Social Institutions in "The School" by Donald Barthelme and "A & P" by John Updike
The short stories The School by Donald Barthelme and A & P by JohnUpdike take place primarily in two conventional social institutions, aschool and a place of employment respectively. Within these two socialinstitutions, we see how quite often such institutions are responsible forshaping identity and behavior in the individuals that are impacted by them. In Barthelme's The School, the students have their identity and behaviorshaped by a series of projects that are meant to help develop nurturingskills in them but result in the untimely deaths of snakes, trees, a puppy,and even an adopted Korean orphan. In A & P, a teenage cashier named Sammylearns that to maintain one's own identity in opposition to conventionalnorms and values exacts a heavy sacrifice upon the individual. In bothstories, the impact of social institutions demonstrates how identity and In The School, the story is narrated by the teacher of a group ofstudents who tries to develop a sense of responsibility and nurturing inthem through a series of projects aimed at watching life unfold. As thenarrator explains about a tree-plating project at the opening of the story,
heir education, to see how, you know, the rootsystems. Despite the premature death of all of the different flora and faunaof the student projects, such an ending teaches them lessons if not theones originally intended. Lengel has embarrassed the girls, theonly sign of life in the story. A number ofparents also die in the story, and two sets of parents are suing acontractor because of "poorly stacked" logs that kill two students playingamong them. However, the narrator teacher explains to them itwas "just a run of bad luck" (Barthelme 2). Sammy is a cashier at the A & P, one whofinds its routine stifling and its customer's mere automatons going throughtheir daily motions without much individuality or life. They awaken in him not onlysexual desire but also provide spontaneity and opposition to theconventions and routine of the A & P grind. As such, we can see that social institutions like school, theworkplace, and the home have an impact on our development, identity, andbehavior. Sammy likens the patrons to sheep and the married women as"house-slaves" (Updike 2). When Sammy finally walks out of the A & P, he knows "how hardthe world [is] going to be [for him] hereafter" (Updike 6). However, from mice andsalamanders to puppies and trees, all of these projects end in prematuredeath.
Common topics in this essay:
Barthelme's School,
School Sammy's,
John Updike,
social institutions,
identity behavior,
,
bad luck,
barthelme 1,
social institutions school,
identity behavior shaped,
school students,
premature death,
behavior shaped,
institutions school,
impact social,
stories school,
|
Acceptance Essays
