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Sexism in movies essay
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Depiction of women in literature
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Outline for Essay #1
In the short story A & P, by John Updike the narrator/main character Sammy is working at an A & P store until one day three bathing suit clad girls enter the stone and charge his boring mundane life. Sammy is so taking by them he quits his job. It may appear as if Sammy quit his job out of the pure goodness of his heart by defending the girls from the “stingy” A & P manager Lengel, and to escape his middle class existence. Sammy may have had deeper subconscious reasons for quitting the A & P, but even so that does not deny that at the core of his actions he was only looking to fill his inner desire of lust and self-interest while using distasteful, disrespectful, and sexist words towards the three girls, or as he calls them, Plaid, Big Tall Goony, and Queenie.
The first girl that really catches Sammy’s attention is the girl he calls Plaid. He is so distracted by her that he almost describes her three times. Each time, throughout his narration, he uses distasteful words to describe her physical appearance. He uses such words as “chunky”, “chubby”, and “fat” (Updike 32-33). Those are all highly offensive when said about someone, even if you are just thinking them. The most distasteful and
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Sammy mentions what is wrong with her and then moves on. He does not think she is attractive, so therefor she is not worth his time. The only part that really sticks out about her is after Sammy quits and he says, “Big Tall Goony-Goony (not that as raw material she was so bad)” (36). Goony is just another word for stupid. Raw material is the basics, so without anything to judge except for her physical appearance, he is basically calling her big, tall and stupid. How could you not see that as being rude and disrespectful? She has done nothing to be treated as a worthless goon. He soon forgets all about her, however, when he discovers a “queen” to look
Sammy's feelings for Queenie changes when he hears her voice. Her voice is normal and he has built this romantic image of her in his mind. Hearing her voice and realizing she is a normal person, (that happens to be wealthy) slightly changes his feelings for her. It brings him back to reality a little. “Her voice kind of startled me, the way voices do when you see the people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony, too, the way it ticked over "pick up" and "snacks." All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room.” Sammy feels as if he has no chance to get noticed by her unless he does something out of the ordinary. So after she is done arguing with Lengel, Sammy decides to stand up for her and quit his job in hopes that she will notice him.
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.
“Don’t be silly,” he muttered. The unlit cigarette bobbed up and down with the movement of his lips. “She doesn’t think it’s silly. Why should she–the way you’ve played around with her?” He sighed and said: “I wish to Christ I’d never seen her.” “Maybe you do now.” A trace of spitefulness came into the girl’s voice. “But there was a time.” “I never know what to do or say to women except that way,” he grumbled, “and then I didn’t like Miles.” “That’s a lie, Sam,” the girl said. “You know I think she’s a louse, but I’d be a louse too if it would give me a body like hers. Spade rubbed his face impatiently against her hip, but said nothing (Hammett
As people age, maturity and wisdom is gained through every experiences. From the time a child turns eighteen and becomes an adult, they are required to deal with the realities of the real world and learn how to handle its responsibilities. In John Updike's short story, "A&P", the protagonist Sammy, a young boy of nineteen, makes a drastic change to his life fueled by nothing more than his immaturity and desire to do what he wants and because of that, he has do deal with the consequences.
In John Updike’s “A&P”, the revolution of the young people of the current age against authority is explored and explained. “A&P” reveals the shift from conservative and deferential to avant-garde and disrespectful. Through the observation of the behavior of the characters in the story, one can receive a clear picture of the evolution of the sexual revolution that has come in this age. Sammy is the first character that is introduced, he is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Stoksie and Lengel are next, Stoksie is a fellow store clerk with Sammy as well as a good friend and Lengel is the manager of the store. Finally, Queenie is introduced. “A&P” begins with Sammy noticing these three girls that come into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. Sammy then proceeds to analyze each of the girls bodies, finally coming to rest on the leader of the group, his favorite, who he affectionately names to himself, “Queenie”. Although Sammy and Stoksie joke back and forth about the girls sexiness, he is privately revolted by the butchers bluntly ogling the girls as they search for whatever they wish to purchase. Throughout this recounting of the experience, one begins to wonder, when did girls become pieces of meat to be observed and handled by men? They used to be cherished and protected as they should be. The sexual revolution of the past and current decades have changed all of that.
"Goony-Goony," the next victim of Sammy’s intentional harassment, was presented in the story as a rather tall girl with "black hair that hadn’t quite frizzed right" for Sammy’s taste (Updike 1026). He found some reason not to be interested in this girl, probably because he was intimidated by her height.
In Sammy 's eyes, the A&P he works in reflects the conformist tendencies of his community. He sees the store patrons as "sheep," or followers, rather than independent thinkers. In an interview about the story, Updike says that in those days in America the 1950s and '60s people were expected to conform. Sammy and the girls in bathing suits represent a rebellion against this
Her rudeness becomes more apparent when she "rejected the compliment [about her dress] by raising her eyebrow in disdain" (35). She is so false in her manner that Nick observes that she "had changed her costume…and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress" (35).
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. ...
In John Updike's short story, "A & P," the main character, Sammy, is a cashier at a small grocery store. He is seen by many to be a sexist pig, describing in detail how he sees the three girls that walk in to the store. Sammy is in fact a sexist pig by what he says about them. With evidence and quotes from the story, Sammy can be determined to be a sexist pig. He describes the first girl he sees walking in the store as "a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it..." (421). Although the comment was kept to himself, in mind it is a sexist comment. Though the girl was in a bathing suit and there was no beach around, she probably wasn't trying to get the attention of young guys. She was just there to "pick up a jar of herring snacks" (423). Describing the girl's "can" (421), meaning her backside, gives Sammy some credit of being a sexist pig. Sammy slowly begins to see the other two girls follow the first. He notices not only what they're wearing, but what the little clothing that they have on covers up. "This clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light" (421). With this quote, he is describing how the bathing suit was slipping off the girl, but in a more demeaning manner. "With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and top of her head except just her..." (421). Sammy describes that he just sees the girl, a one-nighter type. He doesn't see that she's a human, but just a plaything. One other quote/thought that Sammy has while these girls (whom remain nameless throughout the story), is when the one he calls Queeny takes her money from "the hollow at the center of her nubbled pink top" (423). He begins to get excited as he uncreases the bill as "it just having come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla [he] had ever known there were" (424). Sammy seems to be more of a sexist pig, as the reader proceeds through the story.
The negative way that Sammy describes his place of work and some of the people that he works with
In the short story “A&P” by John Updike, a young store clerk named Sammy observes three young girls walking into the store, and in great detail describes the appearance of each girl. He obsesses over these girl’s every move throughout the story. Eventually the girls go to cash out only to be halted by the manager who tells them they need to be “decently dressed” when shopping at his store. After Sammy rings the three girls up he tells the manager he quits in order to impress the girls. Unfortunately they don’t notice and when he leaves the store he realizes the girls are gone, and that he has made mistake. The author paints the protagonist as an individual who despises his job, and as a very cynical person who loathes the average customer at
attitude towards her. Throughout the rest of the movie, his attitude towards her becomes more
...n her mind is more important than his words. It is an example of the patriarchal society that they live in; although he is her father and has the parental power over her he would most likely not speak to a son in such a demeaning tone. He makes her seem to be slow, as if she cannot carry on a conversation or listen to him, which is quite demeaning.
continues to speak to her in a childish manner because he views her for her appearance