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Comparing The Literary Works Of John Updike And A & P

2443 Words10 Pages

Darian Ogilvie
Writing and Literature
Melessa Henderson
April 15, 2015
Innocence: Sense of wonder, Power of Destruction
When two stories completely differ, it is important to dive a little deeper. John Updike was an author from Pennsylvania who attended Harvard. His many publish were criticism, essays, novels, and short stories that had ran over a course of forty years. He is best known for his portraying of Suburban life, and for characters that experience the anxieties, tensions, and frustrations of middle –class existence. Kate Chopin, from St. Louis often had a different writing style. She lived in Louisiana with her husband where they raised six children. She devoted herself to writing shortly after her husband died in 1833. Her …show more content…

Her stories were often highly condemned for its highly charged eroticism and its guiltless adultery. Comparing such authors is based upon setting, plot, characters, and the different writing styles each author abide by.
First, John Updike in early childhood was described as a serious student, but one that enjoyed humor and writing. He later had a family who settled in Massachusetts, where he began and pursued his own publishes. A famous work of John Updike is his short story A&P. A&P tells a story about a small town grocery clerk in New England. The clerks name is Sammy, who lives a quite ordinary life for living in a small town. One day catches him off guard when three girls in bathing suits happen to come into the store. Sammy, being a boy, picks out whom he finds most attractive, her name is Queenie. Queenie leads the other two girls as they walk around the store and start to create …show more content…

This story is narrated about a sickly wife who believes that her husband is dead an imagines a life of freedom for herself. Mrs. Mallard, the wife, has a serious heart condition so everyone is careful around her. Her sister and family are the first to find out about her husbands death. They are slow to tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband had died in a car accident. After Mrs. Mallard is informed she goes up to her room, locks the door and cries. This is when Mrs. Mallard realizes they are tears of joy; this is her chance of freedom. It is important to note that she did love her husband very much, and she was very saddened by his death, but this was the first time she actually felt free. Instead of dreading the days of the future, she is now looking forward to them. When Mrs. Mallard finally comes out of her room, and notices that her sister had been waiting outside her door the whole time to make sure she was okay. Mrs. Mallard and her sister start walking downstairs, to the surprise of Mr. Mallard. The shock of seeing him was so intense that it kills Mrs.

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The Narrator in the story A&P by John Updike tells an experience where he chose to make a decision that would change his life and take him to new places. This decision was one that was derived from the need for freedom and change. Usually a decision like this takes a realization that growing up and taking a new path is necessary. In this story, this realization began from the narrator seeing how his manager treated the girls in the store with such hostility because they were just wearing bathing suits. The boy, watching this, realized he wanted to live like the girls had been living.

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The story takes place on a hot, summer day at a grocery store called the “A&P”. The protagonist is a nineteen year old male cashier by the name of Sammy. The central conflict occurs when Sammy watches three girls in bathing suits enter into the store to buy some herring snacks. Sammy gleefully watches them and gets attracted to the middle girl, “Queenie”, eventually being infatuated for her.

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John Updike's short story "A&P" is about a 19-year-old boy “Sammy” who is going through changes in his life, and has to make crucial decisions that are going to affect his job and his future in the long run. The story is set in an A&P grocery store, in a town north of Boston, and begins with Sammy’s description of the three girls that enter the store. Sammy decides to quit his job in order to impress the girl “Queenie.” Unfortunately, his gentlemanly act goes unnoticed by Queenie and her friends, and he has no choice but to face the consequences of his action. The author of the story clarifies that Sammy’s immaturity comes from his judgmental attitude, sexist beliefs, and disrespectful attitude.

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In the story A&P, the main character “Sammy” faces an internal conflict. As Sammy finds himself growing bored of working for A&P, a grocery store, and tries to impress a girl by quitting his job to get her attention. Nevertheless, Updike’s unique way of utilizing slang merged with the realism way of writing and descriptive scenery lets us analyze this unique character as he tries to get by, by working in a grocery store and his thoughts. Although, Sammy’s intentions are not to quit working at A&P, he does not feel infatuated by the directions his future was heading.

