In the short story “Checkouts” by Cynthia Rylant the word checkout was used in many different ways in the story. An example of how “Checkouts” is used in the story was when the girl was checking out her groceries. An example of my statement is “Standing in the checkout line” (Rylant 25). This quote explains my statement because it says how the girl was in the checkout line getting ready to buy her food. The author shows the main reason the girl goes to the grocery store was because it calms her, she was apprehensive that she just moved to Cincinnati, the quote on page 24, “She loved to grocery shop. She loved it in the way some people love to drive along country roads, because doing it she could relax and wander” explains my second statement. My next example of “checkouts” being used in the story, was when the girl was zoning out as she was walking through the grocery store. The quote “Once inside the supermarket, her hands firmly around the handle of the cart, she would lapse into a kind of reverie and wheel the cart towards the produce.” This quote from page 25 proves the statement because, the quote talks about how the girl is zoning out and feeling calm. The girl’s parents thought it was great that she was willing to go, but they don’t see know in the story how she likes to …show more content…
The quote on page 25 “The one day the bag boy dropped her jar of mayonnaise.. Standing in the checkout line with the unfocused stare.” In the quote we can infer that the boy was looking or checking out the girl, therefore explaining the statement. Secondly, how they would smile at each other, and how they would see each other. The boy and the girl were filled with regret the second time they met and they didn’t talk to each other “The girl hated herself for not checking out at the boy’s line, and the boy hated himself for not catching her eye and saying hello” (Rylant
When she was at the shop, a man walks in wearing a “stained blanket pulled up to his chin” who smells of “stale cigarettes and urine” (7). This graphic description of the man instills a feeling of disgust in the audience. He stands there until a “moody French woman” walks towards him and handing him “steaming coffee in a Styrofoam cup, and a small paper bag” of what is perhaps a croissant. He accepts the food and leaves the bread shop. Just like she did in the preceding anecdotal narrative she question why the woman demonstrated this act of compassion.
Sammy was just impressed by how the girls had the decency to walk in a grocery in bikinis, it made his day. “The one that caught my eye was the one in the plaid green two-piece” (Updike). He never spoke to the girls, he only stared like a deer in headlights. These statements explain how
Vain and naïve, Connie often escapes the negative relationship that she has with her parents by going out several nights a week to the local diner and the local shopping plaza. Connie soon realizes that this is only the beginning of her fate. In this essay, I will describe how Joyce Carol Oates used the literary elements to describe the plot of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” (1938). Oates’ begins the suspense of Connie’s fate by describing the emotional state of feelings towards her mother.
In the coming of age story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism, conflict, and the third person to foreshadow fifteen-year-old Connie’s unfortunate, yet untimely fate. While one may think that the conflict stems from Connie’s promiscuity, it is clear to see her promiscuity is only a result to a much bigger conflict, her mother’s constant nagging and disapproval, alongside the lack of attention from her father. the author paints a vivid picture of what happens when a fifteen-year-old girl such as Connie goes elsewhere to find to find the love, attention, and approval that she lacks at home. All which is vital for her growth and wellbeing as a person.
Welty uses various senses to paint the picture of the store. " -licorice recently sucked in a child's cheek, dill-pickle brine that had leaked through a paper sack in a fresh trail across the wooden floor, ammonia loaded ice that had been hoisted from wet cracker sacks and slammed into the icebox with its sweet butter at the door, and perhaps the smell of still-untrapped mice." (Welty, 149) she goes into vivid detail describing the various smells as you enter the store. This type of sensory imagery makes you remember your own experiences going into a store filled with treats.
It shows the strength of their bond and the impact her parents' love had on her coping
In her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates utilizes a variety of literary devices to strengthen the story in its entirety. This short story is essentially about a 16-year-old girl named Connie and the conflict between her desire to be mature and her desire to remain an adolescent. Throughout the story, the audience sees this conflict through her words in addition to through her behavior. The audience is also introduced to Arnold Friend, a rather peculiar man, who essentially kidnaps her. This short story by Joyce Carol Oates functions and is additionally meaningful because of her usage of literary devices.
Nevertheless, as the story unfolds, Tan explains in more detail of the relationship of the mother and her daughter. In which the mother fully believed her daughter would become this great prodigy. Therefore, pressuring her daughter
Since there is little affection toward Connie in her household, she craves it from boys when she goes out to the local drive-in restaurant. Connie’s personality is shown when she leaves her house to go out with her best friend to the drive-in. Oates writes, (“She wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home.”) (158). There are always two sides to Connie (when she is at home with her family and when she is out with boys.)
In Oates’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” , the story mainly focuses on the conflict and main plot of Smooth Talk. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” explains Connie’s relationship to her family members, basically describing that she’s a basic adolescent that desires to be treated like an adult but lacks the maturity and doesn’t want the responsibilities, still claiming her freedom (or at least attempting to). One Sunday her family leaves to a barbeque Connie refused to go to and a familiar stranger drives up to her house.
The setting takes place in a suburban neighborhood like an area in the United States around the 1950's to 1960's. The mentalities of the people in the citizens reflect conformist tendencies of the community because they are negatively judgmental when they notice the girls in the story. The A&P store and customers of the story shape the time and setting to establish what is taking the place of the setting during that time. The A&P supermarket was arguably American's premier grocery store during the 1960s. Therefore, setting the scene of the A&P supermarket highlights the era of the 1960s.
While reading the story, you can tell in the narrators’ tone that she feels rejected and excluded. She is not happy and I’m sure, just like her family, she wonders “why her?” She is rejected and never accepted for who she really is. She is different. She’s not like anyone else
The narrator thinks otherwise because of the fact that she wants to do something that is in her best interest. For instance, the narrator’s experiences as a child were difficult to deal with because of the suffering that the mother gave to her. The mother had authority over the narrator and forced her to involve in things that she did not want to do. An indication of the story is, “Only two kinds of daughters. Those who obedient and those who follow their own mind!
At the start of the story she is just around the house contemplating of how her life is. She moves up and down to ensure everything is in order before her mother-in-law arrives. After ensuring everything is properly arranged, she goes to the station to go pick her mother-in-law. On
She wants her daughter to walk and act a certain way. She even teaches her how to talk to men so, they won’t assume that she is promiscuous. In “Girl,” there is different themes throughout the novel but the main one has to do with female sexuality. How a women should act and be seen as respectable.