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The catcher in the rye summary essay
What's your understanding of the catcher in the rye
What's your understanding of the catcher in the rye
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John Updike’s short story, “A&P”, demonstrates rebellion against the constructs of suburban 1950s society. Three teenage girls create chaos by exposing themselves which leads to a transformation in the narrator. Updike offers power to the three girls, in particular, to motivate a reaction in others and exemplify them as marginalized. Lengel, the manager, is a static character. He works to maintain the status quo and dictates for others standards of behavior that he deems acceptable because he is in a position of authority and benefits from maintaining it. As for the trio, their rejection of prescribed acceptability represents a teenager’s desire for autonomy. Updike presents a society where woman must adhere to the social constructs and when …show more content…
they do not they are chastised. Ironically, this offers the 19 year old narrator an opportunity to transform and recreate himself with impunity. Updike characterizes this suburban, middle class, white neighborhood to convey the mundane expectations of society, so that the conflict within the narrator leads to his staggering epiphany. The unidentified three girls in Updike’s short story reject the role of the ideal woman figure forced upon them by society. This image of both a desirable and perfect woman led society to emulate this conventional, traditional gender role. The three girls yearn to be individuals and search for their freedom from oppression while being controlled by the notion of an ideal woman. Their rebellion towards society is publicized when they strolled into the A&P “…in nothing but bathing suits” (Updike). Updike demonstrates how females can have power in any situation and have the ability to alter the reactions and expectations of others. Updike characterizes Sammy as an ambiguous character, who, despite his transformation, continues to express a lack of knowledge.
At the beginning of the story, Sammy is portrayed to be the archetypal 19 year old male sexist, who perceives the three girls in a condescending demeanor. Not only does Sammy discriminate and objectify the trio, but attacks the female population as a whole: “You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?)” (Updike). Sammy’s condemnatory comments concerning the girls and the female community convey that he is involved with the patriarchal system and he is undoubtedly a misogynist. His misogynistic commentary is exhibited through his sexual objectifications of the girls and female populace. Sammy’s objectifying remarks regarding the physical appearances of the three girls and other innocent customers, who are solely strangers to him, portray Sammy to be both a judgmental and immature teenager: This is a harsh— though poetic—judgment, and some of his judgments are even unfair (for example, when he calls the elderly man with the four cans of pineapple juice an “old bum”), but the harshness, as Emerson noted, is mainly teenaged exaggerationese growing out of the typical tendency to make blanket judgments hastily and to place all individuals in their nearest category. …show more content…
(Porter) Sammy has been confined to the A&P for most of his life, being that his job was granted to him by recommendation from his parents.
His daily routine consists of him checking out the “sheep” at the register and watching them walk out contentedly into the real world. His grating and disparaging interpretations come from his lack of experience because he has been insulated from the rest of the world by the doors of the A&P. From the time these three girls walked into the local supermarket, Sammy criticizes and observes everything from their body weight and female features to their social status: “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs” (Updike). His verbal commentary and callow actions toward the three girls characterize Sammy to be a male chauvinist. He views the girls as sexual objects rather than complex human beings with much more to offer than just their physical attributes. Sammy unintentionally identifies himself to be a juvenile teenager who is exceedingly concerned with the somatic aspects of the three girls, especially Queenie: “Though certainly there is an element of physical attraction in Sammy's response to Queenie, mainly his appreciation is aesthetic” (Porter). Sammy is distracted by Queenie’s beauty and continuously observes her every movement and gesture when in the A&P. The arrival of the three girls in a
“rebellious” manner authorizes Sammy to view the girls as naive “kids” who should feel chastened by the reactions of others. Sammy’s maturation increases when his manager, Lengel, verbally harasses the girls. Lengel informs the girls that the A&P “…isn’t the beach” (Updike) which leads to Sammy’s immediate transfiguration. Lengel’s comments embarrasses the girls, which causes Sammy to feel “sensitive enough that when Lengel makes Queenie blush, he feels ‘scrunchy inside’” (A&P). Sammy’s immediate reaction to Lengel’s comments cause him to feel a sense of vexation towards his boss. He feels uncomfortable listening to Lengel chastise the trio and disapproves of the technique he uses to antagonize the girls. Lengel’s treatment towards the girls instigates Sammy to quit his job at the A&P, in hopes to prove a valuable point to both the girls and the A&P: “His gesture is both an affirmation of the girls' decency and a rejection of the A&P and the misplaced values for which it stands” (Porter). Sammy’s rapid growth leads him to question his perception on the societal constructs in which he believes. Despite Lengel’s efforts of intimidation, Sammy, a character once brimming with immaturity, stood up for what he believed to be morally correct in order to prove his point: “At the end of the story, he quits his job in an effort to be a hero to the girls and as a way of rebelling against a strict society” (A&P). The girls’ refusal to accept societal norms causes Sammy to modify his mentality and attitude towards the acceptable standards and respectable constructs in the 1950s decennium.
