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Cynthia Rylant's Short Story 'Checkouts'

522 Words3 Pages

In the short story “Checkouts” by Cynthia Rylant the word checkout was used in many different ways in the story. An example of how “Checkouts” is used in the story was when the girl was checking out her groceries. An example of my statement is “Standing in the checkout line” (Rylant 25). This quote explains my statement because it says how the girl was in the checkout line getting ready to buy her food. The author shows the main reason the girl goes to the grocery store was because it calms her, she was apprehensive that she just moved to Cincinnati, the quote on page 24, “She loved to grocery shop. She loved it in the way some people love to drive along country roads, because doing it she could relax and wander” explains my second statement. My next example of “checkouts” being used in the story, was when the girl was zoning out as she was walking through the grocery store. The quote “Once inside the supermarket, her hands firmly around the handle of the cart, she would lapse into a kind of reverie and wheel the cart towards the produce.” This quote from page 25 proves the statement because, the quote talks about how the girl is zoning out and feeling calm. The girl’s parents thought it was great that she was willing to go, but they don’t see know in the story how she likes to …show more content…

The quote on page 25 “The one day the bag boy dropped her jar of mayonnaise.. Standing in the checkout line with the unfocused stare.” In the quote we can infer that the boy was looking or checking out the girl, therefore explaining the statement. Secondly, how they would smile at each other, and how they would see each other. The boy and the girl were filled with regret the second time they met and they didn’t talk to each other “The girl hated herself for not checking out at the boy’s line, and the boy hated himself for not catching her eye and saying hello” (Rylant

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