1. The Age of Innocence or Ignorance Language and Point of View
A & P
The Age of Innocence or Ignorance
Language and Point of View

2. Housekeeping 1. play rehearsal 12/10 (Wed) noon and advisor time
2. e-text vs. textbook
3. group advisor:
Group 1-4: Kate
Group 5-8: Julia
Group 9-12: Andrew
Our address:

3. Outline Q & A & General Introduction
Structure  Queenie in grace, disgraced, and the “hero” fights back to no avail.
Language and Style  contrasting two kinds of people
Discussion:
Points of View
Ending
The Swimming Suit Issue: Sammy vs. the Other Characters
Setting & Theme

4. A&P
General Introduction

5. John Updike & “A&P”
Updike on “A&P”
John Updike (1932–2009)
Originally he had 3 more pages describing Sam’s going up to the beach to find the girls, but without success
A filmic adaptation, followed by an interview
Updike grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania as an only child. His desire to write was inspired by his mother’s efforts to be published. He attended Harvard, where he contributed to the school literary magazine, and he graduated with an English degree in He later studied graphic arts at Oxford and initially wanted to become a cartoonist, but he returned to the US and launched his writing career as a regular contributor for the New Yorker.
His most famous novels are the Rabbit series: the novels Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and the novella "Rabbit Remembered"), which chronicles the life of the middle-class everyman Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom over the course of several decades, from young adulthood to death. Both Rabbit Is Rich (1982) and Rabbit At Rest (1990) were recognized with the Pulitzer Prize. (Wikipedia)
Norton

6. “A&P” Characters Sammy Lengel, Stokesie, McMahon (at the meat counter)
3 girls: (par 2)
The First Friend (“Plaid”)
The Second Friend (“Big Goony Goony)
Queenie
Customers
(par 1) The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs.
(par 2) There was this chunky one, with the two-piece—it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale so I guessed she just got it (the suit)—there was this one, with one of those chubby berry-faces, the lips all bunched together under her nose, this one, and a tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes, and a chin that was too long—you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" and "attractive" but never quite makes it, as they very well know, which is why they like her so much—and then the third one, that wasn't quite so tall. She was the queen.

7. Structure –Rescuing the Queen
Beginning: In media res – in the middle of a sequence of an event or a story.
Long description of the three girls with a focus on Queenie, juxtaposed with short descriptions of the other customers.
Middle: “Now here comes the sad part of the story” (par 11)
confrontation between the girls and Lengel;
Between Lengel and Sammy
Ending: out of the supermarket.

8. “A&P” Structure In medias res (Latin "in the midst of things")
The three girls come in and described
Beginning (1-10)
“Now here comes the sad part of the story” …all the time thinking
Middle: Lengel .vs. the girls (11-21)
“I quit”  I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter
Conclusion (22-32) Sam vs. Lengel

9. Q&A: Your Responses
Why did Stokesie call the author "Daddy"? (Since Stokesie was older than him.)
"Oh Daddy," Stokesie said beside me. "I feel so faint.“ (7)
"Darling," I said. "Hold me tight." Stokesie's married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that's the only difference. He's twenty-two, and I was nineteen this April. (8)

10. Sammy’s Language: Your Choice
(team 8!)
1.Sammy's os - a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it. Bright green and the seams on the bra.
2.description of Queenie - Sammy thinks the most beautiful girl is untouchable , so he nicknames her "Queenie", which refers as "Queen.“ For example, she held her head so high her neck,......;but I (Sammy) doesn't mind. The longer her neck is ,the more of her there is. (par 4)

11. Sammy’s Language: Your Choice
3.argument with the boss - It begins with Sammy saying "I quit !" Just because the girls are embarrassed by the boss. It shows that Sammy is like other teenagers, who always do something without thinking twice. However a sudden impulse made Sammy quit his job, neglecting what the boss says and what his parents' feeling. In the end, it turned out that Sammy does regret when he turns back, seeing his boss ringing up, with a dark gray face standing alone.

