A&P by John Updike Essay Example for Free

AP by John Updike Essay The short story entitled â€Å"AP† by John Updike was published in 1961 and confirmed the author’s reputation as a master of detail. In reality, the author merely expressed the spirit of the 1960s, which includes decadence, transformations of polity and society, which ascended certain people, but spiritually impoverished others, as well uncertainty in the next day. The short story thus reveals multiple contexts, all of which can be tied to its title. The present paper is intended to discuss the narrative in relation to its short and simple title.   The plot of the short story takes place in a provincial grocery store â€Å"AP† and is narrated by the protagonist, 19-year-old Sammy, who works there as a checker. â€Å"One Thursday afternoons the store is empty for the most part. The only people that inter the store are old woman and woman with six children whom he refers both to as sheep, when three girls walk in dressed with nothing more that bathing suits. This catches his eye and he watches them closely and studies each one of them with great detail† (Luscher, 1993, p. 168). Furthermore, the youth distinguishes the leader of the group and refers to her as Queenie, as she seems to behave with great self-confidence and social competence, and the two other girls simply follow her. . Sammy is aware of the fact that the girls violate the rules of this store concerning outfit, but doesn’t begin confrontation until his manager Lengel, who informs the girls abut the internal rules of â€Å"AP†. Queenie states that they are not doing shopping, as they seek to purchase only one product, but Lengel still continues blaming the girls for the abuse of the regulatory policy. Queenie responds that they are decent and do not intend to abuse the other customers’ convictions concerning morality. Sammy finally allows them to make a purchase, but observing the manager’s behavior, he concludes that he is not going to work for this shop any longer and announces that he   is quitting. Thus, the idea of the short story circles around the transition from adolescence to adulthood and the growth of the ability to make one’s own moral judgments, which can be free and independent from any redundant formalities (Luscher, 1993). The period of adolescence is usually associated with the formation of role models, which might dictate behavioral patterns to follow (Luscher, 1993). In this sense, both his professional identity as an employee of the AP and his self-awareness have been nurtured under the influence of two adults: Stokesie, a major breadwinner in his family, and Lengel, the store manager, whose career began in this place. Sammy, in this sense, seeks to imitate the relaxed behavior, demonstrated by Stokesie, who exclaims â€Å"Oh Daddy, I feel so faint!† (Updike, 2007, at http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/). Similarly, â€Å"Sammy whittles away his days looking at pretty girls and thinking about the ways of people. He hardly realizes that this is how he will spend his entire existence if he doesn’t soon get out of this job. During this day that will prove to change his life, he makes the step towards his realization† (McFarland, 1983, p. 95). In fact, he originates from a working-class family, as his parents served at cocktail parties, and at first he decided to make a career, connected with the service sphere, but on the day of argument with the three girls,   the youth begins to build his own superstructure over the foundation of convictions, imposed by parental desire to penetrate into middle class and by the corresponding values, which view job as the sense of existence, regardless of the agent’s attitude towards this employment (McFarland, 1983; Luscher, 1993). Thus, his competition for store manager’s position finally appears to him pointless, similarly to the movements of the â€Å"sheep†, who make purposeful actions (do shopping) in order to satisfy their basic and not always conscious needs. Sammy, on the contrary, begins hard cognitive work on his own goals and makes his first conscious decision to leave the job. Furthermore, the young man seems to realize the responsibility he should take for his actions. In fact, his second role model, Langel, influences this decision in the most notable way (McFarland, 1983; Porter, 1972). After Langel’s appearance at the scene, Sammy concludes that he doesn’t wish to grow into such snobbish and arrogant manager, who regards himself as the last resort in all moral dilemmas and successfully combines preacher’s duties with his professional responsibilities.   Langel highlights one phrase in his admonition: â€Å"This isn’t the beach† (Updike, 2007). Sammy believes the way the executive firmly repeats this phrase look â€Å"as if it had occurred to him, and he had been thinking all these years the AP was a big sand and he was the head lifeguard† (Updike, 2007). As Porter notes, â€Å"his â€Å"sand dune† is the world of work, whereas the girls’ is the world of play† (Porter, 1972, p.1156). As one can understand, the first approach to the interpretation of the title derives from the central idea of the short story. In this sense, the AP appears a place, where the protagonist’s psychological maturation takes place, so   the emphasis upon the name of the shop can be alleged as the author’s natural desire to prioritize the settings, including the social context (the desirable shift from one social class to another), which puts the main character on his path to the insight. Another approach to the title is aesthetic or spatial. The author might have sought to prioritize the place itself rather than the most important idea, primarily – in order to provide the reader with sample environment, in which contemporary teenagers perform their working duties. This means, the concept of the AP as shop, which stores not merely goods, but also human fates and aspirations, is also valuable and deserves a more detailed examination. Due to the fact that this approach requires focusing upon senses and perception, it is important to include the atmosphere, depicted by the