A Response to John Updike's A&P
July 5, 2010
AEGL 102
“A&P” response
This story, in all honesty, did not entertain me or stimulate intriguing thoughts. I felt like the author gave a lot of his time to describe the scene and the appearance of characters that there was nothing really going on. I spent most of my time while reading trying to figure out or thinking what certain things looked like rather than anticipating what may be happening next. Overall this story did not engage me nor hold my interest. I did on the other hand find the way Sammy’s attitude to toward the girls rather baffling because here are these three girls, two of which he mentions are overweight and not on the attractive side, and then “Queenie” whom he points out is too pale but yet in a sense “eye candy”. It was strange how he felt a pull towards them as soon as he noticed them and felt the need to quit his job and become their self proclaimed hero. Was he just as strange or just someone who really needs the attention?
Sammy meets the need of one’s standards that may be classified as a normal and average teenage boy. He works, is easily distracted, and has a keen interest in girls. With Sammy’s vernacular and his actions he comes off as awkward by the time the story ends. He describes the girls the best way he knows how but uses a lot of similes and metaphors instead of just stating what one of their skin looks likes or what her body looks like. And when he describes the shoppers he makes them seem like they are suffering from oppression. As if they are they because they have to be just like he is there because he has no choice. And when something goes wrong or something out of the ordinary happens, like him quitting, they seem lost at what to do next. Just like the customers/shoppers when Sammy said “I quit”, he was not expecting it and was lost himself. And because he decided to quit out of nowhere to be an uncertified hero for these girls that he may possibly never see again, he knows he more than likely cannot
AEGL 102
“A&P” response
This story, in all honesty, did not entertain me or stimulate intriguing thoughts. I felt like the author gave a lot of his time to describe the scene and the appearance of characters that there was nothing really going on. I spent most of my time while reading trying to figure out or thinking what certain things looked like rather than anticipating what may be happening next. Overall this story did not engage me nor hold my interest. I did on the other hand find the way Sammy’s attitude to toward the girls rather baffling because here are these three girls, two of which he mentions are overweight and not on the attractive side, and then “Queenie” whom he points out is too pale but yet in a sense “eye candy”. It was strange how he felt a pull towards them as soon as he noticed them and felt the need to quit his job and become their self proclaimed hero. Was he just as strange or just someone who really needs the attention?
Sammy meets the need of one’s standards that may be classified as a normal and average teenage boy. He works, is easily distracted, and has a keen interest in girls. With Sammy’s vernacular and his actions he comes off as awkward by the time the story ends. He describes the girls the best way he knows how but uses a lot of similes and metaphors instead of just stating what one of their skin looks likes or what her body looks like. And when he describes the shoppers he makes them seem like they are suffering from oppression. As if they are they because they have to be just like he is there because he has no choice. And when something goes wrong or something out of the ordinary happens, like him quitting, they seem lost at what to do next. Just like the customers/shoppers when Sammy said “I quit”, he was not expecting it and was lost himself. And because he decided to quit out of nowhere to be an uncertified hero for these girls that he may possibly never see again, he knows he more than likely cannot