12. Sammy’s Language (1)
Colloquial: omission, rep, coined words, run-on S and misplaced modifier – pars 13, 52 –first sentences.)
Concrete with vivid details and things he is familiar with (e.g. games, women’s bodily parts--breasts and bottoms, supermarket)
Vivid and imaginative: e.g. the girl’s voice (par 14), the sound of the cash register (par 21).

13. Sammy’s Language (2)
4. Stereotyping and exaggerative: Tends to divide up people into two groups--one he likes, and one he dislikes—and exaggerates their differences. (e.g. Sheep vs. Queen)
e.g. “You could see them [the other customers], when Queenie's white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed.” (par 5)
Other descriptions of the customers (par 12, 30)
e.g. Queenie vs. the dynamites

14. Example of Sammy’s Language (3)—Queenie
Queenie:-- sex + queenly manners
The way she walks; square-shouldered and long-necked.
“the oaky hair that the sun and salt had bleached.”
She had on a kind of dirty-pink—beige maybe, I don't know—bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down;
shining rim; top of her chest like “a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light”
The bill from the girl’s cleavage: “from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known...."

15. Summary and Preview: Point of View
Participant (or first-person) point of view;
--1) as protagonist: e.g. “A & P,” “Boys and Girls” “Araby”
-- 2) as witness
(“we” –”A Rose for Emily”) (*Issue—reliable nor not)
Non-participant (or third-person) point of view.
--1) neutral omniscience –objective
--2) editorial omniscience – (with judgment)
--3) selective omniscience -- e.g. “20/20”
 Enter the mind or not;  stream of consciousness (later)

16. Discussion Questions
Group 1, 5, 9- Point of View –Sammy’s vs. Queenie’s or Lengel’s (description or performance of dialogue)
Group 2, 6, 10- Ending –What do we make of it? Would you quit the job if you were in Sam’s position? Which ending do you prefer?*
Group 3, 7, 11- Swimming Suit or not: The Girls’, Sammy’s, Lengel’s, Stoksie’s and the Other Customers’ Points of View (description or performance)
Group 4, Setting & Theme (analysis or re-creation)
A Group 1, 5, 9-- Sam 1) What do you think about Sammy? How do you characterize Sammy (is he one with a sense of justice, or a sexist good-for-nothing, or …? )
Why did the author describe those girls appearance so carefully?
Sammy's attitude toward the girls was similar to that of the other young man Stokesie in the beginning of the story. However, when he saw the girls were humiliated by the manager, Sammy showed his sympathy for the girls. Why? Is there any characteristic in Sammy's personalty?
Do you think Sammy really cares about those girls or he just wants to be a hero and feels a sense of superiority?
Group 2, 6, ) What does it mean for Sammy to quit the job? Would you do so if you were him? + his class background; Group 3, 7, ) How do you characterize the girls? Is there anything wrong in wearing bikini to a supermarket in the center of a town? Would you do so? Group 4, ) What is A&P to Sammy? What does it stand for to Sammy? Describe Sammy’s language with at least 3 examples.

17. Let’s Take a Break!!! And start our group discussion 10:16- 11:06
Come back to this classroom at 11:16 sharp!

18. Period 2: Discussion Time 10:10-11:00

19. 3rd hour: (5. 6. 11, 12) present; (9, 10, 3, 4) ask questions
2-groups’ (1,2, 7,8) presentation, (9, 10, 3, 4) practice raising questions
3rd hour: ( , 12) present; (9, 10, 3, 4) ask questions
Question
Group no. 1 5 9 2 6 10 3 7 11 4 8 12

20. Point of View: Related Issues
the “I-narrator” is not the author
E.g. “The author described the woman as a "witch". This analogy not only described her appearance, but also her personality. She likes to pick on others, and Sammy was the victim this time.”
Sense of Immediacy, sympathy –induced by first-person point of view?  “A & P”
Objectivity, human littleness? –suggested by third-person point of view? “20/20”?
Only one point of view in telling a story?
No. The change of point of view or tone means a lot.

