Homework for Thursday 9/24

Group 1

1. Explain the title. Why is it in the form of a question, and why are there two parts to the question? Who does "you" refer to?

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates the title is presented as a two-part question. The title could suggest that the two questions in it are two fundamental and persistent questions that parents ask their children. “Where are you going?”, is a common questions among parents who are wondering what there child is going to be doing when they leave to go somewhere out of their supervision. “Where have you been?”, is also a common questions that parents ask when teenagers return to their home. However, the title could also be taken from the Bible in Judges 19:17 when the question is asked in the story, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”, as a relation to the Biblical story.

Group 2

1. Discuss the theme of the house as a metaphor of Connie's identity.

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates delivers an imperative scene at Connie’s house. This house is represented as the shelter of her parents protection and supervision. It represents her adolescence and innocence. When she goes out of the house she has another side to her, trying to discover her identity and participate in more adult-like acts. When Arnold Friend tempts her to come outside by manipulation and then by force her exiting the house can be viewed as her transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. She is leaving the protection of her house and her parents and entering into the dangers of reality and adulthood.

Group 3

1. Do a little research about the significance of the numbers 33 19 17. What are some of the ideas that have been suggested about their meaning? What do you think they mean?

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, a young and vulnerable teenage girl, Connie, is forced to leave her home with an older, manipulative adult, Arnold Friend. Before she leaves with him, he shows her his car and the symbols on the side of his car read 33 19 17. He does not explain what these numbers mean which creates an ambiguity around those numbers. The numbers could be added together(33+19+17) to equal the number 69 which is implies a sexual act. The numbers could also suggests when you count the books of the Old Testament backwards Judges is the 33^rd book and chapter 19 verse 17 of the book says, “When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”. I agree with the Biblical symbolism of the title.

Group 4

3. How does the setting function in the story? Could this be anywhere? Why did Oates choose the setting(s) that she did?

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates the setting is slightly ambiguous. It does not say exactly where the story takes place. It does infer that Connie lives in a suburban area by making references of being in a smaller residential community that is located immediately outside of a town. Oates writes, “The father of Connie’s best girl friend drove the girls the three miles to town…” The time of the story is the early 1960s, and this is when Oates says that Bob Dylan, whom the story was written for, wrote his song, “It’s all over now, baby blue,” and the murders of the teenage girls in Arizona occurred. She claims both of these contributed to her idea of the entire story. The setting of the story could have been at any suburban area, because the symbolism of a this type of location relates a feeling of innocence and protection.

Updike's Interview on "A & P" and poems

An ordinary, uneventful grocery store setting is shaken when three half-dressed young girls enter into the store. The setting of the story itself defines the view of the half-dressed girls. However, if they had been on the beach or at a pool the girls would not have been defined in that manner. It is this idea of, “public nakedness in a commercial setting,” that John Updike refers to in his interview that establishes the plot and conflict in “A & P.” The story is told through a male perspective at a time when people were more narrow-minded and opportunities were less prevalent. An earlier generation of perspectives and opposite gender views contribute to the different perceptions between John Updike and myself in the short story “A & P.”

In Updike’s interview he states the time period of the story is inferred as a small town setting. When I reflect on reading the story for the first time, I did not automatically assume that the story takes place in this type of setting. After Sammy quits his job he says, “… I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter,” and Updike in the interview relates this to the small town setting because he says everyone will be aware of what he did and label him a quitter.

In, “A & P,” Sammy compares the people in the store to sheep. In the interview, Updike relates this time period to an, “era of conformity.” This era consists of a time when people were narrow-minded and conservative, maintains Updike. When Sammy’s manager, Lengel, confronts the girls about the way they are dressed Sammy disagrees with his manager in the “unsheep-like” way. In the interview, Updike specifically relates Sammy and his act to the break through of Elvis and his unrestrained and nonconforming behavior. When watching the interview this relation to Elvis helped me understand the current type of society that Sammy was living in.

Updike portrays his own personal experience of adolescent feelings through the protagonist character, Sammy. When I was reading the story I did not assume that Sammy’s detailed portrayal of the young girls was contributed to lustful feelings. However, in Updike’s interview he specifically refers to a personal experience of seeing a girl in a grocery store with simply a bathing suit on, and he admits to his adolescent feelings of lust that it stimulated. The setting of a story in an older generation and the opposite feelings of genders caused the different perceptions between Updike and myself.

In the poem, “Rites of Passage,” Sharon Olds describes her sons birthday party in a symbolic manner. She relates them to grown men who are in a conflict of strength based on their different ages. At the end of the poem, her son admirably resolves the conflict by establishing a common kinship of strength among all of the boys. This is related to Updike’s story because the boy displays a sense of heroism by standing up against the common and accepted way of doing things and resolving the conflict.

In the poem, “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party,” Sharon Olds describes taking her daughter to a pool party and her being the only girl there. She describes her as superlative in comparison to the other girls. I do not relate this to any type of heroism. Olds describes her daughter’s character, but she does not commit any type of heroic act that benefit’s the other people in the poem.

