The Found Boat and a&P: Compare and Contrast Essay

"The Boat" by Alistair MacLeod is the story told from the perspective of university teacher looking back on his life. The narrator relates the first memories of his life until his father's death. The story focuses on the conflicting relation between the mother and the father, and their different perspectives on how their children should lead their lives. MacLeod uses features of setting to present the tension between tradition and freedom.

Suddenly, a man appears on shore stripping his clothes off and running into the water. The rescuer

Sammy begins the story by describing the three girls in bathing suits who have walked into the A & P grocery store. The girl who catches his attention is a chunky girl in a plaid green two-piece swimsuit. As Sammy continues to observe the girls, his interest seems to focus only on the girl who leads the other two into the store. Sammy refers to the girl he likes as "Queenie",someone showing poise and leadership, while the other girls

The short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod is narrated by a man who comes from a fishing family. His mother’s side of the family has forever lived and worked by the sea and continues this tradition. The narrator’s father always wanted to be an academic, but worked on the boat to support his family. Through this passage it is evident that the parents’ characters clash in many aspects of their lives and are in constant conflict. MacLeod demonstrates this through the use of repetition, the contrast in other unrelated ideas, and through information that is withheld.

Firstly, setting plays a crucial part of the story because of where and when the story takes place. This story takes place around the 1950’s in the United States near Boston. In the story, it read “It's 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.” (Updike) This quote demonstrates of why the locals in the town where so upset to see the three young girls wearing only their bathing suits in the supermarket. This also takes place in a much older generation that is not okay with people walking around with revealing clothing. That is why Sammy’s boss, Lengel was so upset with the

In the short story, “The Boat” by Alistair Macleod, symbolism is used to represent an abstract idea. The boat, being a major symbol of the story was the way of life for the family. As the story goes on, the boat starts to make the family feel confined giving them a choice to leave or stay with the boat. There were symbols that impacted the story that had connection towards the boat. Chain bracelets, the father’s clothes, the books that the father read are all symbols that tied to the boat. The father's chain bracelets and clothes represent the father feeling trapped as a fisherman since he never changes out of them. We find out more about the characters and their personal connection with the boat and the other symbols and what it means to them. The family starts to fall apart due to the kids learning about the father’s books leading to them moving away from home. Symbolism is used when one thing is meant to represent something else adding meaning and emotion to the story which is well represented throughout the story.

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

He describes the girls’ bodies in terms of the physical features most notable by first glances, including a reference of one girl being overweight with a large, but attractive rear end (Updike 561). I was thoroughly disgusted when he compared a woman’s empty mind with a buzzing bee in a glass jar (Updike 561). The girl referred to as “the queen” is the object most attracted by his affection and his roving eyes. “There was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except her…it was more than pretty” (Updike 561). At the end of the story, the narrator refers to the “Big Tall Goony-Goony” as “not bad for raw material” (Updike 564) and while taking the money, compares Queenie’s breasts to raw scoops of vanilla ice cream (Updike 563). When he loudly announces his intentions to quit his job, the narrator is upset that the girls don’t seem to notice or appreciate him and he seems disappointed to find “his girls” gone from the parking lot and his life without noticing his martyrdom (Updike 564). I was offended as I imagined this was a stand easily taken by many man for pretty girls. I wanted to run home and smack my boyfriend on the head with a rolled up copy of Vogue.

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,

uniquely. In these stories, both authors use symbolism to help them develop themes in a unique

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.

Lengel. When Mr. Lengel confronts Queenie, initially stating “Girls, this isn't the beach” (Updike, 1961), Queenie does not offer an apology. She offers a valid reason as to why she was in the store, which was “my mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks.” When Mr. Lengel repeats himself after Queenie’s rebuttal, Queenie still never says the word “sorry.” Instead, she tries to reason with Mr. Lengel, elaborating as to why they were in the A&P. One of the other bikini girls comes to Queenie’s defense and says “we weren't doing any shopping. We just came in for the one thing.” When Lengel eventually goes as far as to slut-shame them, saying “we want you decently dressed when you come in here,” Queenie still doesn’t falter. In fact, she looks him in the eye and retorts “we are decent.” They then proceed to buy the herring and leave the store, ignoring his final protest. This is a sign of protest because instead of apologizing for an offense conjured up by Mr. Lengel, they defend themselves and then go about their business despite

In the beginning of the story, John Updike uses 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 that 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 maybe 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. Because of their swimsuits and lack of coverups they are refused service by the store’s manager.

Even though the beach is a mere 5 miles away, shopping while scantily clad in the store brings gasp from other patrons and a stern warning from the manager. With Sammie’s new found affection for the girl he refers to as “Queenie”, he

The first act of rebelliousness that the girls encounter is choosing to wear “nothing but bathing suits” to the grocery store. Unlike the “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” the three girls were going “against the usual traffic” causing distractions to “a few house slaves in pin curlers” trying to “make sure everything they have seen was correct”. Their actions were a statement to show disregard to others and self-assurance by their choice. The second act of rebelliousness was shown by the girl’s response to Lengel. On behalf of Lengel, the bathing suits represent indecency and imbursement. Queenie fearlessly retorts that the “we are decent”. The girls “in a hurry to get out” leave the store pretending not to hear that Sammy had quit.