Samantha Rodriguez's ENG 400 Blog

      A & P is another first person narrative, this time involving a man working at a grocery store. Sammy eyes three women who came from the beach and describes them in great detail. I found the abundance of detail interesting because the story spent a lot of time describing the women's bodies. It was a little uncomfortable for me to read, and I wonder why the choice was made to spend so long on how the women looked. At the end of the story, the manager tells the girls that they need to put something on to cover their shoulders the next time they come in. Sammy quits his job and leaves the store due to this affair. What was he trying to prove? It was a very misogynistic sounding story and considering it was written by a man this is something that I personally take note of. I'm still a bit unsure of the significance of the story, so I'm excited to go back for another read through for my essay.

      The short story "Use" by Alice Walker describes the story of a family that is torn apart. It feels like they are bound together due to their blood relation and the fire that burned their house down many years ago. The mother in the story's daughter, Dee, is held to a higher standard than her sister, Maggie for the majority of the story. Dee is unattainable, and yet at the end of the story, the mother denies her the grandmother's quilts. It seems like Dee has always been ashamed of her culture, but when she comes back to visit the family, she's using her culture as a novelty. It's sort of like a toy. She changes her name and wants to hang up the old quilts for show. I think the mother didn't give into Dee's wishes this time because she sees that her culture is for show, as opposed to her actually experiencing her culture like Maggie.