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.
At the beginning of A&P, Sammy notices that three girls have walked into the store with only there bathing suits on. At first, poor Sammy cannot see the girls because he was at register 3 with his back toward the door. When they finally get into his sight, he immediately size the girls up. "The one that caught my eye first was the one in the placid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs." He also gives a description of the other two girls. He says one has "a chubby berry-faces, her lips all bunched together under her nose and the tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes and a chin that was too long--you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" and "attractive" but never quite makes it, as they very well know, which is why they like her so much." This comments illustrate his immaturity. Sammy refers to one of the girls as queen. He calls her queen because she seems to be the leader. ...
While it's true that Sammy finds the three scantily-clad girls who enter the supermarket attractive, as would any normal nineteen-year-old male, what is most notable about his descriptions of the girls, and particularly of the "leader" of the group, is that Sammy holds them in contempt. Once we get beyond the descriptions of their bodies, we see nothing but derogatory comments directed at them, including the derisive nicknames that Sammy assigns to them. Nowhere is this more evident than in Sammy's description of the leader, "Queenie." The nickname assigned to her by Sammy points out the stereotypical snap judgment that Sammy makes about her personality and social status initially, and to which Sammy rigidly adheres despite no real evidence of its accuracy. From the description of her "prima donna" legs, to his imagining of ...
Sammy watches every step the girls take while criticizing and admiring them at the same time. His observations of the leader who he refers to as Queenie and her followers give him an insight of who they are personally. Sammy likes Queenie as she possesses confidence which sets her apart from the group. Sammy, still being a young boy likes that her bathing suit has “slipped on her a little bit” (Updike 158). Updike conveys the obvious that Sammy cannot look away from Queenie when “there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her”. Updike includes these small details and imagery to indulge the reader in the perception that Sammy at this point in his life is a clueless teenage
As the student develops his essay, Sammy begins to compare the girls to other customers in the store. From “houseslaves in pin curlers” to “an old party in baggy gray pants” (2192 ), Sammy negatively characterizes customers in contrast to the leader of the girls, Queenie. To Sammy, the girl is someone that is not from their town. She is everything that every girl envies and wants to be. In contrast to Sammy, she will spend her summer vacationing while he spends it working. It is clear to Sammy that their worlds are different, however it is also obvious that he would like to explore hers.
Sammy's thoughts, as told to the reader in his narration, betray a deep understanding of the people he comes in contact with. When the girls walked into the store, he began to describe not only their looks, but also their attitudes and personalities without ever speaking to them. The one who held his attention was also the one he named "Queenie". On page one he says, She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. Sammy understood that she was the one in charge, and by saying that the other two made their shoulders round he showed that he realized their passivity was by choice; they followed her by their own wills.
This story represents a coming-of-age for Sammy. Though it takes place over the period of a few minutes, it represents a much larger process of maturation. From the time the girls enter the grocery store, to the moment they leave, you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he sees only the physicality of the girls: how they look and what they are wearing, seem to be his only observations. As the story progresses, he notices the interactions between the girls, and he even determines the hierarchy of the small dynamic. He observes their actions and how they affect the other patrons of the business. Rather, how the other people view the girl's actions. His thought process is maturing and he starts to see things as an adult might see them.
