Essay on A Feminist Reading of John Updikes AP - 1321 Words

A Feminist Reading of AP Gone are the days that humans could live impulsively, only taking physical pain and pleasure into account when making decisions. Or so one would like to believe. In a display of sheer innocence and ignorance, Sammy, a grocery clerk at the A P, managed to revert back to the original behavior patterns of his ape-like ancestors. One cannot possibly predict the future of Sammy, given his own illogical and irrational behavior. But one can, through a careful examination of Sammys life, determine that Sammy is just a naive, young man whose impulsive acts, partly as a consequence of his upbringing, compel him to participate in a cause not worth fighting for, instead of using his talents for more constructive†¦show more content†¦He had only one goal: do everything in his power to impress the girls, making sure they would not escape the hallowed A P without having awe-filled reverence for the grocery clerk named Sammy. However, from the beginning, Sammys idealistic dreams of renown had a sour taste to them. Sammy began his grocery clerk glory days as a victim of his own parents over watchfulness. His parents had known Lengel, the store manager, for years, and took it upon themselves to get Sammy a job. Perhaps his parents believed that doing Sammys dirty work would somehow shelter Sammy from the so-called real world, or perhaps they merely wanted the best for their son, and getting him a job was their way of giving Sammy what they felt he was due. Whatever his parents motives were, the end result was somewhat of a loss of Sammys independence. Given the circumstances surrounding the rest of the story, it is not unreasonable to assume that Sammy had felt somewhat dependent upon his parents and did not like that dependence at all. But he had never faced the right circumstance that may have potentially given him a reason, or an excuse, to break his ties with his parents and become truly independent. Lengel points out, Sammy, you dont want to do this to your Mom and Dad . . . Youll feel this for the rest of your life (Updike 411). Despite this warning, Sammy is more than willing to break the unwritten covenant he has with his parents and attemptsShow MoreRelatedA P By John Updike1441 Words   |  6 PagesJohn Updike is considered one of the greatest writers in modern American history. He is known for the idea that seemingly ordinary aspects of American life are actually quite fascinating. He wanted readers to see the beauty and magic of life, so he tried to describe everyday things using the most clear but beautiful language possible. Many of Updike’s pieces are drawn from his own life such as his marriage and his boyhood, as shown in three of his short stories: â€Å"AP†, â€Å"Ace in the Hole†, and â€Å"PigeonRead MoreEssay about Contrast of Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl† and John Updike’s â€Å"AP†687 Words   |  3 PagesContrast of Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl† and John Updike’s â€Å"APâ⠂¬  â€Å"AP† and â€Å"Girl† both symbolized the protagonists’ oppression by an older, more experienced generation. However, Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl† was artistic with an undercurrent of selfless love and hope while Updike’s â€Å"AP† was uninspiring with selfishness and lust. The protagonist of â€Å"Girl† discouraged her daughter’s dreams out of love. The protagonist of â€Å"A P† encouraged the antagonists’ out of a selfish desire for self-promotion. The short storyRead MoreLiterary Criticism for John Updike AP2060 Words   |  9 Pages Literary Criticisms on John Updike’s â€Å"AP† First and Last Name Class Section 11/21/13 http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_10_img0695.jpg Introduction: John Updike is considered to be one of the greatest modern American writers. He was able to use his All-American upbringing as inspiration for a lot of his writing, making it relatable to many people. Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on March 18, 1932. He moved around in the area during his childhood, and the rural PennsylvaniaRead MoreA P By John Updike914 Words   |  4 Pages Living in California we see women in swimsuits quite often, maybe too often. Still we have those people that find the need to objectify women, even the ones they have seen many times. Although that is what Sammy does in John Updike’s â€Å"AP†. The way â€Å"AP† depicts the young girls is objectifying: from how the main character describes the young women, how he disrespects the older lady he was checking out, the manager kicking the girls out of the store because of what they are wearing, and how the girlsRead MoreAnalysis Of John Updike s A P1293 Words   |  6 PagesJohn U pdike is viewed by his readers as a progressive voice in his work that promotes feminist issues. He makes these issues stand out more evidently, rather than hidden, in order for the reader to realize how women are viewed in society. From reading Updike’s AP, the story sends the message to readers of genders working together to strive for equality. If readers do not carefully and actively read AP they may miss key messages about the power men hold over women, not just in society but in literatureRead MoreSelf-Motivation and Egocentrism in John Updike’s AP871 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Peden once called John Updike’s â€Å"AP† â€Å"deftly narrated nonsense...which contains nothing more significant than a checking clerks interest in