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Literature as a Reflection of Society
Literature as a Reflection of Society
Literature as a Reflection of Society
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After having read the three short stories, the characters chosen for the literary analysis are Sammy and Connie. The first story is “A & P” by John Updike and the second story is “Where are you going, Where have you been” written by Joyce Carol Oates. These stories both describe young teenagers who are in the search for their identities and are going through struggles trying to prove their worth. These two characters Sammy and Connie are barely the reflections of the same person, they are both naive and want to change the world by their way but in the real sense they are not ready for this. There are still a lot they do not know, but their naivety and ignorance blinds them on the journey of trying to prove their worth. The thesis is that …show more content…
many teenagers lose themselves during the time because of their ignorant and that most teenagers find their individual needs conflicting with the established social norms just like Sammy. The argument will be backed by pointing out these two characters, Connie, and Sammy showed a lack of proper judgment and experience to handle adult situations that they were putting themselves into. By giving some background of these two stories, “Sammy is a young man from a humble background” who is working at a supermarket by the name “A & P”and he is the main character in John Updike’s “A & P” .
Connie, on the other hand, is a young teenage girl who doesn’t have enough love in her family and be attractive to older men, she is the main character in Joyce Carol Oates’ Where are you going, Where have you been.” Although these two characters are different in severial aspects, at the same time possess certain similarities that played important when choosing these two characters for the literary analysis. These two characters are good example of most teenagers who are out there struggling with finding their identity; all the young boys and girls who feel like they have to do certain thing things, engage in certain behaviors or be like certain people to find their position. If you questioned every young person you would find out that they all have one unique problem; the problem of rebellion, search for freedom and how to conform. They have found a solution to this problem by defying all social norms and leading a life where you want to be someone else. The issue of identity and clearly state one’s values and principles is a very difficult thing for most
teenagers. Sammy and Connie are perfect resemblances of adolescents and their behaviors. These two characters both display a lot of naivety and ignorance in the way they handle life situations. John Updike describes Sammy as a young teenager from a humble background. “Sammy is lucky to secure a job at the “A & P” though he displays naivety” and a lot of ignorances when he throws all these away just to try and prove himself to his new found beauty who he calls “Queenie”. Sammy's aspire for Queenie, which starts just as a young teenager's enthusiasm for a beautiful girl. While “Queenie” and her two friends come into the “A & P” supermarket to shop while dressed in a very indecent manner. He notification everything about the ladies and he drinks in every point of interest in the young ladies' physical appearance, from the composition and examples of their swimming outfits to the distinctive limits of their tan lines. “The manager of the supermarket questions the girls dressing indecently and Sammy is stupid enough to defend them and even quit his job.” (Updike). Sammy is doing all these in an attempt to win the attention of this beauty “Queenie”. He was supposed to act like Stokesie, but his age separate himself from him, he wants to demonstrate that he is different, that forces him to leave his place of employment. On the other hand, he said, "I quit" to catch young ladies' attention, and the signal loses reverberation when he understands they didn't see it. It is kind of heroism but sound ridiculous. It is not in Sammy’s mind that he had put his entire life on hold on something that does not really matter, he has lost his source of livelihood just for the sake of a young beauty he has just met and he does not even know her. So why don’t we say this is ridiculous? Joyce Carol Oates displays Connie as a young girl who has the complicated relationships with her family; there are not enough affections between family members which results a lack of parental attention. The conflict with her family lead her ignore all comments about her personality. She is a fifteen years old girl who in her age wants to feel older and be attractive to men. She sets out to explore an adult life that leads her to try out things she is not of age for (Oates). She does not want to do the things that girls of her age normally do. “Connie sets out to try out things on older men.” What Connie does not realize is that these men are quite experienced and that they read her weaknesses at the very first instance of their interactions, and they are playing on Connie’s weaknesses. These men tell Connie what she wants to hear because they have established that Connie is a girl who is still trying to find her Identity. Identity crisis is obviously a vast puzzle for the majority of youths all over the world. Most of the youths end up engaging in behaviors and actions that they come to regret about later on in life just like what Connie and Sammy did. The journey for identity has been a major downfall for most teenagers because they are naive and ignorant and more experienced people take advantage of this and prey on them. A solution to this could be established by setting up proper guidance and counseling systems for teenagers both at school and at home. This would go a long way because teens would get appropriate advice from adults on how to handle life situations. Nevertheless, every teenager has a responsibility to be cautious of their every action.
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.
Sammy, the protagonist in John Updike’s “A&P,” is a dynamic character because he reveals himself as an immature, teenage boy at the beginning of the story and changes into a mature man at the end. The way Sammy describes his place of work, the customers in the store, and his ultimate choice in the end, prove his change from an immature boy to a chivalrous man. In the beginning, he is unhappy in his place of work, rude in his description of the customers and objectification of the three girls, all of which prove his immaturity. His heroic lifestyle change in the end shows how his change of heart and attitude transform him into mature young man.
The characterization of Connie in the short story, “Where Are You Going? Where have you been?” affects the theme of who is to blame for the kidnapping by portraying Connie as a pretty girl to into herself, a puerile teenager that cannot decide who to be, and a reluctant girl that ignores her mother. This characterization makes Connie seem immature. When Arnold gets to see Connie, the ignorance and immaturity of Connie gives Arnold Friend the perfect opening to abduct Connie.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is told from the point of view of a girl with “long dark blond hair that drew anyone’s eye to it” named Connie. Connie was a very pretty fifteen year old girl, which loved to go out with her friends and meet new people. Laura’s, the best friend of Connie, father “drove the girls the three miles to town and left them at a shopping plaza so they could walk through the stores or go to a movie”. It became a lifestyle for Connie which eventually became a problem being that she met a suspicious
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
The overuse of biblical allusions throughout the story helps to expose the naive nature of Connie that reveals her as a victim of evil which shows that lust often transgresses on an individual’s identity. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates expressed the subjective ideas by symbolizing Arnold Friend as a devil that tempts a clueless teenage girl Connie, who wanted to experience love.