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The short story, " A & P", by John Updike takes place in a grocery store where Sammy, the main character, struggles with moral principles and the lack of freedom. He becomes astonished by three teenage girls who comes into the store. Queenie, the leader of the three girls, arouses Sammy's desire from the moment he sees her; in which he’s never seen girls physically express themselves in such a way. However, Lengel, the store manager, vigorously disapproves of the three girls attire; and makes it very uncomfortable for him and responds in a mean manner. Being disoriented in his fascination with the three girls; Sammy's desire has contributed to the decision of quitting his job.

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In John Updike’s short story, “A&P”, Updike develops Sammy as a sympathy, naïve worker who resigns his clerk position at the grocery store as a mere gesture to the three young girls. Simply to display this “heroinism” for them. In John Updike’s short story, “A&P,” Updike employs the first person point of view to convey Sammy as a foolish character, for this technique allows the reader to understand the true thoughts and intentions behind Sammy’s actions. Throughout the story, it is evident that Sammy’s decision to leave his job at the A&P is not a decision made out of bravery, but rather impetuousness and lack of forethought.

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Updike wanted people to see the beauty in everyday life, something that A&P does with Sammy’s distinctive voice. Overall, the style of A&P is very diverse. Sammy goes back-and-forth between past and present tense, giving the allusion of him commenting on events as they are happening. This back-and-forth action makes the short story feel like a stream-of-consciousness storytelling. This type of storytelling is very effective for the simple fact that it makes the readers feel like they are able to take a stance on pro-conformist or nonconformist.

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The short story “A & P“ by John Updike begins with a young cashier of a supermarket, named Sammy. It is obvious that he has his daily routine, and is used to the same day in and day out. This routine, however, is broken by the appearance of three girls, all simply clad in bathing suits. In a store such as his, far from the beach, this comes as quite a shock. Over the next few minutes of the girls perusing the isles in the store, Sammy fixates on these girls, becoming quite infatuated based on only their appearance.

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She learns of her husband’s death in an accident and falsely finds a renewed joy for life as she is free from the burden of marriage. Tragically she goes to the front door as it is being opened with a key, to find Mr. Mallard still alive, causing her to die of heart

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Tone and style are one of the first things that readers notice about a story. It is a way for readers to predict what the narrator is like and how the telling of the story will play out. The narrator of the story, “A &P”, is a teenage boy named Sammy who works at a grocery outlet and has an observant eye of the customers who come in. The author, John Updike, gives Sammy a casual and realistic style, while allowing him to have an ironic and humorous tone.

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Discuss one of the following regarding John Updike's "A&P": Characterization, Setting, Theme. Sammy is the narrator of this story. He is an opinionated teenager who describes people shopping at the store as “sheep”. He believes everyone acts the same.

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The story begins with Mrs. Mallard getting the news that her husband had died in a terrible train accident. At first Mrs. Mallard was racked with grief for the loss of her husband. As the story progresses, Mrs. Mallard says, “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know.”

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“Feminism is not just about women; it's about letting all people lead fuller lives,” Jane Fonda. Fonda refers to feminism not only as an idea, but a way of life and amenable views. “A&P” by John Updike is a short story about three girls in a grocery store who are judged head to toe by multiple characters and speaker, Sammy, reflecting the idea that feminism is still not accepted. Updike uses literary devices, characters, and feminist views to show the objectification of women in the 1960’s. Generally speaking, Updike uses literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and symbolism to help the reader visualize what is going on.

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She saw birds flying, blue skies, and new spring life blooming everywhere. Lastly, Mrs. Mallard actually received her freedom while having an epiphany in her bedroom, even though it was stripped from her soon after when her husband, Brently Mallard, came through the door alive as he could be. She had a heart attack from the realization that she would have to go back to her old life of pleasing her husband. On the other hand, Aunt Jennifer never actually received her freedom from her husband. He would always have that hold on

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The death of a love one usually fills people with grief, ironically for Mrs. Mallard, the emotion she felt about her husband’s demise is quite the opposite. In the story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, Louise. Mallard, a newly widowed housewife has been informed that a railroad accident have killed her husband, Mr. Mallard. The unexpected news left her in shock and heartbroken. At first her initial reaction was sadness, just like a normal person would feel in this dire situation.

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