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A & P by John Updike

  John Updike's short story "A & P" is about division of class. The story is spoken by the main character Sammy as first person. Sammy is a 19-years old boy who work as a cashier in an A&P store. He sees three young girls wearing bathing suits who walk inside the store and starts observing them. The store manager Lengel walks in and expresses his dissatisfaction towards the outfits of the girls and tries to offense them by calling them indecent. This is where the story takes a turning point. The girls rebel against the manager. Sammy did that too but it was very much heavier for him than it was on the girls. Also, Lengel is the one who unnecessarily insulted the girls. Sammy is more of an open and ambitious one. He, in fact, quits his job for standing up against L Engel. Lengal represents the rigidity and conservativeness of the society. The way describes the girls, especially the leader one that he refers as "Queenie", we can see that he is fascinated...

A Good Man sure is hard to find

  Short fiction by Flannery O'Connor named "A Good Man is hard to Find" is very predictable by storyline but very interesting by the author's way of depiction. The grandmother is presented as an innocent old lady, the Misfit as a criminal. But their morals will made you realize that the grandmother is actually the one who misfits. The story indicated that she is not taken much seriously by her son, his children or the mother of his children. She is not paid heed very often, in fact, seems like the family almost treat her as she is invisible. The grandmother character although portrayed as innocent, she is just as mean, selfish and rude as the Misfit. The grandmother is very foolishly proud. She takes pride on her culture, moral, attire and so on. She thinks of herself as always right and gracious one and treats everyone around her very lowly. But the truth is, she doesn't have any moral. She plays along with whatever is in front of her. She clearly does not have...

A "Lesson" to Learn

  "The Lesson" by Tony Cade Bambara is written on the context of the African American's struggle in the society and the Black movement. A woman named Mrs. Moore moves into a neighborhood of the slums of the Black people. She attempts to spread the light of education among the children living in the slum. The story has a particular steep of flow. Unlike the general characteristic of short fiction, the theme is not established in one particular portion of the story. The writer gradually sets up the stage, the more you advance with the reading, theMore you get to its core. Mrs. Moore was not in the cab; hence, we get to see sylvia back in her natural instinct. Sylvia initially was judging the choice of the other kids and their wish-list. But she was moved by the price of a sailboat. With all her quotes in this segment, we can say that she started to open her eyes. Deep down and unconsciously, she felt that she is not welcomed in such a nice place like here. She feels an un...

Hills Like Elephant

  Short fiction named "Hills Like Elephant" written by Earnest Hemingway. The story involves two lovers sitting at a station waiting for a train while having drinks and wandering around. Their conversation indicates that the girl is pregnant and they are arguing over taking a decision over whether or not they should go through an abortion. The mention of white elephant is used as a metaphor to describe a burden to the guy. It represents that the couple is skeptic in having to face the complex situation standing in front of them. The writer attempts to identify the unspoken factors that the writer hid in the words. In the whole story we see the guy talking in two directions. The girl however, does not still seem to be convinced. She reflects his desires but in a passive aggressive way- "I'll do it because I don't care about me" The writer has left a number of signs about that. This represents how a portion of our society, especially the men thinks of having...

Story of a "life" lived in an hour

Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" is one of those short fictions which serves you a very simple appetizer, a little delicate main course and an absolutely fancy and sophisticated dessert. as you start reading, the husband of a woman, addressed as Mrs. Mallard in the story, dies. Her surroundings are worrying how to give her such a news. She is a patient of a heart disease, how will she take this news. And happens so. She hears the news, she cries out loud like mad. This was your appetizer. Lets get to the delicacy of main course. She gets up, walks away, locks herself in her room; the story takes a whole new turn. She starts feeling like she has a burden off her head, she keeps enchanting "Free! Free!". Totally opposite of what she reacted few moments before when she was in front of other people. Hold tight, its just getting interesting. Not only she feels free, she feels guilty for feeling free. What is that about?   I think, Chopin's very effortlessly paint...