisions. Sammy works in the A&P grocery near the beach where he refers to the customers as sheep and just seems bored with the day to day. As three girls enter the store to buy fancy Herring snacks in swimming suits, he recognizes that Queenie comes from a higher socioeconomic class than he does. He also describes his co-worker Stokesie a 22- year old man with wife and two children who wants to become the next manager. I believe that Sammy is afraid of following the same life. Sammy begins to symbolize the swimming suits as freedom and an exciting escape from the boring everyday world in which he finds himself. Lengel the store manager approaches the girls about wearing swimsuits and embarrasses them in the store, which rubs Sammy the wrong way. Sammy rebels and states “I quit” and pulls the apron off. He wants to impress the girls but they had continued out and left the store. “Looking back in the big windows, over the bags of peat moss and aluminum lawn furniture stacked on the pavement, I could see Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he’d had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” this statement seems as though Sammy realizes the adult choice he just made and the consequences

The story of A&P is written by John Updike. The story is written by Updike in 1961 as well. The story takes place in a chain grocery story names A&P, which is a famous store at the time in the United States. The story's main characters are Sammy, Queenie, Stokesie, Lengal, and two other girls who are friends with Queenie. Sammy is a nineteen-year-old cashier at the grocery store who is also the narrator of the story. Queenie is one of the leading protagonists of the story, and ringleader of her group of girlfriends. Stokesie is Sammy's co-worker at the grocery store, who is also married as well. Lastly, Lengal is the manager of the A&P store and the boss of Sammy and Queenie.

Alice Munro's short story, "Boys and Girls," explores the different roles of men and women in society through a young girl's discovery of what it means to be a girl. A close examination of the elements of a short story as they are used in "Boys and Girls" helps us to understand the meaning of the story.

In the story A and P, the main character Sammy, impulsively reacts to a situation which results with him stuck without a job. At the beginning of the story, we introduced to three girls; “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits” (1). These girls represent Sammy’s innocence and adolescence and his youthful ways. The three girls are the reason why Sammy strikes maturity. Throughout the book, we discover that people aren’t looking upon the girls fondly because of their lack of clothes but Sammy is willing to stand up for these girls. “The girls, and who'd blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say "I quit" to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (21). However, when his plan backfires