Reading Response Essay, Research Paper

Daniel P Yeckley

English Comp II

Paper #1

February 25, 2000

I found the story powder very intriguing. The author kept you enchanted with

the character of his father, yet disenchanted with his own character. The authors father

was a cool impractical father he drove a sports car, took risks such as driven through

unplowed snow covered roads and went down hill sking for fun. Unlike my father who

drives a compact car, doesen’t like drving at night let alone in snow and goes antique

shopping for fun. Yet the author lives a very practical life with his clothes carefully

hung on numbered racks so the would be properally rotated. So I was intrigued by the

father and life that he lived on the edge, but not the son and his sheltered life.

Even though i didn’t like the authors charcter as a person in the story,

I did however like his use of the first person, because it kept you intouch with

the characters emotions.

The story A & P however did not captivate me. The hero in the story, Sammy,

was no hero in my book only a pathetic fool who lived in an uneventfull town that was

resistant to change. When Sammy was working in the local grocery store he noticed a

beautiful girl walk in with 2 of her friends. Although she only walked into the grocery

store to buy one small item for her mother, Sammy took as if she was walking right into

his life. She was much more than just another pretty face to Sammy to him she was a

godess. Since Sammy never knew her name he refered to her as Queenie because she

was of royal status to him. He held her high above himself and everyone he knew, he

even imagined her family to be of a higher class of people, from a 49 cent snack she was

purchasing. When his boss confronted Queenie of her atire the matter was resolved

Yeckley II

quickly between her and the boss, but not to Sammy he felt that she was a dansel in

distress. Sammy quit his job do to his bosses actions and left the store expecting Queenie

to be waiting outside ready to jump in his arms for defending her honor but to his suprise

he found no one. In Sammy’s attempt at schivalry he lost his job and the girl he never

had.

The story A & P did not apeal to me, although the first person style that it was

written in made you feel Sammy’s excitement towards the matter. I still have trouble

dealing with his irational response to the conflict with Queenie and his boss.