What is a hero? 9/10/09 assignment

How do you define and exemplify the meaning of a hero? The dictionary defines the word hero as, “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities”(www.dictionary.com). A hero can simply be a person who makes a positive impact on someone else’s life, or a person who improves society as a whole. The way to define a hero varies and must be applied to the context of the situation, because all various situations have different degrees of imperativeness. The classification of heroes is not universal and can be very opinionated based on different beliefs and values of different persons.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf is a man who exemplifies the word hero to its highest level. In accordance with the dictionary’s definition, Schwarzkopf is a war hero and is most notable for his dedication, perseverance, and leadership throughout the mid to late twentieth century. He attended West Point Military Academy, served in the Vietnam War, commanded the U.S. ground forces in Grenada, and led Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf War. In the majority views of the world, Schwarzkopf made an enormous positive impact on society as a whole and is definitely considered to be a hero. Furthermore, he is a hero in the views of his individual troops because of his enormous loyalty, commitment, and encouragement towards them which gave them undeniable confidence in his leadership and their ability as whole. He said in his autobiography, “It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle” (Schwarzkopf). This quote describes his philosophy when it comes to defining a hero, and General H. Norman Schwarzkopf is the epitome of a true hero.

In, “A & P,” by John Updike, the character Sammy stands up for three young girls in a grocery store when they are embarrassed by his store manager. Although his act goes unnoticed by the girls, he still risked his job and his future to stand up for what he believed in. When Sammy is compared to General H. Norman Schwarzkopf it seems incomprehensible to categorize him as a hero as well. However, when put into the context of the situation, Sammy positively impacts his own life by being confident and committed to his beliefs and values. He believes the way the manager handled the situation was wrong and embarrassed the girls, and Sammy was sympathetic towards those young girls. He showed courage and bravery by defying his authority when disagreeing with him based on his own values. Pertaining to the story, Sammy is a hero because he acted in a way that took confidence and bravery. He is not the same degree of a hero as Schwarzkopf because the risks and sacrifices Sammy made were not as great as his, but he still took a risk and made the sacrifices of his job and his future.

However, there are different degrees of heroism based on the risks and sacrifices made by that person. When a hero commits an act, his or her intentions are to benefit another person, group of people, or some aspect of society to some degree. Heroism is defined void of intentions, but based on the act itself, the outcome, and the courage and bravery it takes to commit the act.

2201 homework 9/8

Exercise Questions p. 6

1. The North Wind has more of an aggressive personality. The Sun has more of a patient and analytical personality. They are both competitive and strong-willed.

2. The North Wind’s method for attempting to strip the man of his cloak was ineffective because he was trying to force the man to do something using physical force instead of providing the man with a reason and motive for doing it.

3. The Sun’s method was effective because he used a tactful persuasion strategy, he did not use literal force like the North Wind.

4. The human was used in this dispute to determine who was stronger.

5. The Sun used a persuasive method to prove his strength which was better than the North Wind’s physical and forceful strength.

Exercise Questions p. 8

1. The first sentence is the exposition of the story because it is the opening portion that sets the scene and introduces the main characters. Chuang Tzu uses one sentence to set up the dramatic situation.

2. The protagonist, Chuang Tzu changes the subject and mentions the sacred tortoise to answer the Officials question about coming to work for his Highness in a philosophical and interpretative meaning. He doesn’t answer it directly and immediately because he wanted to explain his answer in a way that they would understand it. Yes, because he was already prepared with an explanation of the answer about the tortoise.

3. The protagonist‘s, Chuang Tzu, personality is mainly that he is content with his current situation in life. He is also humorous and intelligent.

Exercise Questions p. 19

1. The details relating to the woman who is the “cash-register-watcher.” Also the very detailed description of the entire supermarket and the aisles and products that he fully describes. This close attention to detail contributes greatly to the story because the reader can imagine everything about the scene and the setting of where it takes place.

2. Updike draws the character of Sammy completely by telling the story through Sammy himself and his opinions and thoughts. Sammy shows the traits of being sympathetic, understanding, and heroic because he was willing to stand up for something that was wrong in his opinion. Sammy is more thoroughly portrayed than the Doctor because the story itself is told through Sammy himself and the readers are able to see what happens through Sammy’s eyes.

3. The first two sentences are the exposition because it sets the scene of the story, at a supermarket, and introduces the main characters, the three girls in bathing suits and Sammy, the cash register worker. The detailed portrait of Queenie is very valuable to the story because it makes you sympathetic towards her because you get to know her character so well and then she is embarrassed by the store manager.

4. Yes, at first he is judgmental about the three girls by describing just their looks and his opinion of what they might be like. Then he turns sympathetic towards them and feels obligated to become their hero.

5. The conflict becomes apparent when Lengel says, “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” The crisis becomes apparent when Queenie is explaining why they came into the store and Lengel just repeats the comment about it not being a beach. The climax of the story is when Sammy says he quits to Lengel.

6. Sammy quits his job because his manager, Lengel, handles the situation of the three girls in a wrong way according to Sammy. He felt that he should stand up for those girls and his belief so he quit his job.

7. No, nothing made me believe Sammy would ultimately become sympathetic towards the girls. When she takes the money out and he says he thought it was so cute.

8. That Sammy quits his job at the A & P out of sympathy towards the girls that were wrongfully embarrassed. Because he was going to have to look for a new job.

9. When he compares supermarket society to sheep.