Literary Works : A & P, By Doc 's Story, And Rara Avis

Stories have the ability to provide new information. Finding meaning within the literary works is not necessarily easily. Authors John Updike, J.E. Wideman, and T.C. Boyle use their stories, “A&P”, “Doc’s Story”, and “Rara Avis”, respectively, to communicate important ideas. These short, but meaningful stories can empower readers to have a greater apprehension of real life situations. After taking an in depth look at these three pieces of literature, each contains themes of detachment, idolization, and handling losses. The situations that the characters are put into give clarity to some of life’s most important lessons.

Without exception, the main characters in these stories detach themselves from their surroundings. For example, the teenage character in “A&P”, Sammy, establishes that he enjoys people watching early in the story. He creates a profile for every customer that walks through the door. Descriptions like pigs, a witch, or sheep fill his vocabulary (Updike 231). Sammy gives the impression that he knows more about the people than the people know about themselves, and his self-inflated ego becomes apparent. He creates the perception that he is better than those around him. There is a similar character-type in “Doc’s Story”, where the protagonist is also a teenager. The main character’s mindset becomes revealed when he describes what he feels like while he’s in the park. He explains that, “He 'd feel himself empty out, see himself seep away and hover in the air" (Wideman 602). The type of separation that the character is feeling is from the world around him, he is reliving past events and wishing that he could change his reality. This becomes blatantly obvious towards the end when he convinces himself, “If he 'd known Doc ...

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...ls to do so, implying that he will be like the rest of the men in town, just another person who will associate women and sexuality with dark pessimism. The stories have different implications for the main character, yet they all stress that the future should not be determined by the past. The characters are young, the loss should only serve as a lesson to guide them as they continue to move forward.

Taking time to process why Updike, Wideman and Boyle structured their stories the way they did will allow for a deeper understanding of the text. The characters in “A&P”, “Doc’s Story”, and “Rara Avis” deal with the themes of detachment, idolization and handling a loss were all key to their development. Not everything is as it seems; sometimes our perceptions can be misleading. Fortuneately, life does not stop when obstacles arise. They are merely an opportunity to learn.