While he suggests how to kindly treat one race of women, he emphasizes on how to womanize another. The culture associated with “How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl, or halfie”, believes that women will act accordingly, and should be treated based on their own culture and race. In “Girl” by J.Kincaid and “How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl or halfie” by J.Diaz both authors describe how culture influences the outlooks, and stereotypes on women. The expectations of females seen in “Girl” revolves around a strict set of cultural rules for women. Through oral transitions the girl’s mother spreads the beliefs of their culture.
You can tell in the beginning of the story when the line “In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits”. (Updike) He observes every little thing about these three girls from their tan lines to their bathing suits. After the girls walk in he is checking out one of the regular “cash-register-watchers” and he is so focused on the girls that he rings an item up twice and she yells at him. (Updike) From when the girls walk in till they come up to check out with one item Sammy is constantly looking and thinking about Queenie. Unlike his manager Lengel, he finds the girls a distraction from his everyday job where Lengel finds them arrogant for walking in to his grocery store with no shoes and only their bathing suites.
In this case, it seems like a shallow kind of conflict, but the author is using this conflict to portray a deeper struggle, that of conforming to social norms and what happens if we don’t. As Sammy follows the girls’ progress through the store, we can tell, by his descriptions and the details he sees, the things that he finds important and how he feels about his position in life. Soon, the girls are discovered by Sammy’s manager. He comes over and tells them, “Girls, this isn’t the beach,” and, “We want you decently dressed when you come in here,” (Updike, 20) and the story reaches a crisis. A crisis is a specific event in the plot that narrows the conflict.
In John Updike’s “A&P”, standing up for what he believed was right was all it took for Sammy to become an adult. As Sammy rang up the purchases of the everyday “sheep” (79) and “house-slaves” (79), he notices the “three girls in nothing but bathing suits” (77) that had come in. Like most hormonal, teenage boys would, he watched the pretty girls as they walked throughout the store, especially “Queenie” (79), who appeared to be the leader of the girls. He began to feel bad for them though when he realized his male coworkers were also “sizing up their joints” (79). After all, “they couldn’t help it” (79).
Edgar Doyet 10A English with Mrs. Creede Rewrite essay 01/27/2015 A&P close reading A&P is a popular and well-written short story by John Updike. It looks at middle-class life and values. It also talks about youth and age, consumer culture, sexuality and rebellion against society. The story is certainly funny mostly because of the spirit/thoughts and personality of the protagonist, Sammy, who speaks at the 1st person in the whole story. This short story relates brief but significant events for Sammy, three shopper teenage girls enter the grocery store, where he works, in bathing suit.
Desire is a theme between the two pieces of work "A&P" and "Interpreter of Maladies". In the story "A&P" by John Updike, Sammy desires a more authentic life and to be with the girls who walk into the store he works in. In the story Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mr. Kapasi desires a young mother and to be an interpreter for diplomats. A strong desire is evident through Sammy and Mr. Kapasi. Sammy desires a greater, more authentic life than the one he has working at A&P. Sammy wants to get out of the path that Lengel, Sammy’s boss, perhaps took, working at A&P his whole life.
We have all at one point or another in our lives made a comment or had a thought about why a person would wear certain types of clothing in public. John Updike’s story “A&P” introduces a young man of nineteen; of which, his name is Sammy from his point of view the story is told. Sammy is a checkout clerk in a grocery store called the A&P located in a small town approximately five miles from the ocean. The A&P is located in a conservative portion of the town shared with a church, banks and other respectable businesses. Sammy goes into detail about the dress of three young women being compared to the A&P’s normal clientele.
In the story “A & P”, John Updike uses female sexuality, and the drive to deliver his theme of desire towards the opposite sex. Three girls walk in a store wearing just bathing suits. As they walk in the cashier, Sammy admires the three girls. Come to his
Olivia Mendoza English Composition II Professor Chism 21 January 2015 A & P Boldness can be a productive or a contrary thing. As for Sammy’s case, being bold was a contrary. Sammy was a nineteen-year-old boy who seemed to have life a little dull. He didn’t exactly seem to have life figured out. In the beginning of the story, the protagonist (Sammy) was at his cashier as usual when the antagonists (the Queenie and the girls) walk into A & P grocery store in their bathing suits and changed Sammy’s life forever.
Claudia Munguia Eng 201A 10/20/2012 Kid’s TV Commercials Racism still exist in our society today. From the 1960’s to modern days we can still see how children’s development is highly affected by television commercials. Growing up in my early childhood years I remember watching cartoons showing blonde, beautiful girls and I always dream of being that way. Furthermore, I don’t remember a day where I saw myself represented the way I look or my race taking a place as a leader. Mostly every commercial had images of skinny, perfect body girls with blue eyes or simply just white.