Compare And Contrast A & P And Employee Of The Month

1260 Words3 Pages

Maciej Szwoch
Sandra Beuchamp
Com 102
5/9/2016
title

The environment of the modern day grocery store can be quite stressful. It is here, that people truly show their disposition. Its almost like the act of standing behind people equally as frustrated is a form of torture, and only then does the truth come out. The truth is, most people live boring lives, and this chore puts an emphasis on boredom. Most people tend to forget about one thing during this grueling experience, and that is the employee. When a customer becomes frustrated, they take it out on the employee, but when the employee becomes frustrated with agitated customers the same outlet is not available. The Story of “A & P” by John Updike, and the Film of “Employee of the Month” …show more content…

In 'Employee of the Month”, Zack works as a box boy for SuperClub, often regarded as the bottom of the food chain in SuperClub. Zack, though holding no power in management, does maintain influence over the majority of employees. In this respect Zack is seen as the people 's person. This is analogous to the main character in “A & P”, Sammy. Sammy 's personality suggests that he as well is a man of the crowd, particularly how he interacts with Stokesie. Sammy, and Zack also show traits of individualism. Zack shows his individualism subliminally by doing small things such as refusing to dress up for work, and actively avoiding doing anything that the management regards as excellent due to his disdain to authority. Sammy 's individualism is much more prominent, as a critical analysis states, “Sammy asserts his individuality when he quits...by standing up for the girls, Sammy questions those standards“ (Ed. Wilson) The characterization of Zack and Sammy amplifies in the presence of their opposing foes. Zack 's antagonist is Vince, a head cashier at SuperClub, and Sammy 's antagonist is the manager at A & P, Lengel. These antagonists both love their jobs, taking great pride in their work. For instance, when Sammy scolded Lengel for embarrassing the girls, Lengel stated “It was they who were embarrassing us”(36). This correlates with Zack 's antagonist, Vince, who takes great pride in being “The fastest checkout in the South-West”.(Employee of The Month). The similarities between the antagonists, as well as the protagonists shows that “A & P”, and “Employee of The Month” are much more similar than

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