John Updike has a clever mind when it comes to writing famously notorious short stories. Simply, his stories are basic, but with a life lesson comes the purpose of the story. Frankly, he leaves the reader leaves the reader in a state of confusion. In two of his stories, a&p and the brown chest, the author relates ordinary occurrences to a greater meaning of life. A&P tells a story of a young man trying to find himself. In this coming-of age story, Sammy, a cashier, notices when three girls come in to the store in bikini’s. When the manager, Mr. Lengel sees the girls, he questions them asking why the girls are not in dress code. Sammy likes the third girl, Queenie, the one that led the other two. The young man gets frustrated and spouts out at lengel. The girls walk out, Sammy hopes that the girls will hear him and come back. Even though the girls did not return, Sammy gives up his minimum wage job and walks out. In the back of his mind, he realizes that his parents will not be satisfied with this decision, but he risks it all anyway. The other short story, the Brown chest, is about a young boy who finds a chest filled with items from his ancestors, such as a wedding dress or several strands of some auburn curls. As the boy grows up, he continues to hate the chest. With time progressing, the brown chest moves away farther and farther. The items remain, forever more. John Updike shows several similarities in his writings while keeping it fresh for readers with making changes. These two stories, A&P and The Brown Chest , Updike makes imagery and produces frequent symbolismto convey an important message.
The imagery produced by Updike played an important role as to why these seemingly ridiculous stories are so ...
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...ecomes highly afraid of the chest as years progress. Also, the chest moves farther and farther away. It still remains with this family as they age forever more. One may compare the two stories and think that the classics are both about two boys coming- of- age. It is more than than. The fear of what may come proposes the problem, leaveng the reader wanting more in order for the last piece of the puzzle to be filled.
Additionally, John Updike captivated his audience by taking everyday situations and turning them into life lessons that America values. One may not quite understand this authors’ method, but like Shakespeare, the more read, the more understood. Imagery and symbolism go hand in hand that turns a story into magic. It is alluring. Updike makes it clear why these short stories are written: they tell intriguing stories of learning about life.
When looking into works of literature, some stories seem to be similar to others. They can have a similar setting, point of view, theme, or sense of language and style. However, all of these points could be very different as well and could cover different theme or style. Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” have some contrasting elements, such as their points of view and use of symbolism, but their similarities in the underlying theme, language, and the setting of these stories reveal how these two stories are impacted by education on both the individual and their family.
Updike uses a lot of abstract and theoretical imagery as well as minimal visual imagery. One example of visual imagery includes the descriptions of the stage and the description of the faces he sees in the audience. An example of kinetic imagery is the "laughter" which leads the audience members to cry. The imagery is vivid and serves the purpose of swaying the view of the reader into an emotional state.
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.
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.
In “Marching through a Novel,” John Updike, conveys a complex relationship between the novelist and characters, by representing the author as a god-like figure whose characters are like his soldiers ready to take action upon his command. John Updike successfully portrays this characterization through his use of metaphors, diction, and imagery.
Updike intended Rabbit, Run to get people, especially men who live like Rabbit, to understand life on a deeper level. Men have been dominant for so long that it is hard for many of them to understand the duty they have to help humanity. Rabbit has promise but can find no reason, even the death of his daughter, to change. God “gives to each of us special talents, So: know thyself, learn to understand your talents and then work to develop them, that’s the way to be happy” (10). Thus Rabbit is one of the greatest obstacles which stands in the way of social advancement, because he does not realize the contribution he could make. His selfishness blinds him to the harm does cause, or the good he could cause, if he came to a deeper understanding of himself, and men’s role in society. “Isn’t that the whole secret, to come to grips” with life (53).
John Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1932. Later in life he would develop an affinity for providing the setting for many of his stories in the areas neighboring Reading (AA). Mr. Updike wrote affectionately about American life with an attitude of respect for its diversity. As mentioned earlier he enjoyed writing about people that were easily understood by middle-class Americans. His patriotism and religion formed a relationship with the common life experience of average Americans. His earliest aspiration was to become a cartoonist and later he desired to be a poet. He wrote many popular short stories however; his most celebrated works are among his novels.
In this essay I will discuss the short stories A&P by John Updike and Araby by James Joyce which share several similarities as well as distinct differences between the themes and the main characters. I will compare or contrast two or more significant literary elements from each of the stories and discuss how those elements contribute to each story’s theme.
The main character in John Updike's short story “A&P” is Sammy. The story's first-person context gives the reader a unique insight toward the main character's own feelings and choices, as well as the reasons for the choices. The reader is allowed to closely observe Sammy's observations and first impressions of the three girls who come to the grocery store on a summer afternoon in the early 1960s. In order to understand this short story, one must first recognize the social climate of the era, the age of the main character, and the temptation this individual faces.
John Updike uses many different techniques in his poems to convey the messages of his poems. Updike uses contradictory descriptions and images to amplify his meaning in some of his poems. These poems tend to create two very different images within the reader’s mind, but he also has another affective means of making the reader understand the meaning of his poems. John Updike is a master of manipulating the sound of words. This allows his readers to actually feel the meanings of his poems, without having to explore his intentions when writing the poems.
Updike, John “A&P.” Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama and The Essay.4th e. Ed. Frank Madden. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. 496-501. Print.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
Updike is famous for taking other author's works and twisting them so that they reflect a more contemporary flavor. While the story remains the same, the climate is singular only to Updike. This is the reason why there are similarities as well as deviations from Joyce's original piece. Plot, theme and detail are three of the most resembling aspects of the two stories over all other literary components; characteristic of both writers' works, each rendition offers its own unique perspective upon the young man's romantic infatuation. Not only are descriptive phrases shared by both stories, but parallels occur with each ending, as well (Doloff 113).
Updike, John. "A&P." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.1026-1030.
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.