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Postmodern Quality Of Individuals In John Updike's A & P

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John Updike’s “A & P” is a short story about girls that caught the eye of a store clerk. "Shrek" by Vicky Jenson and Andrew Adamson is a film about an ogre. Updike and Jenson/Adamson both use the postmodern quality of alienation of individuals in their respective works. The short story “A & P” uses the postmodern quality of alienation of individuals. Nearing the end of the story the girls go to pay for their item but are stopped by a man saying, “Girls, this isn’t the beach” (492). And the man again says, “But this isn’t the beach” (492). The man is implying they don’t belong in the store dressed how they were. In these examples of alienation of individuals, I believe the store manager had every right to tell them they needed to wear more clothes but the way he did it was much less than necessary. The cashier checking them out even said, “You didn’t have to embarrass them” and with this, I completely agree (493). …show more content…

Throughout the story, most hate Shrek. Villagers shove a torch at Shrek saying, “Back! Back, you beast! Back! I warn you!” making him seem like a monster. The author uses the fact that he is an ogre to alienate him from the other characters. And even Shrek alienates himself stating, “Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a problem with Me! People take one look at me and go Aargh! Help! Run! A big stupid ugly ogre! They judge me before they even know me, that's why I'm better off alone” because he begins to believe the hurtful things they say about him. In this film, everyone alienates Shrek including himself except for Donkey and Fiona who see Shrek as the individual he is. I think Shrek finally stops buying into the ordeal when he later claims there are more to ogres than you might

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