author. As McFarland notes, â€Å"to a large extent, the aesthetic pleasure in â€Å"AP† depends upon the reader’s sensing this dramatic irony. Sammy’s words resonate and gain meaning through a larger artistic context out of which he comes (Updike’s knowledge and imagination) but of which he, the fictive character, is unaware† (McFarland, 1983, p. 96). Importantly, two scholars, McFarland (1983) and Shaw (1986) compare the method of building the relationship between the imagery and the protagonist’s inner world to the allusion, depicted in â€Å"The Birth of Venus† by   Sanrdo Botticelli. Similarly to all Renaissance paintings, it depicts a nude woman, who comes from sea spirit. The protagonist also focuses on the appearances of three females, who have merely bikinis on and therefore to great extent resemble to Renaissance patterns of depicting female body. Furthermore, Sammy concentrates his attention on the leader of the group, who appears a queen in his eyes, because of her unique step, movements and gestures. The protagonist thoroughly fixes all these details about the girl and she seems a source of aesthetic pleasure for the protagonist, rather than merely a person, who belongs to the opposite gender (Shaw, 1986) Sammy soon begins to describe the nature of femininity and indicates that girls’ inner life is always a puzzle for him. He upgrades his perception of the girl, as the essential aspect of their appearance is the alteration of the atmosphere and the emergence of the spirit of freedom in the air, rather than merely the girls’ clothing and the way they communicate with one another. In Sammy’s opinion, Queenie fills the store with her aura, comprised by charm, self-determination and ingenuousness. In order to improve the reader’s understanding of all these emanations, which saturated the accommodation, Sammy poetically describes the young girl: â€Å"If it hadn’t been there you wouldn’t have known there could have been anything whiter than those shoulders† (Updike, 2007). The protagonist’s description of Queenie to certain degree reminds Venus by Botticelli: white body, high shoulders, bare feet and pride in the eyes.   When the girl brings her purchase to the cashier, Sammy feels as if he has just been chosen by Fortune (Shaw, 1986): â€Å"Queenie puts down the jar and I take it into my fingers icy cold: Kingfish Fancy herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream: 49. Now her hands are empty, not a ring or a bracelet, bare as God made them, and I wonder where the money is coming from† (Updike, 2007). The thorough depiction of all details, associated with the girls’ visit to the shop implies that the event was so meaningful to the protagonist that he memorized it completely, primarily, because of the surrealistic alteration of the place into the scene or arena of theatrical performance. After Langel confronts the girl, the sense of theatricality reinforces, as the manager explicitly plays hi professional role, whereas the girl behaves naturally and appears a â€Å"positive character† of the play. The girl, similarly to the Greek goddess in the ancient literature, inspires the protagonist and brings him into a different dimension of cognition, primarily through   participating in the affected episode, initiated by the executive, which in fact occurs at the workplaces like the AP. Sammy thus understands that the service area turns employees into dull puppets, which perform uncreative job and inhibit inspiration, embodied by Queenie (Shaw, 1986). After the girl leaves, Sammy begins to feel the pressure of his workplace and finally decides to quit the job. The final interpretation of the title derives from the protagonist himself, especially when taking into consideration the fact that he is a teenager, who uses to simplify his life and at first doesn’t disclose any deep reflection. In this context â€Å"AP† points to the teenage perception of the event, i.e. if a 19-year-old man like Sammy wrote this story he would probably given it this title. The reminder about the protagonist’s teen age can be found in the vocabulary he uses. As Grainer suggests, the narrator is defined primarily by his â€Å"tones and vocabularies† (Grainer, 2007, at http://www.enotes.com/and-pa/11435). Furthermore, â€Å"No one else supplies background information or details to round out character [†¦] when he [Sammy] describes the girls, we wonder if his lyrical flights of language expose the inadequacy of his slang as he stretches to show why these teen-agers deserve his sacrifice† (Grainer, 2007).   Furthermore, beyond the typical colloquial language, the protagonist behaves as impulsively as teenagers often do when they suddenly discover something fundamental and make corresponding decisions. Thus, the title perfectly fits the protagonist’s personality and the psychological features of his age. To sum up, the essay has outlined three major perspectives, from which the title can be interpreted. Firstly, the viewing the title through the prism of the central idea, the AP appears a place, where the protagonist’s philosophy of life evolves. Secondly, approaching to the title in terms of the atmosphere in the store, one can conclude that the author also attempts to describe an ordinary shop, as a place which determines human fates. Finally, the short title matches the teenage psychology and the author’s simple and understandable reasoning. Works cited Greiner, J. â€Å"Sammy’s Colloquial Voice in â€Å"AP†Ã¢â‚¬ . Retrieved   April 17, 2007, from: http://www.enotes.com/and-pa/11435 Luscher, R. John Updike: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1993. McFarland, R. â€Å"Updike and the Critics: Reflections on ‘AP’.† Studies in Short Fiction, 20 (1983): 94-100. Porter, M. â€Å"John Updike’s ‘AP’: The Establishment and an Emersonian Cashier†. English Journal, 61 (1972): 1155-58. Shaw, P. â€Å"Checking Out Faith and Lust: Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’; and Updike’s ‘AP’†. Studies in Short Fiction, 23 (1986): 321-23. Updike, J. AP. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from: http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/

