" A & P by John Updike"

First of all, why the hell is Sammy quitting his job?? That's the main question of this story, and If we can answer that then we'll unlock the key to the entire story. I understand that the job is repetitive, and he is probably bored. So much that he has made up a song to go along with the sounds of the register.  He seems to know the store well, as he can hyphenate in one phrase the "cereal-crackers-cookie" aisle.  This conveys how very familiar he is with the grocery store.  It might be important to note that they highlight his teenage voice and situate him as someone who has possibly been there too long as an employee. But still, why does he quit his job there? I think him looking at Stokesie being the married with two children and being at the store, has made him conscious of that not being the life he sees for himself. Sammy is hoping for bigger and better things, but Stokesie is one of the possibilities his life can take a turn for. Another possibility is that Sammy could turn out like Lengel, The boss, and a conservative Sunday school teacher. This doesn't seem to be the life that Sammy wants either. Though Lengel represents the wholesome conservative town that Sammy lives in, for a young man like Sammy, that life would be as boring as the job.  Queenie and the girls seem to grab his attention as they create a contrast between their lives and the life of the sleepy town that Sammy is a part of. Queenie buying herring snacks seems like a small detail, but herring snacks are expensive, so it shows that she is at a higher level financially than Sammy is.  Even Sammy thinks that they drink martinis at her house. He projects onto her a life that is refined and pleasant, and more interesting than his life. Then he said at his house they just drink out of these glasses with a logo on them. The life that he creates for her within his own mind is the one that he envisions for himself.

This is definitely a coming of age story.

You can go with a social acceptance vs societal expectations stance, or there is even a childish, sexist, disrespectful angle you can focus on here.

I’ll let you guys take it from here…

"Every Day Use"

First things first, this is from the author that wrote the color purple.

You might think the story is about a flashy college student who comes back home to show how great she is doing, but this story is actually about the mom. The mom is the one who grows and changes. She has a new attitude and perspective on both of her daughters after this event. As we can tell from previous stories we read, whenever something is presented to a story that disrupts the usual, someone is going to grow and change, which in this case is the mother.  How does she grow and change? first, you see her daydreaming "what if I were on tv and my daughter was the guest, and she invited me out and was so proud of me like this is my mother and I owe everything to her, she gave me my start in life", As we see in the story that's not how this daughter is. Dee, the daughter who is getting in touch with her roots by adopting a new name, and dressing in African attire, that daughter is not about to acknowledge her mother's contribution to her life. Dee is independent and very smart, she is proud of achieving her college education and often uses it to embarrass and put down her mother. Dee neglects the fact the church gathered money to help send her to college, and that she does owe a lot to her mother and her community. Thankfulness doesn't seem to be a part of Dee's makeup. Instead, showing off and keeping up with appearances seems to be her story. Dee comes home so she can take pictures and take artifacts away from her home, that gives her credibility as a woman who has come up from nothing. Thought the story is not about her, she definitely creates the conflict as her mother was longing for a visit from her but their sentiments don't quite align. The mother also wishes that Dee would acknowledge her contributions, but she does not. Instead, the mom starts to notice her other daughter, Maggie, who has been in the shadows of Dee. Somewhat labeled as the ugly daughter as she had been burned in a fire and is the uneducated daughter, heck, the only good thing in her life is that she is going to marry a man with mossy teeth? Which doesn't sound like much, but I guess that's love. She probably has found something that her college-educated sister maybe hasn't or might never find. Even though Dee arrived with a guy, we are unclear of the relationship. Maggie has managed to find a man that wants to marry her, they are going to have a family presumably and the heritage of the family will be passed down,.more likely through Maggie than Dee. which is ironic since Dee is the one that claims to be in touch with her heritage with all her gimmick handshakes etc .. She is trying to get in touch with her African heritage while ignoring her actual heritage.

 Just a little something to give some context, I will add more as I complete my essay.