three girls in bathing suits† (Peden). While Peden’s criticism may be harsher than necessary, it is hard to find fault with his analysis. Sammy’s tale offers little more than insight into an egocentric and self-motivated mind, and while Updike may disagree with that conclusion, a close reading of the text offers significant evidence to support thisRead MoreMain Themes Of Individualism In Queenies Girl Femininity854 Words   |  4 Pagesdecades ago were. This story relates to feminist perspectives. The mother in Girl expects a a lot from of her daughter, and she does not hesitate to let her know. In each of the stories the characters each accentuate the author story, each involve young women. Understanding each character is important because it shows you why they do what they do, it gives reason to each center of the story. So each character becomes the main point of the story. The girls in both AP and Girl supposed to seem innocent

The Witches Salem Witch Trials Of 1692 - 2179 Words

This investigation will focus on the question: What role did Tituba s confession to be a witch start the mass hunt for the witches in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692? This investigation will include details on the events that occurred after Tituba’s confession in Salem during 1962 and 1963. It will also include a brief description of society at the time and what societal pressures may have led to this horrific time. The first source that will be evaluated in depth is Stacy Schiff’s book â€Å"The Witches: Salem, 1692†, published in October 2015. The origin of this source is indeed valuable because Schiff is a well-known historian. Her research is known for its high standards. She has also mastered the entire history of early New England—beginning from a time before the horrific witch hunt in Salem. She studied, in great depth, European witchcraft as well. With this she was able to provide a detailed textured background for specific moments and sit uations. Schiff has also won a Pulitzer Prize, a Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for biography, a George Washington Book Prize and the Ambassador Book Award. Additionally, the date of the publication of this source is in 2015, therefore it strengthens the source’s value because Schiff was given the ability to benefit from hindsight, she also had a wide variety of sources she was able to analyze; this includes government documents, statistics, and possibly interviews. The purpose of Schiff’s book is to give a vivid descriptionShow MoreRelatedThe Salem Witch Trials Of 16921281 Words   |  6 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials were a sequence of hearings, prosecutions, and hangings of people who were thought to be involved in witchcraft in Massachusetts. These trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693(The Salem Witch Trials, 1692. ). The Trials resulted in the execution of twenty people, in fact, most of them were women. The first of the trials began in several tow ns in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, such as Salem Village (currently known as Danvers), Salem Town, Ipswich, and Andover(SalemRead MoreMany Years Ago People Have Wonder About Witches And What1348 Words   |  6 Pagespeople have wonder about witches and what they do. Salem, Massachusetts held one of the biggest witch trials in history since 1692 but yet have never found the rea-son why it was started in the first place. Researchers have discovered some information about those witches throughout the years. Still they have not figured out what was the whole rea-son behind the trials in 1692 and after those trials a lot more trials were more secretive unlike the Salem witches tri-als in 1692. New England, home of theRead MoreSalem Witch Trials : Witchcraft Trials1726 Words   |  7 PagesSalem Witch Trials Flaming sermons, bewitched girls, accusations being thrown here and there, and executions terrified colonists during the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials are well known, but they are not the first in America and are very small compared to other witch hunts. In 1648 Margaret Jones was hanged for witchcraft in Massachusetts (Brooks). In Europe 110,000 people were questioned during the 1300s to the 1700s, and 40,000 to 60,000 people were executed (New World Encyclopedia)Read MoreSalem Witch Trials1478 Words   |  6 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of trials in which twenty-four people were killed after being accused of practicing witchcraft. These trials were caused by different social climates of the area including the very strong lack of a governor, the split between Salem Village and Salem Town, and the strict puritan lifestyle during the time period. Tituba, the black slave, was a foreigner from Barbados. Her role in society was to take care of Mr. Par ris’s family. Tituba’s situation contributedRead MoreAbdeali Dalal. Dr. Jenkins. History 1301. February 13,1541 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Escaping Salem; The Other Witch Hunt of 1692† â€Å"Escaping Salem; The Other Witch hunt of 1692† was penned and published by Richard Godbeer in 2005. Godbeer expressed his views on what he called basic witch trials in Salem and more importantly, in Stamford, Connecticut Massachusetts. The same year that Salem witch hunt and trials began in 1692, another witch hunt took place in Stamford, the Western Connecticut to when a woman (Elizabeth Clawson) from there was also accused of Witchcraft. These witch huntRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1358 Words   |  6 PagesArthur Miller in 1953. The movie story deals with the Salem, Massachusetts hysteria in 1692 with an irrational fear of the devil. Witch hunts and false accusations resulted. Trials took place and resulted in the hanging and associated death of more than 20 people and the false imprisonment of many others. B. