Miss Hartick: A Narrative Fiction

On the other hand, there were plenty of men who were interested in the girls and complimenting them. One man tried to seduce the girls by saying, "Ladies, lead me to heaven" (Cisneros 41). Dressing in such a way in a low class area seems out of place for the average woman. It is perceived as sexually suggestive attire

The story happens in 1961. This is the post war period when the market is prospering at the time. New ideas, such as dressing freely comes up as the economy grows. A&P is in a small town located in northern Boston, far away from the big cities. People there are not ready for the changes in the way people dress openly and in mindsets. People’s values in Sammy’s community are conformed. As Sammy points out that: “we’re right in the middle of town, and the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car in to the street.” Women in this town should not wear revealing costumes to public places. This is not only people’s values, but their policy. When three girls dressing in bathing suits show up in A&P, they get condemned by the manager Lengel. Lengle, the lower class in society, is the representation for conservative in the town. As a manager, he supposes to put customers’ need in the first place. However, he puts his personal value above business’s principle. He reprimands Queenie that: “We want you decently dressed when you come in here” (749). “It’s our policy” (749). It is obvious that people are under strict supervision in this town. They are not allowed to dress what they want, but should follow the town’s dressing standard. Therefore, Updike creates a conserved setting that helps to reinforce the theme of conformity versus personal

People sometimes have tough ordeals. Some may act negatively toward the problem, but the people that act positively toward the problem are able to see hope in places where they wouldn’t expect it to be in. People have been through cruelty, yet they continue to stay positive. People still have the positivity to cling onto their last hope, or even continue to think positively when there is no hope at all. People like Anne Frank, in Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, continue to stay positive throughout the horrible ordeals that have happened. Some of the Japanese in Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference have continued to stay hopeful while in internment

In the beginning of the story, John Updike used the three girls’ swimsuits to symbolize their disregard for social norms. The base of the entire story is about the girls being dressed indecently in a grocery store. These girls are in their teen to young adult years, so they all must be aware that it is not acceptable to wear bikinis into a grocery store. Therefore, the only other way to explain why they would be in just their swimsuits is that they don’t care that this isn't socially acceptable, and to disregard the universal rules for being a “normal person” sets you apart as an individual. Consequently, the swimsuits are the cause of the conflict for the girls. We know this from Lengel telling the girls, “‘I don't want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It's our policy’" (Updike 4). As you can see, this quote tells us that the girls are not welcome in the store because of their attire, and Queenie’s reaction confirms the fact that they knew this wasn’t acceptable. The text tells us that, “Queenie blushes” (Updike 3) which shows that she knew that she wasn't supposed to be in a bikini, because blushing is a very natural reaction to being caught doing something you shouldn't. So if the girls knew they shouldn't be in bikinis, then the only way to explain why they would wear them is because they don't care. Another

It is the beginning of August, the dreadful days in school have finally arrived. Since it is still ninety degrees outside and the AC can not keep up, most boys walk through the halls with shorts and cut-off tank tops. Girls, we wear long pants such as, jeans or leggings, “Why?”, you ask, Why would one ever want to wear that? Unfortunately, It is not a choice for us. Girls face the question when deciding to wear shorts, “Are these long enough, am I going to get in trouble?” Despite the warm temperatures outside and inside girls can not wear what they want, because it shows too much of their bodies. Boys? Can wear their cut-offs showing more than girls. Do they get in trouble for showing too much? The answer, usually is no. .To this day women are not equal to men in, school, the workplace, or at home. In this article, Rowena uses ethos, a very limited amount of logos, and no pathos to make an argument about the sexism towards school dress codes and how it promotes rape culture.

dignity and pride, none of them wanted to lose that. Also, by the time the boys

The three girls in the story, Queenie and her two sidekicks flaunt their young bodies in very small bikini bathing suits in a small, conservative, town general store. Their “dirty-pink—beige…bathing suits with a little nubble all over it” (p371) is one of the very few examples of sexuality throughout this story.

