A&P

In John Updike's story A&P he portrays the life of a typical teenage boy. As a group of very attractive girls walks into the grocery store Sammy works at he can't help but watch and wonder as they walk around. He starts to fixate on everything about the leader who he calls "Queenie". He goes into such detail as "With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from her shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean it was more than pretty" (p.600). He clearly feels something for this young girl who came in wearing nothing but a skimpy bathing suit. What guy wouldn't notice this? What person wouldn't notice this? Queenie even caused the lady's in the store to turn heads, although for different reasons. In these women's eyes no girl should come into a store dressed like that, its not proper and looked down upon. One older lady did get in Sammy's way for a few minutes. As she was checking out, Sammy scanned an item twice, being so distracted and all, the lady didn't hesitate to jump all over him for that one. Not only did Sammy judge the pretty young girls, he was judging this older woman. claiming she had been waiting the past fifty years just to catch a mistake at the cash register. he went to say how old ladies have nothing better to do. Luckily for Sammy the girls chose his lane to go through. This excited him and as he was trying to get the girls items scanned the manager came over. Lengal, the manager who is much older and much more mature, refers to a store policy as to how the girls are dressed and that it is inappropriate. Sammy saw that this embarrassed the girls and with a last attempt to make a good impression he, very loudly, announces that he quit his job because of how Lengal embarrassed them like that. As he was leaving the store to see how appreciative the girls were he saw that they were gone. he was left job-less alone in a parking lot. this shows the kind of power women have over men and there actions. A pretty half naked girl walks into a store and manages to get a guy to quit for her. Its almost sad that somebody would where such skimpy clothes just to get some attention but its even worse that somebody would quit there job in the hopes of being a "hero".
Clearly Updike doesn't think to much of women. He sees them as a piece of meat and nothing else.

Orientation

Let's first take a tour of the kitchen. It may be small but very functional, there's the cook's station, salad station, freezer, and dishwashing area. Waitresses pretty much do whatever they want and go wherever they want, especially Mallory, she expects you to help her constantly but won't give you the time of day. She's been divorced four times, the last three lasted less than a year, she doesn't think we know so don't mention it. If your doing dishes you can just spray them down and put them in the tray unless the boss is here, Valerie expects you to hand wash each dish and then out them in the dishwasher. It seems like a ridiculous task but that's what she expects. You have to buy your own shirts from the office, of course we use lots of bleach around here so your almost guaranteed to get a stain which means you'll be buying a new shirt almost each week. Employee use the freezer as there personal air conditioner and if you want something to drink, put money in the jar or just take it there aren't cameras around the fountain drinks. Hygiene is about as important around here as a basketball is to a volleyball game. Unless the health inspector is scheduled to come it pretty much a free-for-all, eat a cup of soup or a salad nobody notices. Gloves are suppose to be worn when handling a customers food they are located under the salad bench and the extra ones are in the storage closet over there. Breaks are allowed every four hours but if its slow and your a smoker your allowed to be outside whenever you want. If you don't smoke you'll be the one running the restaurant. Here, first one is on me. we have a bar attached to the restaurant if you need a drink for a customer, or yourself, talk to Wyatt the bartender but don't get it yourself. Valerie tends to get snockered during the day and drive home once she has slept it off in the office. Ok you'll learn how to handle the computer and money stuff your second day but I'll show you where its located and give you your server number toady, don't lose it, if you do, don't bother coming tomorrow. When filling drinks make sure there is much more ice than soda, tea, or lemonade! Oh and if you can't find the cooks its probably because they are out back doing a drug deal, they bring a lot of our late night customers. If you don't have any questions we can get you started on training just follow me around and clean up my messes until your day is up.

Southern Grotesque

The obvious grotesque character would be the grandmother. In the beginning you almost feel bad for her because when she asks or suggests to do something like go somewhere new the family shrugs it off and completely ignore her but throughout the story the reader begins to realize why she is like this. Without blinking an eye the grandmother is able to come up with lie after lie to manipulate the family into doing what she wants. Not only do they take the road trip she wants but she convinces the kids that there is a special treasure hidden in a house she desperately wants to visit. The grandmother gets the children so worked up that they are begging there parents to take them. Finally Bailey gives in and takes them down this dirt road towards the house when the grandma realizes she is wrong and the house is in a different state. When she remembers this, it startles her and she kicks her bag that has a cat she snuck in the car with her. The cat gets scared and jumps out of the bag, onto bailey, causing the car to crash and roll.
After the car crashes they see somebody coming and wave it down. unfortunately the people in it are murderers on the loose, one is called the misfit. Of course the grandmother recognizes him and yells out "you're the Misfit" and this upsets everybody. Eventually the whole family gets shot, the grandmother deceives till the end. While begging for her life she uses Jesus to try to sway him and as a last measure she claims that she recognizes him as her son. The misfit ends with "she could have been a good woman if somebody had been around to shoot her every minute of her life."
To add to the grotesqueness of the story, there are obvious racist spots, specifically coming from the grandma when she talks about a plantation that used to be in a cotton field and the graves from the workers, she jokes about this story. She also wears a hat and flowers which is a very old southern style it was a way of showing the hierarchy of a person's wealth. also the small things like the dirt road, little café on the side of the road, and long driveways lined with trees.

