The Brown Chest By John Updike Analysis

A truthful memory that you cannot quite remember, but still never forget. The creepy, yet capturing toy that never seems to be forgotten. As we grow all our old toys, seems to either be broken, thrown out or just lost and then forgotten. We may neglect them, but do they remember us, and if they do – what does that mean for us and our future?

Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carry,” tells a story about the lives of young men during war. The narrator tells his story from first person, marking all of his adventures and experiences of his companions. O’Brien crafts his piece through the use of repetition, symbolism, and metaphors to convey the idea of physical and psychological hardships of soldiers during war.

The skepticism of Aanakwad led the father to believe that he “saw Aanakwad swing the girl lightly out over the side of the wagon” (Erdrich 393). Louise Erdrich plays with the reader’s assumptions to prove a point; there is more to a story than stated. “The Shawl” portrays traumatic family issues originating from the narrator’s grandparents. Erdrich shows the parting by describing the lasting and detrimental effects on the family each generation. Erdrich, however, utilizes both symbolism and human assumption to convey her point. Erdrich displays Aanakwad’s emotions to symbolize a cloud and the shawl’s memories to show effects.

In the short story “A&P” by John Updike the readers are introduced to Sammy, a young cashier at an A&P supermarket. The story is told from Sammy’s point of view and the readers see how Sammy’s heroism attempt failed. When three girls walk into the supermarket with nothing but their swimsuits the girls get scolded by the store manager, Lengel, and since Sammy was attracted to one of the girls, who he called Queenie, he thought that standing up to his manager for them by quitting his job would get her to notice him. Instead, by the time he got to go after the girls they were gone and it was like they didn’t even know he existed. The climax of the story is located towards the end when Sammy quit his job because Legnel shaming the girls for wearing the swimsuits is Sammy’s breaking point and the climax affects my attitude towards Sammy in negative way because he made such an idiotic decision over a girl who

Regardless the constraint he feels inside the store, A&P, Sammy simply expresses his wanting to have Queenie, who symbolises freedom due the actions she does that he considers rebellious to the principles and the ordinary. The story unfolds with Sammy noticing the three girls enter A&P “in nothing but bathing suits” and shows an immediate and strong attention to them enough to make him forget whether he rang the HiHo crackers. He begins to describe the girls and states that first girl’s “belly was still pretty pale” and that the second had “black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right”. After a short explanation of the previous girls, Sammy portrays an endless detail of the last one, whom he calls Queenie of how she “walked straight on slowly”

In the essay “The Things with Feathers That Perches in the Soul “, Anthony Doerr asks “What lasts? Is there anything you’ve made in your life that will still be here 150 years from now? Is there anything on your shelves that will be tagged and numbered and kept in a warehouse like this?” (Doerr 97). The idea the author is trying to imply there are things in this world that will fade. Creations you make will get lost but what stops your creations from fading you. You need money and effort to keep your valuable items functioning. Like how Jerry keep fixing the house every year to keep it standing. Then Daughter Of the American Revolution collected $173 to move the house and reroof it. Soon a fundraiser came to raise money to restore the house.

’Is it done?’ he asks, the responsible married man finding his voice. I forgot to say he thinks he’s going to be manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990 when it’s called the Great Alexandrov and Petrooshki Tea Company or something.” (Updike, 2)

Sammy is the narrator of this story. He is an opinionated teenager who describes people shopping at the store as “sheep”. He believes everyone acts the same. When he sees the girls, he feels that there are people who are able to break out what is expected and can act different. By quitting his job, Sammy shows he is no “sheep” and have authority to act differently. The story takes place in a grocery store in a beach town. Without the setting, the girls would not have wandered the aisles and Sammy would not have a chance to quit his job. The theme of the story is appearance. The three girls walk in the grocery store with their beach outfits and get

Three girls walk into a grocery store wearing nothing but their bathing suits. “A&P” by John Updike is in a New England town where three teenage girls wearing bathing suits walk into a grocery store. Queene is the leader out of all three girls. Sammy is the 19 year old boy who works at the checkout line in the grocery store and finds Queenie attractive the minute he sees her. Stokesie is Sammy’s co worker, and notices the girls that walk in the grocery store just like Sammy. But Stokesie is married and has two children and also trying to make a career working at A&P. Lengel is the store manager at A&P, and the girls want to purchase something, they move into Sammy’s checkout lane. Once this happens Lengal points out store policy because the girls are wearing bathing suits. Queenie replies to Lengal by telling him her mother wanted her to come in and buy some herring snacks. Sammy changes and overcomes by being trapped working at a grocery store to finding his freedom because of Queenie wearing a bathing suit.

In John Updikes “A&P” story, I don’t feel that Sammy quits for just one reason—I also feel his actions where less of trying to impress the girls and more of his attempt to break the mold or cycle that he feels he has become apart of. When referencing the store,

At first read, I thought this story was about the young cashier Sammy and his job at a small beach-town grocery store, or even how Sammy is smitten with some bikini-clad girls who come in the store. But reading deeper into John Updike's "A&P" and getting to the meat of

The power of presence also plays a role in a good death. In the 19th century Americans called this “bearing witness.” To bear witness means being there, being present at the bedside of the dying person as a form of comfort and having the ability to give testimony that the dying person was at peace. As Thomas Lynch stated in “Good Grief: An Undertaker’s Reflections,” the good death is the one that happens when we are among our own, surrounded…by faces of family and people who care. It is the death of a whole person, not an ailing part” (243). In 2015 the power of presence is also important. Though an individual may not want their family or friends around in the time before death, the power of presence is knowing that those you love and care about will be there, even when you do not want them to be in your room, they will be in the other room. I think the power of presence has persisted because it says something about humanity. As human beings we want human contact, we want to be treated with human

Theories of late adulthood development are quite diverse in later adulthood than at any other age. They include self-theory, identity theory and stratification theory. The self-theory tries to explain the core self and search to maintain one’s integrity and identity. The older adults tend to integrate and incorporate their various experiences with their vision and mission for their respective community (Berger, 2008). Also, the older people tend to feel that their attitude, personalities and beliefs have remained in a stable state over their lives even as they acknowledge that physical changes have taken place in their bodies. Objects, things and even places become precious as a way to hold on to identity that has been there for quite some

“Tradition is not looking after the ash, but to keep the flame alive”- Jean Jaures. This quote means to not just do the tradition to embrace it. This passage has made a significant impact on my life. The three reasons this is important to me is the “Medicine Bag” embarrass the kids. Other reasons are that friends are important, and getting an object passed down.

Most parents want their children to have a better education and successful life. In the first passage, Learn A Trade by John Updike, the author showed how parents try to influence their children and how the children turned out to be. John Updike showed how Fegley’s family members can be supportive and not supportive of his career choice. “ His mother had sponsored his ‘creativity’ indulged it, Fegley’s father thought his son was wasting his life on hopeless ambitions.” Fegley’s mom support his Art unlike his father who wants Fegley to have realistic expectations about his life. It shows that everyone has their own expectations and how concerned parents are about their child’s future. Some parents have faith that their child will be what they