The Relationship between a Parent and Their Child in Khaled Hosseini´s

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel â€Å"The Kite Runner†, he illustrates how he develops the characters through their words and actions. Being the main character, Amir is faced with the challenge of gaining his father’s affection/approval because he is Baba’s son. However, how Amir obtains his father’s affection/approval was through immoral ways. Baba on the other hand, had trouble showing his fatherly affection to Amir which causes bitterness within their father/son relationship. In this novel, we will explore how the relationship between a parent and a child is shown through their yearning of affection and how it can affect how one would be in the future. Baba is the most important person to Amir because he is Amir’s role model and world. How Baba express his feelings of being a parent is shown through his interactions and speeches with Amir. In Baba’s eyes, he finds it hard to believe that Amir is his son because â€Å"if I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him †¦ never believe he’s my son† (23). Amir cannot defend himself and is often in the position of receiving assistance from Hassan. Growing up, Baba never had to rely on someone else when he got pushed around from the neighborhood kids. He always showed them up, but with Amir, he can’t even defend himself without Hassan’s help. Baba’s disappoint towards Amir not being able to defend himself furthers their already distant relationship. While creating his name, Baba had married a highly educated woman who was regarded as one of Kabul’s most respected, beautiful and virtuous lady. For Baba, it was fine to be married to a poet, â€Å"but fathering a son who preferred burying his face in poetry books to hunting †¦ well, that wasn’t how [he] had envisioned it,† (19-20). Baba doesn’t approve of Amir reading... ...the issue of winning Baba’s love because he was the legitimate son. The importance of having a healthy parent/child relationship is so that the child grows up to be in the right path and not regret anything. For Amir, that did not happen because Baba was hardly ever there for Amir. Hosseini displays the two developed characters emotions through their actions and words of how they express their father/son relationship. The relationship between a parent and a child is important because it helps develops the child’s character of how they will be in the future. The more care and affection that is given, the better the child understand that he/she is being loved. For Amir and Baba’s parent/child relationship, they had started off on the wrong foot, but eventually it had gotten better as the story progress. Therefore, making the child and parents relationship better.

