The Challenge of Young Man Gro essays

The Challenge of Young Man Gro essays The Challenge of Young Man Growing towards the World of Adults The story A by John Updike is a tale of a young man who is compelled to figure out the difference between cruel reality and obscure fantasy. Using the first person point of view, Updike gives an inside look into the adolescent mind of Sammy, the narrator and main character. The young man feels discontent with his ordinary adult surroundings and tries to get out of the intolerant social atmosphere to seek unconventionality. The setting of A a small grocery store, represents an intolerable society. In addition, the characters, such as the insensible customers, Stokesis and Lengel, add to the feeling of unbearable strictness and monotonousness in this conservative society. On the other hand, the fascinating girl, Queennie, symbolizes longing for the future to the growing young man. Through the main characters conflict between the two types of opposing characters, Updike says that despite fearful uncertainty, Sammys youthful aspirations to be free of tradition make him unwilling to try to meet the unrealistic expectation of society. In this story, the A ...the women generally put on a shirt before they get out of car into the street... (608). So there is no room for stepping beyond the normal and the proper. Sammys life is a tiresome monotonous routine of a checker-board green and cream rubber tile floor (607), regularly ordered and neatly arranged aisles, and the constant noise of the check out slot machine. Furthermore, he is repressed by the electric eyes not allowing anything to escape and by a cash-register-watcher always tripping him up. Such setting o ...