In “A & P” Updike introduces us to a store clerk named Sammy who notices three girls in their bathing suits that have recently walked into the store. As Sammy describes each girl, he gives one the nickname Queenie. Sammy notices as the customers react to how the girls are dressed as they walk down the store isles. When it’s time to checkout, the store manager, Lengel, confronts the girls for breaking store dress policy. Which leads to Sammy quitting, to try and get the girls attention, unsuccessfully, leaving him not knowing what life will bring.…
Chapter one begins with the Frank McCourt looking back on his childhood that he refers to as a miserable Irish Catholic childhood. He begins with summering how his parents Malachy and Angela met in Brooklyn, New York. Both were decents from Ireland. From the start it is clear Malachy McCourt is a troubled man with just getting out jail for hijacking a car and also is suffering with alcoholism. Chapter one focuses on reminding the reader how serious a problem Malachys addiction to alcohol is. He isn’t able to support his family because majority of his money earned buys alcohol and he comes home drunk each night. The most serious incident affecting the family do to his drinking problem is the death of Angela’s baby girl Margaret. She dies from malnutrition being mostly fed on water with sugar. After her death Frank disappears for two days on a cigarette run. However when he returns home he smells of alcohol. By the end of this chapter the family is a catastrophic state with the baby’s death Angela has fallen into depression, Malachy and Frankie are left to care for the twins and there is no money.…
For example, after the death of his first girl, Margaret, Malachy resorted to his problems by drinking alcohol. He would spend his daily wages to buy himself pleasure, instead of the food and nutrition his family really needed. Despite his actions, Frank looked past these proceedings and remembered his father when he was a child; recalling and seeing his father when he came home from his steady job. He would sit with Frank and his brothers around the fire telling stories to them about his life and hopes and plans for the future of the McCourt family. Frank never downs his father in this story because he does not want to put the focus on just one character's suffering or sins. In addition, Frank is able to shift his views from not just his father's sins but also his, his mothers, and the many others around him, saying everyone makes mistakes in his or her…
A common theme between all three pieces of literature is, things are not always as they appear. All these stories share the topic of stereotypes. In A&P, three girls that walk into the store are stereotyped for the way they are dressed and the class that they belong to. Sammy makes assumptions about their personalities just by looking at them. However, he changes his thoughts at the end, after the girls have been up to the check out counter, when he stands up for them after realizing that it was not right for them to be discriminated against because of their looks. In Cathedral the narrator does not want to meet his wife's blind friend because of the things he has heard about the blind in movies. By the end of the story he learns that what's…
“A&P” is a short story about Sammy a supermarket clerk who begins to notice the behavior and lack of human interaction between the customers at A&P. When the conflict arises in the story Sammy’s decision changes his life as well as the way he feels about society as a whole. Sammy the narrator is very observative when he explains the things that happen around him which causes the environment of A&P to feel very realistic. A&P is a representation of the state of society in the supermarket. The story depicts the hivemind behavior at a supermarket by having the narrator Sammy name the customers “sheep” and “house slaves”.…
Difonzo starts by first defining the term rumor. According to Difonzo, “Rumors are unverified information statements that circulate about topics that people perceive as important; arise in situations of ambiguity, threat, or potential threat; and are used by people attempting to make sense or to manage risk.” One example of a rumor that he used is the bombing allegations after September 11, 2001. One rumor after that bombing was that a hijacked plane was headed for the Sears Tower in Chicago. The rumor was not true. This type of rumor is called human sense making. “The rumor was how people…
In the story “A&P” by John Updike the Character Sammy seems to be heroic but in many perspectives many people can understand why he is a hero and why he’s not a hero in the story Sammy seems to be loving and caring he seems to understand the girls.while many seem to think that he only did what he did to when a girl over other all reality he seems that way because he just wants to impress these girls that comes into the store “A&P”everyday in two piece swimsuites.while others believe that he did it to take a stand to his boss Lengel. While the girls come in the store every day Sammy notice them but doesn't make any moves to let people know that he has a thing for one of the girls.…
One of the major themes of “A&P”, a short story written by John Updike, is that of rebellion.…
The way Frank has ruined David’s family bonds is symbolized by his destruction of the canning jars. When David learns that his Uncle Frank has abused Indian girls and has actually murdered one, all his good thoughts about his Uncle Frank shatter. How his Uncle Frank practiced sports with him, how he bought him nice things, how his Uncle Frank was perfect. “He’s smashing them…” (147). Doing one bad thing can change the whole world’s viewpoint on that specific person in less than a second. That’s what Uncle Frank did. He smashed the family’s good thoughts about him. In addition, everybody believed that Uncle Frank would eventually achieve something great throughout his life. Uncle Frank smashed those beliefs as well. He’s destroying the family bonds by breaking the family’s trust in him; just like how he’s smashing the canning jars. Uncle Frank doesn’t smash just one jar, but he actually smashes all the jars. “Another one crashed.” (147). David’s innocence is being corrupted a little at a time. Every time David learns about a new crime his Uncle Frank has done to his patients, a little part of his innocence shatters. His innocence just keeps getting shattered throughout the whole book. The only reason David knows about all the bad things his Uncle Frank has done is because he eavesdropped on his parents. Therefore, David can’t tell his parents what he knows because he wasn’t supposed to have obtained this information in the first place. He is now keeping secrets from his parents. “Another one. Was he spacing them at exact intervals?” (147). Uncle Frank is taking one family member at a time, and ruining his relationship with them; just like how he’s smashing one jar at a time at a certain pace. Because he ruined his relationship with his own family members, the entire family gets torn apart, just like how eventually, all the canning jars get smashed. Uncle Frank has impacted the entire Hayden family in a negative way.…