Technology is the use of scientific knowledge

Technology is the use of scientific knowledge to develop and produce goods and services useful to man. Technologists use the discoveries of science to produce tools, machines, and methods for industry, communications, transportations, medicine, warfare, and other human activities. In turn, this greatly affects jobs available for the unemployed as well as the job duties or job description intended for them.A nation’s level of technology depends on the extent to which current scientific knowledge is put to practical use. The United States is considered a technologically advanced nation; its major industries used advanced production techniques such as automation, its health institutions used advanced treatments such as laser-beam surgery, and use of up-to-date scientific knowledge is made in most other everyday activities (Clarke, 2001).A nation in which most production is carried on by handicraft methods, and communications and transportation are equally old-fashioned, is consid ered technologically backward, or underdeveloped. Just as some countries are more technologically advanced than others, so are some industries. The electronics and aerosphere industries, for example, are generally technologically advanced wherever they are established. Because of the great investment in money, plants and equipment, and skilled personnel required to operate them, these industries are found only in those countries that have a generally high level of technology. Agriculture, on the other hand, is a technologically backward industry in most parts of the world.In line with this jobs are also progressing while man power is not that important as it was long ago, before all the advancements have been discovered. Before companies hire as many employees but not the same as of the present because some rely on robots or high technology computers or devices needed for a company’s survival and success. Some companies hire people but the sad truth is that sometimes their bo ss are the computers or other devices when in fact, human beings are smarter than any other equipments.Reference:Clarke, A.C. (2004). Profiles of the Future: an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible, revised edition (Holt, Rinehart & Winston).

Diagnosis And Classification Of Myeloproliferative And...

Myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic syndromes, two diverse groups of bone marrow disorders, are respectively characterized by an overproliferation or ineffective production of various blood cells. The clinical laboratory plays a prominent role in the diagnosis and classification of myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic disorders, each of which presents a unique set of morphologic, pathophysiologic, and genetic traits. The contemporary diagnosis and categorization of these syndromes emphasizes a combination of hematologic bone marrow characterization and gene mutation studies. HEMATOLOGIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MYELOPROLIFERATIVE NEOPLASMS Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are characterized by the proliferation of one or more cell types of the myeloid lineage, including erythroid, granulocytic, monocytic, or megakaryocytic lineages. These disorders are clonal and originate from a single pluripotent hemapoietic stem cell (Hubbard, 2011). MPNs have a slow onset and are mainly diagnosed in adults between 45 and 55 years of age. Clinical symptoms include anemia, weight loss, lack of energy, spleen enlargement, fever, and bruising (Hubbard, 2011). The major diagnostic criterion for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph+), a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22, and the presence of the BCR/ABL1 fusion gene. Peripheral blood shows leukocytosis (100Ãâ€"109 WBC/L), a predominance of myelocytes and segmented neutrophilsShow MoreRelatedChronic Myeloproliferative Disorder ( Mpd ) Is Associated With Mass Quantity Of Platelets That Are Put Out2738 Words   |  11 PagesEssential thrombocythemia TERMINOLOGY CLINICAL CLARIFICATION This chronic myeloproliferative disorder (MPD) is associated with mass quantity of platelets that are put out by megakaryocytes Also known as Primary thrombocythemia Idiopathic thrombocythemia Has a prevalence 30/100000 in the general population11 CLASSIFICATION Not applicable DIAGNOSIS CLINICAL PRESENTATION History Half of all patients with essential thrombocythemia report no symptoms1 The rest of patient report symptoms either related