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" concerns itself with the concept that it can be acceptable to require the individual to sacrifice for the greater good. It amazes me that something so horrible can be a tradition is a community. Every year this Lottery occurs, people prepare for it by gathering stones and putting them in piles. There must be a reason it started, maybe population control or some other reason. It doesn't seem like stoning one person a year is very good population control seeing as how the reading talks about how much bigger the community has gotten. It might have started as a punishment that just gradually became a thing for some ridiculous reason. For whatever the reason, this happens each year and it's ok with the people, until they are the one chosen. as Tessie said "it's not fair" but the others were already starting to crowd her as soon as they realized it was her. They wanted to "get it over with" or get it done so they could get back to work. Some women seemed a little merciful when they said, "it seems like we just did one last week". Regardless of the reason the community obviously feels that this is important otherwise they would have done away with this already.

Boy

Don't play video games all day. Pay attention in school. Aspire to be better than your parents. Clean your room. Put your clothes away, if they are dirty take them to the laundry room. School is most important, but get a job. Dress for success, pull up your pants, and carry yourself well. Don't expect life to give you what you need. Work hard. Save your money. Earn your lifestyle. Go to college, to the army or start a job after high school. Don't be a bum. Get a job you enjoy and won't complain about. Find a good woman to respect and love. Help with housework, kids, and bills. Be at home to enjoy what you have worked for. Don't stay late at the office. Come home early. Stay honest to your wife, cheating is easy, loyalty is hard. Surprise her with flowers, and children with gifts. Watch your children grow. Encourage them to be better than you. Be proud when they accomplish something and grateful when you get to see them after they start college. Grow old with your wife by your side. Enjoy your grandchildren. Love the life you lived.

introduction

1. My greatest asset is __My family.
2. The nicest thing I ever did for anyone was __________.
3. The nicest thing anyone ever did for me was __________.
4. One question I have about life is _____how to get through it.
5. One thing I've always wondered about is ___________.
6. My teachers last year will tell you that I am __Quiet.
7. My friends will tell you that I am __Smart but sassy.
8. People like me because __________.
9. One thing most people don't know about me is _________.
10. I am an expert on __________.
11. I want to know more about ___Psychology.
12. When I am 30/40/50/60 (choose one), I will _60, I will be an accomplished person in the nursing field and also retired.
13. Five years from now, I will _Be a labor and delivery nurse with a full time job.
14. When I want to, I have the ability to ___________.
15. A famous person I admire is __________ because __________.
16. The bravest thing I ever did was __Speak at my grandparents funeral.
17. I have trouble dealing with __People who spoil their children.
18. I appreciate it when teachers __Care about the students.
19. I am proud of my __Brother for being one of the few to leave Grangeville and do something with his life.
20. I like ___The country__ because ___you can do anything and get away from people.
21. I really need to _____Do well in school___.
22. My favorite class is __________ because __________.
23. My friends make me laugh when they ____________.
24. My pet peeve is __People who don't drive well.
25. When I am sad I ___cry.
26. The most stressful thing in my life is __Measuring up to my expectations.
27. The most influential person in my life is __________ because __________.
28. If I had one hundred dollars, I would __Probably use it to pay rent___.
29. I am named for ___________.
30. It was easy to learn _Psychology.
31. It is difficult to learn __everything else :).
32. I have no regrets about __Anything.
33. I regret _Nothing.
34. A friend once showed me how to __do yoga_________.
35. I like ___Country music, particularly these songs: _Cruise, Red Dirt Road, Cowboys and Angels.
36. My favorite color is __Pink__.
37. One dish I can cook well is ____Crunchy Chicken_.
38. My favorite place on earth is _the camas prairie_.
39. What is a mistake that taught you a lesson? What did you learn?
40. What is an obstacle you face in completing this class? How can you, your classmates, and your teacher help you get around it?