Although both A&P and An Ounce of Cure have completely different plots, they do have similar themes that can be explored. Self-destruction is one major argument that can come from both short stories. Of course, John Updike and Alice Munro were not at the same place when they wrote these stories, they both have shared themes of rebellion, obsession, and power. The 1960s was a time of rebellion. The Baby Boomers were stronger than ever because they all had one thing in common: sacrifice. These young adults were not stopping for anybody, they were going to continue on until there was nothing left to sacrifice. In A&P, by John Updike, Sammy is a young adult who is working at a grocery store in order to make some money for him and …show more content…
possibly his family. When three young ladies walk in wearing nothing but their bathing suits, he starts following them around the store and seeing where they are going. Once the manager makes the young ladies feel embarrassed, they leave, which causes Sammy to quit his job on the spot. This revolt is something that shocks everybody around. This one kid is going to try and change the way society runs. Sammy quits his job in order to get justice for these young ladies. Because women were not treated the best in the sixties, Sammy decides to change not only the way these young ladies are treated, but the way women are treated in general. On the other hand, Alice Munro portrays the narrator as a young female who is just trying to get over a heartbreak. Alice Munro places the story during the temperance movement, where people distinguish the use of alcohol. Alcohol was a big problem in the ‘60s and the temperance movement was going to fix this. The narrator shows signs of rebellion by going against what her town believes for self-assurance. She knows that it is shunned upon in society to drink, however, she continues to drink hoping it will make her happy. Phoenix Lopez English 1302 Melba Leach February 13th, 2016 Obsession is not only a problem in both of these stories, but also a problem even among people in today’s society. People get overly obsessed and tend to do things that get out of control. In A&P, as the three young ladies walk in, Sammy instantly becomes obsessed with them. He watches their every move as they navigate throughout the grocery store. He doesn’t stop thinking of them and even quits his job because of them. He sacrifices his source of money in order to try to gain the young ladies’ attention and possibly be a hero. There are a lot of times in today’s society where people do unthinkable things just for someone they think they love. In An Ounce of Cure, the narrator does just that. After getting her heart broken by a boy named Martin, the narrator becomes obsessed with the idea of something that wasn’t there: love. She doesn’t want to accept the fact that they never had anything.
This obsession eats her apart and erodes everything she has. Power of authority is used on a daily basis to maintain a decent society. If there were no authority figure to keep society together, then chaos would erupt and peace would be lost. Lengel from A&P shows this authority by telling the ladies that they shouldn’t be walking into his store without looking decent first. The time period of this story is important to consider. Without understanding that the story takes place in the 1960’s, it’s harder to comprehend that people were not as lenient to actions like this, unlike today. If nobody is there to tell the young ladies that what they are doing is unacceptable, then that opens the door for more behavior like this from others which is going to cause even more chaos than before. Mr. Berryman along with the narrator’s parents in An Ounce of Cure are considered to be authority figures. Once the narrator does something that goes against the rules, she gets punished. Her reputation is hurt and nobody wants her to babysit for them for a long while. If chaos happens in society, self-destruction is only one of many things that is bound to occur. Phoenix Lopez English
1302 Melba Leach February 13th, 2016 Self-destruction is the main key point throughout the entirety of the two short stories. Both the narrator and Sammy attempt to hurt themselves either physically and/or mentally. Self- destruction is something that has affected society since long before the 1960’s. It continues to effect people even to this day. Overall, both Sammy and the narrator change the way society is for the better. They were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for a change to occur, and they were going to see it happen. In conclusion, self-destruction can be a dangerous entity. It happens every day and it’s even incorporated into both A&P and An Ounce of Cure. Although the plots are different and take place at different times, three common themes seem to be shared among both John Updike and Alice Munro’s stories: rebellion, obsession, and most of all, power of authority. Many life changing events occurred during the 1960’s such as Neil Armstrong walking the moon, protests at both Columbia University and Chicago DNC Convention, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These events were never going to happen unless someone pushed the limits. Sammy and the narrator were among many of the Baby Boomers who tried to make a change. As we see from today’s society, the Baby Boomers were indeed successful in accomplishing many things.
between the two authors, they share similarities towards the message they try to send out.