In the story A&P, we know as the story begins, Sammy is employed at A&P. He is ringing a older lady, who he describes as a "witch", groceries up. While Sammy is occupied, in walks three girls, wearing bathing suits, who catch Sammy's eye. Their attire is against the stores policy, which is not enforced, until the manager approaches them. Once the manager approaches them, we later read that Sammy quits his job. Following his first announce in him quitting, he says, "You didn't have to embarrass them" (152), which let us know, he felt the girls were embarrassed. Sammy's main point for quitting his job at A&P, in his and my opinion, is to be an "unsuspected hero" (152).
I quit! These words can be attached to so many things in life. At times in life things seem to be different then they really are, for instance the thrill and the excitement of having a summer job or even successfully getting a first job. There are certain moments in a person’s life that will always have an impact on them one could call this a definitive moment or an epiphany. In the short story A&P by John Updike the main character Sammy has an epiphany in that he realizes that a moral line has been crossed in his working environment.
Sammy worked a typical boring job and what seemed to be in a typical small town. The only person in the store he really related to was Stokesie, which is the foil to Sammy, because Stokesie is married, has kids and eventually wanted to be manger one day. Something Sammy did not want to stick around and see. The customers in the store were all pretty much the same, in which Sammy did not show much emotion towards except he referred to them as “the sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (Updike 261). It is easy to tell Sammy did not like his job, but it also seemed he had no other option, as if he was stuck in his small town and there was no way out. Then out of the blue he saw three girls wearing only their bathing suites walk in the store. Sammy noticed something different about them, like they were liberated from the conservative values of those times; they were part of a new generation. Especially Queenie, he referred to...
John Updike’s “A&P” is a short story about a nineteen year old boy during the 1960’s that has a summer job at the local A&P grocery. The main character in the story, Sammy, realizes that life isn’t always fair and that sometimes a person makes decisions that he will regret. Sammy sees that life doesn’t always go as planned when three young girls in bathing suits walk in and his manager Lengel gives them a hard time, and he comes to term with that sometimes you make bad decisions.
A reader can tell that Sammy likes the main girl that he gives the nickname “Queenie” to. He thinks that she is the leader of the girls and also that she is the prettiest. The way that Sammy thinks about these girls really puts the story into perspective. A person would think that a few girls going into a grocery store to grab some snacks is just a part of life, but to hear it in the words of Sammy, it seems quite fascinating. At one point a reader might think of Sammy as sexist, because in his own words, “You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)[…] (370). All in all, this is just the way that Sammy’s’ mind works; it is how he thinks about people. This is what makes it be known that he a younger man not from the current
It is important to realize that Sammy’s 19-year old depiction of his surroundings might be skewed, but the story still maintains Updike’s basic use of this setting. Updike choses the dull setting of an A&P grocery store as a symbol, a microcosmic example of the societies tendency to conform. Also, the readers can easily relate to a grocery store. This A&P resides in a town where “the women generally put on shirt or shorts or something before they get out of their car into the street,” Sammy explains. Seeing a girl walking around wearing only a bikini in such a public place looks outrageous. “If you stand at our front doors you can see two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store…” The town is a conventional one. Updike turns this familiar, mundane piece of American life, and makes it extraordinary.
Lust makes people do crazy things. John Updike’s short story “A&P” provides a perfect example of how lust made a boy quit his job. In this short story, a boy, named Sammy, catches a glimpse of three under-dressed, attractive girls as they enter his workplace. The manager asks the three girls to leave. As a result, Sammy is outraged by the mistreatment of the girls and quits his job in protest. Sammy’s stand against the mistreatment of the girls makes him feel like a hero. Updike’s use of descriptive words and dramatic irony in “A&P” leads the reader to believe that Sammy’s heroic acts were not actions with rebellious intentions, but actions due to his lust for the three under-dressed girls.
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.