Lavender
Comp II
January 24, 2013
A & P and Greasy Lake An epiphany is when a character comes to realization of discovery in his or life based on what was seen or experienced. Usually, an epiphany is made at the end of a story. In “A & P,” the epiphany for the story is when the main character, Sammy realizes that it there is going to be hardships in life after he quits his job. He realizes this because as he looks at his previous boss, Sammy notices that he could not quit as fast as he did. He took up for the girls that were being insulted, but did he need to quit his job in defense for the girls that would pay him no mind? In “Greasy Lake,” the speaker wanted the reader think he was a “bad” kid, but was he as bad as he thought? He drank a weak wine, grape juice and gin, and drove his parent’s station wagon. The epiphany made at the end of the story was that the speaker and his friends were not as bad as he thought they were. To be frankly honest, they really did not know what bad was from the start. These two stories are very similar when learning life experiences, and letting the character know who they are as people. In “A & P,” Sammy is this non-wealthy, normal guy who works in a grocery store. During this time, in 1961 there was a change occurring that involved ethics and morality. Also, money was something that became a luxury, and it became something you had to have in order to be approved in society when it came to different classes: upper-middle class and high class. One day when Sammy was working, a set of girls came into the store dressed in bikinis. One of the girls had her nose turned up, and that gave an automatic reaction to those around her as to how her attitude was. After being in the store for a while, the girls start to get harassed because of how they were dressed. Sammy did not like it that much because he thought the girls deserved a lot more respect than what they were receiving. The more aggravated he got, the more he