21. The Character (1)—Sammy & Queenie
Is he a sexist?
Attentive to sexual details and judgmental (“Queenie and Plaid and Big Tall Goony-Goony (not that as raw material she was so bad), ”);
About the girls’ minds: “You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?) ”
Wants to play hero, but he is not and cannot be one.
His move futile; he is self-centered, but he is indeed courageous.
How about Queenie?

22. The Queen –Is she really queenly?
Seemingly proud and self-assured –
slow-motioned and a bit exaggerated in her walk;
Holds her head tall;
In response to Lengel
Her voice when speaking to Lengel; (par. 14)
Feeble attempt at defending herself: “We’re decent.” (par 18)
Her family background, different from Sammy’s
Do you think she should be “decently dressed” when shopping at the A&P (p. 152). On what grounds are dress codes mandated? Do you believe that Queenie and her friends were inappropriately dressed to enter the A&P?

23. Class Differences between Q & S
Herring snacks
Cocktail Drink with olive
Lemonade and Schlitz (beer)
Glasses with cartoon figures
Par. 14

24. Sammy’s Point of View of the “Sheep“
The middle-aged customer --"about fifty," and a "witch" of the sort he's learned once flourished in nearby Salem; with"rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows" but nothing else that might stir him in the direction of sympathy.” (par 1)
I bet you could set off dynamite in an A&P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering . . .(par 5)
"house slaves in pin curlers“; (par 5)
"old party in baggy gray pants who stumbles up [to his checkout lane] with four giant cans of pineapple juice" (par 12)
"women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs." (par 10)
"like scared pigs in a chute“; (par 30)
 Is Sammy a reliable narrator?

25. Ending (1): What Happens?
“"You'll feel this [regret] for the rest of your life," Lengel says, and I know that's true, too.”
The girls gone;
Sammy’s action: “I just saunter into the electric eye in my white shirt that my mother ironed the night before, and the door heaves itself open, and outside the sunshine is skating around on the asphalt.”
Sammy’s feeling: “His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he'd just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.”

26. Ending (2): What Happens?
After Sammy quits, he goes out to the parking lot and sees not the girls, but “some young married screaming with her children about some candy they didn’t get.”
What do you think about the ending? Has Sammy achieved anything? Or arrived at some type of awareness of his future prospect?

27. Swimming Suit Issue
Social Propriety: Respecting local customs and manners
Avoiding confrontation
Swimming suit’s symbolic meaning: freedom, leisure, sexuality

28. Putting Sammy in his Position
Analyzing
his Point of View (vs. the Others) and
his Social Position (in the Setting)

29. Sammy in Context (1): the Other Characters (2): Stokesie, McMahon and Lengel.
‘"Oh Daddy," Stokesie said beside me. "I feel so faint." "Darling," I said. "Hold me tight." Stokesie's married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that's the only difference.” . . .wants to be a manager.
old McMahon—”patting his mouth and looking after them sizing up their joints. Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it.”
Lengel: patient and old and gray
 more practical or less polite in their stare at the girls.
How would they look at Sammy?
How about the shoppers?

30. Sammy in Context (2): Setting & Imagery  Symbolic Meanings?
Supermarket: fluorescent light (vs. sunlight), checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor.(par 6)
A lot of merchandize: e.g. a pyramid of Diet Delight peaches, Caribbean Six or Tony Martin Sings, plastic toys, etc..
Images of the mundane, the business world and capitalism  which places people, as consumers and workers, in different classes and increases their differences.
What difference would it make if this story were placed in another setting?

31. Theme and Message
The story as an initiation story (成長故事) in which the 19-year-old Sammy has a rite of passage (成年禮) at a supermarket.
Self (Personal Aspiration) against Society (Social Control)
Does he grow up?
Yes, he realizes he cannot be a hero. But his realization is a bit self-centered and too dramatic.

32. Next Time Another initiation story.
Be patient when reading the images which will later take on symbolic meanings when they get grouped together (in image clusters).