The Interview with John Updike and how it Did or Did Not Change My View

The interview with John Updike, showed Updike's opinions and visions about the characters and about the message in his story "A & P." The interviewer asked many general questions that many people would have about Updike and his story. Updike's answers too many of the questions made me think a little bit different about the main message within the story. Updike also, explains that the characters in the story developed their own names. For example, Sammy is an ordinary name for a young boy. For the conflict of the story, Updike chose to use the situation of public nakedness in a public setting, like the supermarket "A & P." Updike explains, in the interview, that his vision is shown through the character of Sammy in the story. This is an interesting fact because when the interviewer asked Updike, "If he had ever worked in a supermarket," he replied, "no." Through my own personal experience as a cashier, I believe that he described the customers dead on; therefore, this fact caught my attention. In the interview, I realized a lot of things that I did not realize before, like the fact that "Queenie" is from a higher social class. Updike, states that he is representing the differences between the social classes. For example, Sammy is a blue collar worker trying to catch the attention of a pretty, rich girl, known as Queenie. Updike, shows that Sammy is a hero because he gave up his good name for the three girls. Since Sammy quit his job, means that now he will be known as a quitter in the small town and that his behavior is "unsheep like," which means that he is not like everyone else and he stands up for what he believes in. Since, Sammy stood up for what he believes in, he becomes the girls' hero, but the girls would never know what he did because they left. This fact from Updike shows me that my first interpretation that Sammy was a hero for nothing is still true. Therefore, Updike's interview showed me facts about the story that I did not realize before, but Updike's and my own interpretation of the main point at the end of the story, was the same.

The poem "Rites of Passage," by Sharon Olds, is common with John Updike's story, "A & P," because they are both descriptive of the characters in their stories. The stories are not common because in "A & P," nothing changes after Sammy quits his job, but in "Rites of Passage," things do change. In the poem, "Rites of Passage," the little boys are all fighting and arguing about who can beat up whom. Then to resolve the issue, the lady's son stands up and states that they can all beat up two year olds, which makes the group all agree, and start playing and focusing on the fact that it was her son's birthday party. The poem, "The One Girl at the Boy's Party," by Sharon Olds and John Updike's story, "A & P," are common because both are very descriptive in their stories. But unlike Updike, Olds uses mathematical terms to describe. Both authors' main characters are described as going through puberty. In "A & P" Sammy, is lusting over the beautiful girl named Queenie, and in "The One Girl at the Boy's Party," the lady's daughter is over whelmed by all of the boys around her, as well as the boys viewing her as the only female at the party to look at.

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