John Updike: One of the Most Talented Writers of the Twentieth Century

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Recommended: John updike’s a & p literary elements

Thesis statement: John Updike’s writing style and versatility made him one of the most accomplished writers of the Postmodernism Movement. John Updike was born on March 18, 1932 in Reading, Pennsylvania (Academy of Achievement). Updike grew up with psoriasis and a stuttering problem, which caused him to feel isolated and lonely during his childhood (The Independent). He used drawing as an outlet, which sparked his interest in cartooning (TIME) and his dream of being a cartoonist for the New Yorker (Encyclopedia for World Biography). Updike excelled in high school, leading him to attend Harvard University, where he wrote and drew cartoons for its humor magazine, Harvard Lampoon (Academy of Achievement). After graduating from Harvard, he attended Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford for a year, but then moved back to the United States and accomplished his dream of working for the New Yorker. However, after writing “Talk of the Town” columns for two years, Updike gave up his dream job and moved to rural Massachusetts in order to write his own stories (Encyclopedia for World Biography). For the rest of his life, Updike produced a work almost every year (TIME), which included novels, short stories, poems, children’s books, essays, and literary criticisms (The Independent). Updike died of lung cancer at the age of 76 on January 27, 2009 (Academy of Achievement). Updike was most famous for his “Rabbit” series, which included five novels about Rabbit Angstrom, a middle-class man who exemplified spiritual and cultural problems of his generation (TIME). Two of the novels, Rabbit is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1991) both received Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction, which made Updike only the third American to win two Pulitzer Pri... ... middle of paper ... ...Quin.“Updike at Rest.” Spectator.org. The American Spectator, 29 Jan 2009. Web. 19 May 2010. “John Updike.” Achievement.org. Academy of Achievement. 11 August 2009. Web. 19 May 2010. “John Updike, Literary Heavyweight.” Time.com. TIME, 27 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 May 2010. “John Updike.” Notablebiographies.com. Encyclopedia for World Biography, 2010. Web. 19 May 2010. “John Updike: Writer who chronicles the poetry of everyday life in post-war Middle America.” Independent.co.uk. The Independent, 29 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 May 2010. “The American Novel: Postmodernism.” Pbs.org. American Masters, March 2007. Web. 19 May 2010. Updike, John. “Son.” Elements of Literature: Essentials of American Literature Fifth Course. Ed. Applebaum, Deborah, Kylene Beers, Leila Christenbury, Carol Jago, Sara Kajdar, Linda Rief. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2009. 1188. Print.

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    In his short story "A & P" John Updike utilizes a 19-year-old adolescent to show us how a boy gets one step closer to adulthood. Sammy, an A & P checkout clerk, talks to the reader with blunt first person observations setting the tone of the story from the outset. The setting of the story shows us Sammy's position in life and where he really wants to be. Through the characterization of Sammy, Updike employs a simple heroic gesture to teach us that actions have consequences and we are responsible for our own actions.

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    John Updike's short story, "A&P" is fictional in a sense that it has a common pattern that leads the reader through a series of events. These events began when three young ladies in bathing suits walk in A&P, and catch the eye of a young man named, Sammy. He seems to favor the chunkier girl of the three that walk in to the store.

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    To more fully understand Stevens' poem "The Idea of Order at Key West," one can look at the ideas of the poem in context of social-philosophical thought. Emile Durkheim's theories on religion closely parallel those of Stevens. Both men believe that there is no supreme greater being, or God, that gives things order and meaning. But both men also believe that humans need to read order and meaning into the world to understand it, even if the meaning humans imply is false because there is no God. Since this aspect of both men's ideas is so similar, Durkheim's outline of ideas on religion can form a model by which Stevens' poem can be analyzed. Furthermore, although there is no way to prove that Steven's poem is based on Durkheim's ideas, there are enough similarities that the two sets of ideas can be compared.

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  • Critical Analysis of John Updike's A&P

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    John Updike's A&P provides numerous perspectives for critical interpretation. His descriptive metaphors and underlying sexual tones are just the tip of the iceberg. A gender analysis could be drawn from the initial outline of the story and Sammy's chauvinism towards the female. Further reading opens up a formalist and biographical perspective to the critic. After several readings I began seeing the Marxist perspective on the surreal environment of A&P. The economic and social differences are evident through Sammy's storytelling techniques and even further open up a biographical look at Updike's own view's and opinions. According to an essay posted on the internet Updike was a womanizer in his own era and displayed boyish immaturity into his adulthood. A second analysis of this story roots more from a reader-response/formalist view. Although Sammy centered his dramatization around three young females, more specifically the Queen of the trio, it was a poignant detailed head to toe description of scene. I'll touch on that later.

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