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Post by amandakaliner on Sept 24, 2015 19:55:59 GMT
A symbol in the story “A&P” are the customers in the store that the narrator calls “sheep.” They represent the boringness and the conformity that we humans have. The narrator sees them as all one person. He calls them sheep because he doesn’t differentiate between any of them ever, until the girls in bathing suits show up. The girls represent breaking through that conformity and similarities of everybody else around them. The narrator wasn’t able to see past the similarities of everyone else until he came across these girls in bathing suits. The narrator wasn’t able to quit his boring, unfulfilling job until he saw this symbol for breaking free from the status quo and doing your own thing. These two symbols can be seen throughout the entire story of “A&P” and it's extremely important to understand them if one wants to decipher the theme of this story.
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Post by cnelson on Sept 24, 2015 21:22:37 GMT
A symbol in the story “A&P” are the customers in the store that the narrator calls “sheep.” They represent the boringness and the conformity that we humans have. The narrator sees them as all one person. He calls them sheep because he doesn’t differentiate between any of them ever, until the girls in bathing suits show up. The girls represent breaking through that conformity and similarities of everybody else around them. I think its really interesting that you were able to pick this out. I originally thought that "sheep" was referring to the girls, and really didn't pick up on the purpose of that statement. I defenetly do think that the author purposely portrayed these girls as daring and outgoing by having them walk into the store barefoot in bathing suits. The girls caught the attention of not only Sammy but also Stocksie, and even Lengel when he walked back into the store. I will say that I think the "sheep" reference is more of a metaphor than a symbol. In a way it could also be considered to have been a chosen metaphor, by the author, to create the certain connotation that the other customers were not as important or unique as the girls were. Updike also makes Sammy compare the lady whose products he was checking out to a "witch", when she yelled at him for accidentally re-scanning an item after the girls had walked in. Sammy also compares the "leader" of the group of girls to be the "Queen". That created a perfectly clear connotation of her role in the group, and story. The use of these simple words really shaped how the reader sees the setting, and characters through Sammy's perspective.
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Post by Emily Shea on Sept 25, 2015 0:14:23 GMT
I found symbolism in "The Interlopers" as well. The main one that stood out to me was the tree. Normally, trees are known to symbolize life and growth, but its true symbolism in when it falls on Ulrich and Georg. The falling of the tree represents death, which is ultimately what these two enemies/friends (whatever they really are) experience. Also, it represents their long lived conflict and how it leads to their end. Throughout their lives this family feud has consumed their entire existence, and know they are crushed by it, as represented by the tree.
Another symbol is the wine-flask, which represents new beginnings. Ulrich took a sip and offered it to Georg as an act of friendship, something that he would have never considered before. At first hesitant but after consideration stated, "...you offered me your wine flask...Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend." That one item allowed the two men to put hundreds of years of quarrel behind them. The final symbol is the wolves, which symbolized the men's previous hatred for one another. Even though the two had made up and were now "friends", their hatred had followed them for so long that it was fated to consume them. The vicious connotation associated with wolves is the same thing the two men had seen in each other. Now crushed by their conflicts they were force to face the consequences of their years of unnecessary conflict.
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Post by nzglinicki on Sept 25, 2015 0:53:29 GMT
Wow Emily! I didn't read that into it, but I can totally see where you're coming from. It's kind of interesting that the author used all types of symbols for this story. The tree was definitely the opposite of what you would expect, the wolves were exactly what you would think, and a wine flask that has nothing to do with friendship until you put it into this story. That almost brings things to a new level of intense for the reader since they see all these symbols and are constantly trying to figure out what they mean, but I think you nailed it Emily!
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gmiades
New Member
I love English Class
Posts: 10
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Post by gmiades on Sept 25, 2015 1:26:15 GMT
A symbol in the story “A&P” are the customers in the store that the narrator calls “sheep.” They represent the boringness and the conformity that we humans have. The narrator sees them as all one person. He calls them sheep because he doesn’t differentiate between any of them ever, until the girls in bathing suits show up.
I completely agree Amanda. The fact that Updike decided to call the unimportant customers sheep was brilliant. To start, it really helps focus in on the most important customers, the three girls wearing bathing suits. I love your statement about the conformity of humans. Sheep generally act the same way as one another. Sammy is making an indirect statement, saying all humans generally act the same way.
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