Authors of great stories often use good technical writing skills. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two short stories: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates, and Hills Like White Elephants by Earnest Hemingway. Comparison and contrast will be done based on their use of plot, point of view and character development. The short story Where are you going, Where have you been is about a teenage girl who is, vain, self-doubting and affixed to the present. She does not know anything about the past or doubts it, and has no plans for the future.
Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is about a young girl's struggle to escape reality while defying authority and portraying herself as a beauty queen; ultimately, she is forced back to reality when confronted by a man who symbolizes her demise. The young girl, Connie, is hell- bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She feels she is above them because she is prettier. She wants to live in a "dream world" where she listens to music all day and lives with Prince Charming. She does not encounter Prince Charming but is visited by someone, Arnold Friend, who embodies the soul of something evil. Arnold Friend symbolizes "Death" in that he is going to take Connie away from the world she once knew. Even if she is not dead, she will never be the same person again, and will be dead in spirit. With the incorporation of irony, Oates illustrates how Connie's self-infatuation, her sole reason for living, is the reason she is faced with such a terrible situation possibly ending her life.
In her famous short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates shows the transition from childhood to adulthood through her character Connie. Each person experiences this transition in their own way and time. For some it is leaving home for the first time to go to college, for others it might be having to step up to a leadership position. No matter what, this transition affects everyone; it just happens to everyone differently. Oates describes Connie's unfortunate coming of age in a much more violent and unexpected way than the typical coming of age story for a fifteen year old girl.
The characters in short stories, ‘Where are you going, Where have you been?’ by Joyce Carol Oates and ‘The man who was almost a man’ by Richard Wright, have lot of similarities between them even though the stories themselves take place in different setting in different time periods, but using symbolism, context clues, and our own experiences we as students of literature can better understand both characters and get an insight into their inner workings beyond what the text tells us on the surface.
In John Updike’s short story, A&P the writer takes you on a youths memory that involves the choices and consequences that life can deal to anyone who has not had time to test a rash decision. The narrator is an immature nineteen-year-old cashier who is about to make a giant leap from adolescence to manhood. Sammy narrates with opinions of not only his life, but also the people in the town. Sammy opposes with the way these people live their lives, and is determined to set a different course for his future. The author uses characterization, symbolism, and setting to explain Sammy's life issues such as decision-making, result of action, and responsibility. The story illustrates that part of growing up is about making choices and a willingness to accept consequences of one’s own choices.
Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" written in the late sixties, reveals several explanations of its plot. The story revolves around a young girl being seduced, kidnapped, raped and then killed. The story is purposely vague and that may lead to different interpretations. Teenage sex is one way to look at it while drug use or the eerie thought that something supernatural may be happening may be another. The story combines elements of what everyone may have experienced as an adolescent mixed with the unexpected dangers of vanity, drugs, music and trust at an early age. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to choose what the real meaning of this story is. At one point or another one has encountered, either through personal experience or through observation, a teenager who believes that the world is plotting against them. The angst of older siblings, peer pressure set upon them by their friends, the need for individualism, and the false pretense that at fifteen years of age, they are grown are all factors which affect the main character in this story.
During the teenage years they no longer want to be labeled the “child; matter of fact, they have a strong desire to rebel against the family norms and move quickly into adulthood. This transition and want for freedom can be a very powerful and frightening thing as there are evils in this world that cannot be explained. Most parents try to understand and give their teens certain freedoms, but at what expense? Joyce Oates gives us a chilly story about a teenager that wanted and craved this freedom of adulthood called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. This is a haunting story of a young girl by the name of Connie who gives us a glimpse of teenager transitioning from childhood with the need for freedom and the consequences of her actions. Connie is described as a very attractive girl who did not like her role in the family unit. She was the daughter who could not compare to her older sister and she felt her Mom showed favoritism towards her sister. Connie is your average teen who loves music, going out with friends, and she likes the attention she receives from boys. During this time, Connie is also growing into her sexuality and is obsessing with her looks as she wants and likes to be noticed by the opposite sex. Her sexual persona and need to be free will be what is fatal to her character’s life and well-being.
Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” clearly illustrates the loss of innocence adolescents experience as they seek maturity, represented by Connie's dangerous encounter with Arnold Friend. Connie symbolizes the many teens that seek independence from their family in pursuit of maturity. Connie’s great desire to grow up is apparent from the beginning of the story, as she experiments with her sexuality. However, it is clear that Connie is not interested in pursuing a relationship, but relishes the maturity she feels after being with the opposite sex. After following a boy to his car, she was “gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place” (2). This suggests that Connie's exploits
Many times in our lives, we wish we were independent and we believe we can stand up for ourselves, especially during our adolescence. In “A &P”, a short story by John Updike, the protagonist, Sammy, decides to stand up for himself and go against the customary life style of his town. By doing this such act, he reveals the themes of the story, which include maturity and choices followed by consequences. Updike uses literary devices such as symbolism and tone to help enforce the theme. There are two major themes in Updike’s “A & P;” one being choices and its consequences and the other being maturity.