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,

This imagery shows the kind of scandalous clothing that they were wearing giving them the power to bring attention and desire to Sammy and his coworkers. They stood no chance to these appealing looks that the girls had with the help of the bathing suits and the environment that they were in as Sammy describes “You know, it’s one thing in to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checker-board green-and-cream rubber-tile floor.” (Updike 165). This also shows that Sammy can not control himself once he unleashes his descriptive imagination when thinking about Queenie and her friends walking through the store.

The money in their families allowed them to come to this place on vacation and while here, the girls relied on the power that comes with their wealth and felt the need to assert themselves as different to everyone else. Sure the guys in the store gawked at the girls for their beauty and lack of clothing, but it was their willingness to walk in the store that way that got Sam?s full attention. There are probably beautiful girls who live in the town who Sam would find very attractive in a bathing suit, but they would never walk into their local A & P dressed that way, so it was these girls? audacity in walking like this that gave them his attention. Also, it was the girls? wealth that gave them the courage to be so bold.

As he talked a small entourage moved around and past him. First 2 burly looking security guys, then one executive looking older guy, and finally a handful of much younger and distinctly female "staff" followed after! It was the last of the little "crew" which suddenly caught the young interns eye... Whoa... are they *really* dressed like that!?... their skirts were short. Very short! Kaitlyn could only watch in silent frustration as a handful of her male colleagues smiled and nudged each other, her female peers sharing perplexed and disapproving looks in rather sharp contrast to the guys somewhat annoying amusement. Eugh... such sexist morons she mused as she realized that some of the guys even shared a couple of smiles, laugher and nodding. Kaitlyn had kind of supposed that everyone in the department had been "Big State"

Many have argued that this story has a feminist undertone to the main idea. Conceding, that going into public is a bit bold, especially for the time period shows somewhat of a revolt by the girls. Although, someone can contend that if a girl or girls went into a grocery store in a bikini during today’s time, it would result in the same sort of reaction. One can also argue that the story is condescending toward women and shows them in a negative light. Especially, from the main character Sammy, with his description of the girls, also the nick names he gives the three girls like Plaid, Big Tall Goony-Goony, and Queenie. Moreover, the assumptions about how a girls

On a regular day, three girls in bathing suits walk inside a grocery store called A&P. The three girls in bathing suits brought a lot of attention with them. At a grocery store, it is very uncommon to enter a store with a bathing suit which stirs some controversy revealing a lot of skin. One could say they did the job of getting that attention from the employees. The story is told from sammys perspective, which he talks about each girls looks. “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs” (627). The description sammy gave about the girl demonstrates the attention they are receiving. Beside sammy, Stokesie can not keep his eyes off the girls. Even though he is a married man, he could not maintain his etiquette at work. It may seem like the group of girls hold a power that men seek. They play it off pretty good with the help of their leader queenie who catches the attention of Sammy.

The bathing suit these girls wore is a symbol for freedom. Sammy makes remarks on how misplaced these bathing suits are: “Our town is five miles from a beach, with a big summer colony out on the Point, but we're right in the middle of town, and the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street…It is not as if we're on the Cape; we're north of Boston and there's people in this town haven't seen the ocean for twenty years ” (150). These girls are five whole miles from the nearest beach. It is not as if they just walked over to the store right across the street. Even then, it is still customary to cover up a little bit. Wearing these bathing suits is not a matter of necessity or some sort of fashion statement. It is a choice. These girls are completely and totally liberated, free from the social structures that tie them down and tell them what to do, the social structures that Sammy desperately wants to free himself of. Sammy sees these bathing suits and he instantly wants that same liberation. It is just in his

Sammy recalls on that day three barefoot teenage girls, in bathing suits walking into the store. “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits” (Updike 1). He ogles them from his work station throughout the store, and conveys a very clear image of their actions. He categorizes them based on their looks and what they were wearing. Sammy says things like,