Comparison and Contrast of
Sammy from John Updike's "A & P" and Sarty from William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" are two classic examples of human beings putting their foot down and representing what is morally right. In "A & P" Sammy is a young boy who works at the register of a grocery store and his life changes the day three young ladies in bathing suits come into the store. It was his boss who went up to these young ladies and told them that they are breaking the store's unwritten dress code. This led Sammy to dramatically quit his job to protest the unfair treatment which was given to the young ladies. Sarty is a ten year old boy whose sense of right and wrong had been biased by his tyrannical father. His father commits unlawful acts which hurt the family as a whole and he takes a stand to stop this type of activity. He stops the unlawful act before it actually occurred for the sake of doing what is right and in the process realized he could not return to his family. "A & P" and "Barn Burning" are two great pieces of literature that are similar in many ways, yet they are also different as well. There are many people in history that have taken a stand for what they believe in for the purpose of maintaining their dignity and self-respect and Sammy and Sarty
He knew once he had uttered the two words "I quit" that there was no turning back. He is less descriptive of the characters and physical characteristics are never revealed. Sarty is very naive and a follower of his father at the very beginning of the story. The tone in which the stories are told are completely different. However, Barn Burning is not told through the main character's eyes. He spends some of that night on the crest of hill in which he expresses his grief and despair. He even goes as far as to say that ". The tone in which A&P and Barn Burning are told are effective but they are completely different from each other. But towards the end of the story we receive confirmation that our worst fears are coming true when Sarty asks "Ain't you going to even send a nigger?" (258). They both realize that nothing is going to come easy and learn a life lesson that changes them for the better. They both realize that their actions mean that there is no looking back. At the end of each of their own adventures Sammy and Sarty realize a new era is in the horizon and they become more mature because of their experiences. Not only did the girls face the public humiliation from being confronted in the front of the grocery store but they are possibly scarred for life. The narrator does not make light of any scenario in the story unlike A&P, but instead stresses the seriousness more.
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