Comparing A & P And Stepdaughters

Teenagers, in general, are rebellious and often tend not to follow the norms of the society. Max Apple’s “Stepdaughters” and John Updike’s “A & P” depict the same situations; teenage girls doing things against societal rules, and some people opposing their actions while some are supporting them. In “Stepdaughters,” the teenage girl, Stephanie, practices shot-put, a male dominated sport, going against the norm that girls should not play masculine sports. But her mother, Helen, does not like Stephanie practicing shot-put as she feels it takes away the girl’s femininity, while her stepfather grows to support the girl’s passion for shot-put. In “A&P,” three unnamed girls come to the grocery store wearing swimsuits, against the norm that girls

In contrast to her mother; Stephanie receives some support from her stepfather, the narrator. When initially confronted by Helen, the narrator says “I’m neutral,” (Apple 133) even though he continuously opposes Helen. After describing Helen’s opposition, the stepfather says that when he and Stephanie are alone, Stephanie likes to talk to him about her passion for shot-putting (Apple 137). Although the narrator claims to be neutral, he likes to hear about his stepdaughter’s passion. He shows his support for Stephanie by mentioning, “…her mother destined to misunderstand the beauty of Stephanie’s strength,” and by imitating her shot-put stances (Apple 138). In “A&P,” Sammy shows his support for the three girls by quitting his job. After Lengel confronts the girls, Sammy says, “I quit” (Updike 159) to Lengel showing his support. According to a critic, “Sammy feels ashamed of Lengel and the “crummy” mentality he represents” (Saldivar). Later, when Lengel questions him, Sammy says that Lengel should not have embarrassed the girls in front of everyone (Updike 159). As Sammy feels bad for the girls, he stands up for them thinking they might notice him (Updike 159). Apart from supporting the girls, the stepfather and Sammy show their support in return for some bonding between them and the girls. For the stepfather, he shows his support hoping that Stephanie would begin considering him as her father, and for Sammy, he shows his support only to get attention from the three girls. The stepfather and Sammy also are different from each other as the stepfather does not demonstrate his support quickly, but his support grows gradually, while Sammy shows his support quickly, acting right away. In return for showing their support, the protagonists will have consequences of showing support for the