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft. â€Å"From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted ofRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trial Hysteria Of 1692879 Words   |  4 PagesThe Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692 caused 20 people to be hung or pressed to death and 4 perished in jail. In addition, 200 people in Salem were accused of being witches. On June 10 of 1692, Bridget Bishop was charged with practicing witchcraft and she was also accused of bewitching her husband to death. The result of her not confessing was that she was hung to her death. All of this frenzy started in the house of Samuel Parris. His daughters were consumed by the bizarre tales told by their IndianRead MoreThe Trials Of Salem Witch Trials Essay1267 Words   |  6 PagesThe notorious witch trials in Salem began in Spring of 1692. This started after a young group of girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, professed they were possessed by the devil. These young girls even went as far as accusing some local women of practicing witchcraft. As a frenzy spreaded throughout colonial Massachusetts, a specific court was summoned to hear cases. Bridget Bishop was the first convicted witch and she was hung in that June following her trial. Eighteen other people followed BishopRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials : Crisis1601 Words   |  7 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials: Crisis in Salem Village Many people know of the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692 spilling over into the year 1693. But for those who do not know, the Salem witch trials were a series of trials against men, women, and children accused of being a witch and or practicing witchcraft. In â€Å"The Devils Snare: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692† by Mary Beth Norton, the author recollects the stories of real life accounts of those accusers andRead MoreReformation Paper : Salem Witch Trials1368 Words   |  6 PagesReformation Paper: Salem Witch Trials The reformation housed many impressive inventions such as the creation of gunpowder and the printing press along with many divisions like wars and radical religious ideas. The reformation was a period in history that caused many changes to the way Christianity operated forcing many communities to re-divide themselves among different religious loyalties. People like Martin Luther and John Calvin questioned their religion and aspects of the way the greedy and corrupt

Feminist Theory free essay sample

Feminist Theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines womens social roles and lived experience, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, psychoanalysis, economics, literary criticism, education, and philosophy. While generally providing a critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of womens rights, interests, and issues.Themes explored in feminism include art history and contemporary art, aesthetics, discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy. The feminist theory dates back to as early as the 18th century and to this day is still around with women trying to fight for the rights women deserve to be treated as equal as men and respected as an equal to men. From research I have found the feminist theory can be roughly broken down into three waves. When capacity refers to the ability of individuals to do act freely and make their own decisions choices, social structure describes the obstacles regarding to constrains from the views of society, religion, ethnicity, gender that prevent people from doing what they choose to do, limit them from their decisions. It is what sociologist Philip Abrams (1982) stated as the paradox of human agency. In short,, meaning that peoples (women) decision making is never straightforward and influenced by the circumstances which were inherited from the past and the living environment people are in. In terms of feminist theories, it is necessary to analyze each of them through women capacity and the circumstances under which they make their own history (Marx, ) Compare and contrast Generally, Aall of these theories set the same goal of liberating women from inequality in their lives but they have different viewpoints and approaches, and the most significant ones is the causes leading to the oppression against women that prevent them from doing what their ability choose to do. They then propose solutions for women to have an equal position with men. Liberal feminism was found from the first feminist wave in the Enlightenment period. The liberal feminists believe that all people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender, and the oppression is rooted in the constraint of customs and legitimacy, women rights to access to education are taken away and they are confined in their family. Women, according to these feminists, were perceived wrongly by the society that by their nature, women are less capable than men in both intellectual and physical aspects, and they are excluded from participation and success in public