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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses three of the best American short stories: “A&P” by John Updike; “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien” and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty. It uses reviews and critiques of the stories as a springboard for the discussion. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HV3stors.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
They Carried" by Tim OBrien" and "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty. It uses reviews and critiques of the stories as a springboard for the discussion. Discussion "A&P" by John
Updike is a coming-of-age story set in a small town north of Boston, during a hot summer day. The bare bones of the story: Three girls in bathing suits come
into the store; Sammy is entranced watching them (hes 19); then the manager returns and tells them theyre not decently dressed (Updike). They are embarrassed, pay for their single purchase
and leave; and Sammy quits immediately, seeing himself as their champion, and rushes out, hoping to catch up to them (Updike). But theyre gone, and his gesture is in vain;
however, he cant stop: "Sammy, you dont want to do this to your Mom and Dad, he tells me. Its true, I dont. But it seems to me that once
you begin a gesture its fatal not to go through with it" (Updike). Quitting is "pure impetuousness on Sammys part ... when face to face with the object of
his adoration, not knowing what else to say or do, Sammy offers a gift" (Wells). Unlike the boy in Joyces short story "Araby," Sammys gift is his "assertion of principle":
"His Queenie has been wronged, and he will stand by her" (Wells). Wells points out that its not likely that he would have made the same sacrifice for the girls
who accompanied "Queenie" to the store, and thus the purity of his motives is in question (Wells). The last line of the story has Sammy saying, "... my stomach kind
of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter" (Updike). Sammy has made a sacrifice that has been futile-he doesnt know who Queenie
...