The author writes the book in his own point of view, which makes sense because the story is about his own life. By writing of personal experiences, the reader is persuaded to take the book more literally. Because the book is written about Abagnle himself, the reader gets to know his personal thoughts and reasoning for his crimes. When Frank cons his father and is caught, his reasoning is evident when he says: "It's the girls, Dad....They do funny things to me. I can't explain it" (17). The reader also gets a better feel of the way Abagnale thinks, and his ability to manipulate others for information. Acting as Bobby Black a high school reporter, Frank interviews a Pan Am pilot and gets all the information he needs: "I was finding a lot of nuggets for my poke" (35). He also gathers information from the women he dates in his present field of work. While the women believe Frank is interested in getting to know them, his real motive is to become as educated as possible.…
The newspapers in the city of Los Angeles show how the people of the city are corrupt. A person uses a newspaper to understand, but in The Big Sleep the newspapers lie about the truth. One example of the dishonesty of the newspapers is seen when they lie about the murders of two men. Geiger had been killed by the Sternwood's chauffeur, Owen Taylor, but the newspapers claimed that a man named Joe Brody, who was a small time blackmailer that was trying to take over Geiger's porn racket, was the one that killed him. This kind of lying is one of the things that corrupts the society of Los Angeles. Marlowe says this about the newspapers: "Their…
Frank uses anecdote as a rhetorical technique to put imagery into the audience’s mind and have them imagine what Frank’s son went through during the war. For example in his speech he says this. “From March to December of 2003, my son, a corporal in the United States Marine Corps, was facing roadside bombs and random bullets in Afghanistan.” This anecdote is used to catch the audience’s attention and make them realize what a soldier has to go through on behave of Congress’ decisions. This anecdote has credibility because he’s the father of a soldier and he knows what his sons go through. Frank also uses rhetorical questioning to draw in the audience and have them ask themselves the same thing. For example Franks asks, “Where is their practical solidarity with the working people defending them?” Franks asks this question to the audience so that they realize the members of Congress don’t acknowledge the fact that the working class is what defends them and that they are in no position those people of working class in danger before their own family. This rhetorical question has credibility because Frank is a man of working class and he believes he shouldn’t have to worry about his son’s safety because the leaders of America won’t put their own family in war either. Frank uses credibility so that people can understand firsthand how it feels to be in the working class and having to worry about a family member’s life. Using credibility will have people start to see how unjust it is for Congress to be sending troops to war that belong to families, instead of…
“Dog’s Death” was written in 1969 by John Updike. This heartbreaking poem is about a family dog that passed away. They’ve had her since she was just a pup until the day she was fatally injured. Getting a new pet comes with a lot of responsibilities. The first step is house training. The family created a designated place for their new puppy to take care of business. In order for her to know that she is doing right, they must say “Good dog” (340). In this poem, John Updike uses this phrase three times. Toward the end of the poem, the effects of the words begin to change. Updike sets the reader up for the change in the use of “Good dog” in the last line.…
When a secret is hidden inside it can engulf and even destroy a person. Arthur Dimmesdale, a revered young minister in the town, demonstrates what happens to the soul. Dimmesdale, as it is later made known, commits the serious crime of adultery with a young married woman named Hester Prynne living in the Plymouth Colony. Because of Hester’s unwillingness to reveal her partner in sin, and Dimmesdale’s fear of persecution and most of all humiliation, the minister is forced to keep his sin a secret. So he watches as Hester is placed before her peers on a platform in front of the whole town and is then called to speak to her and urge that she reveal her fellow adulterer. In essence, he is called upon to commit yet another sin, that of hypocrisy. Dimmesdale’s accumulated sins build inside of him, constantly afflicting his soul until it begins to affect him negatively. Thinking himself a hypocrite, he tries to ease his conscience and requite his sin by scourging himself on the chest during the night, fasting for days on end and even climbing the same platform on which Hester began her humiliation.…
Of course other factors might have also affected Frank’s actions such as his benefits from engaging in the crimes. For example the idea of transporting drugs straight from Vietnam and cutting out the middle man gave Frank the benefit of being able to have a larger profit. Becoming a drug trafficker instead of buying his drugs from other dealers was a more appealing action for Frank because this way he made more money for himself. Also the way he had his drugs transported made it less of a hassle for him to get caught giving him more opportunity and…