world such as academy, forum and marketplace. It cannot be concluded that women are inferior to men, because they did not share the same education so the capacity of many women were not revealed. The circumstance here is that women were born with the role of manual workers in family regardless their real ability due to prejudices and laws. The way to change the role of women in society has to rely on individuals (both two sexes) to adjust these laws and prejudices (to reform oppressive system), and fix women’ exclusion from political power. In terms of radical feminism, the role of women is associated with patriarchy which appeared before privatization. Radical feminists are considered to have strong ideas and struggle thoroughly for gender equality. According to this theories, both of liberal feminism and Marxism are not persuasive enough, throughout the history, the patriarchal was the root cause of oppression, not external factors such as laws or policies. Patriarchal is a system of male authority and it spread through social forms, and it always oppresses women, or women are dominated by men. Radical feminist said that the heterosexuality under coercion as well as the way of organizing a patriarchal family is to ensure the longevity of male domination; therefore women depend on men both physically and mentally. This theory shows that biological factors are not the cause of oppression but the in the way men control women role in childbearing and upbringing. The noticeable difference between radical feminism and other theories can be shown through its solution. If most of theories try to liberate women by changing the structure of society, radical feminism liberate women by encouraging them to get rid of the constraints of male sexuality, allowing each person to xpress their own capacity in sexuality that is full of masculine and feminine. Unfortunately, both liberal and radical feminist perspectives have been criticized, especially by women of color, for being exclusionary and limited in scope. Historically, liberal feminism and radical feminism have mentioned the issues that related to White heterosexual women, without necessarily considering the realities that women of color, poor and working-class women, and also lesbian women might face. Marxism, like radical feminism, starts with a theory of adversative social classes with a fundamental distinguishable power relationship defining them, and then analyzes all of society in terms of that power struggle, especially in economic system of capitalism in which Marxism focuses on the economic independence capacity of women when noticing the gender equality. Due toAccording to this theory, in class’s society, all people, especially women cannot achieve equal opportunity when property produced by a large number of powerlessness but held by few powerful people. Engels believe that the women oppression rooted when the private property regime arose, wealth was not contributed equally for everyone. This theory blames capitalism, not social norms, on the cause of oppression. Under capitalist society, women are a crowed ratio of labor force, they are hired because they are prone to be commanded, and with low wage, they seem to be consistent with monotonous and tedious work. Based on Engelss, the liberation of women depends on the participation of women in production which will enhance the role of their earning in the society, so they can have an equal footing with men. Socialist feminism is the dissatisfaction over Marxism thought. Marx felt when class oppression was overcome, gender oppression would automatically vanish. Socialist feminism is against the traditional Marxist ideas by including it under broader oppression. If Marxist mainly focuses on the division of labor in classes’ society, socialist feminism believes that class is not the only oppressor of women, women is suffered from not only class exploitation, but also the sexes oppression. This means that in the society, women is oppressed by capitalism in the role of labor, and within the family, they continue to be victim of another layer of oppression from their husband. Husband is bourgeoisie and wife is proletariat. In terms of radical feminism, the role of women is associated with patriarchy which appeared before privatization. Radical feminists are considered to have strong ideas and struggle thoroughly for gender equality. According to this theories, both of liberal feminism and Marxism are not persuasive enough, throughout the history, the patriarchal was the root cause of oppression, not external factors such as laws or policies. Patriarchal is a system of male authority and it spread through social forms, and it always oppresses women, or women are dominated by men. Radical feminist said that the heterosexuality under coercion as well as the way of organizing a patriarchal family is to ensure the longevity of male domination; therefore women depend on men both physically and mentally. This theory shows that biological factors are not the cause of oppression but the in the way men control women role in childbearing and upbringing. The noticeable difference between radical feminism and other theories can be shown through its solution. If most of theories try to liberate women by changing the structure of society, radical feminism liberate women by encouraging them to get rid of the constraints of male sexuality, allowing each person to express their own capacity in sexuality that is full of masculine and feminine.