The similarities are prolific in their presence in certain parts of the novel, the very context of both stories shows similarities, both are dealing with an oppressed factor that is set free by an outsider who teaches and challenges the system in which the oppressed are caught.
At first glance, Sammy, the first-person narrator of John Updike's "A & P," would seem to present us with a simple and plausible explanation as to why he quits his job at the grocery store mentioned in the title: he is standing up for the girls that his boss, Lengel, has insulted. He even tries to sell us on this explanation by mentioning how the girls' embarrassment at the hands of the manager makes him feel "scrunchy" inside and by referring to himself as their "unsuspected hero" after he goes through with his "gesture." Upon closer examination, though, it does not seem plausible that Sammy would have quit in defense of girls whom he quite evidently despises, despite the lustful desires they invoke, and that more likely explanations of his action lie in his boredom with his menial job and his desire to rebel against his parents.
...ce, although both writings are interesting in their own ways, the most interesting aspect of both writings together is that they both have a similar plot and theme. It is rare that two
...ed what he did for them and wanting their appreciation for his attempt to disassociate himself from the people in the store. He called them "his" girls, trying to bring himself to their level in the social scheme as he saw it (3).
Interpretation of A & P This story takes place in 1961, in a small New England town's A&P grocery store. Sammy, the narrator, is introduced as a grocery checker and an observer of the store's patrons. He finds himself fascinated by a particular group of girls. Just in from the beach and still in their bathing suits, they are a stark contrast, to the otherwise plain store interior.
...ed the rest of his life. My grandfather told me that the sixties were some of the best years of his life. He married the love of his life at the beginning of the decade and by its’ final few years he had three beautiful children that would all go on to live happy lives. The decade had several near disasters but none of them materialized. Overall the sixties was a great time for America. The people were happy, technology was on the move, and the economy was booming. It was also a time where it finally looked like the U.S. was finally pulling ahead of the Soviet Union. We defused a crisis that forced the Soviets to stand down during the Cuban Missile Crisis. They may have beaten us into putting a man into space, but we won the final battle when we landed on the moon. The sixties no doubt had their lows, but they were outweighed by all the highs they brought with them.
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.
Affirmation of Adulthood in Updike’s A&P Researching John Updike’s story, "A&P", I found many readers agreed that the main character Sammy is viewed as a hero or martyr for quitting his job at an A&P store in a northern beach town. I did, however, find that critics disagreed on why Sammy quit. Initially it appears that Sammy quits his job to impress girls who were reprimanded for wearing bathing suits in the A&P. Sammy did not ultimately quit his job to be the hero for three girls who happened to walk into this A&P.
different. In the 1960's, the war in Vietnam was going on, and there were a lot
both stories shared similar ending and moral which is receiving enlightenment in first hand. "The
“A&P” is a short story by John Updike about a nineteen-year-old male named Sammy. Sammy lives in a small town five miles from the beach and works at a grocery store called A&P. Throughout the story Sammy reveals signs of agitation at his job. Things begin to change as he gazed his eyes on three girls that walk into the store. The A&P and the girls are important symbols in “A&P” that help reveal the conflict in the story.
C. Wright Mills in his article “ The Structure of Power in American Society” writes that when considering the types of power that exist in modern society there are three main types which are authority, manipulation and coercion. Coercion can be seen as the “last resort” of enforcing power. On the other hand, authority is power that is derived from voluntary action and manipulation is power that is derived unbeknownst to the people who are under that power.
In the beginning of both of the pieces of literature, the main character(s) have not had the experience that will shape their values yet. Rather, as time moves forward in the stories, the
The basic ideas of the two novels are also similar. They have to do with rebellion against the so-called perfect new world and the sanctuary