The Significance of Minor Characters in AP Essay

Dave Epstein Jennifer Kaufman Eng 102-8 Short Story Essay #2- Essay 1 Revision-â€Å"Aamp;P† 10/11/10 Word Count: 1172 â€Å"The Significance of Minor Characters in â€Å"Aamp;P† † Minor characters are crucial to a reader’s understanding of any story. In John Updike’s short story, â€Å"Aamp;P† this idea is very apparent. In this short story, two of the minor characters are quite important. These two minor characters are Queenie, a young women shopper and Lengel, the manager of the Aamp;P. Qeenie and Lengel are vital minor characters, as Updike uses them for the reader’s understanding of the young adult main character, Sammy, including his personality and motivations, which provides further understanding of the story. In John Updike’s†¦show more content†¦Updike reveals this when Sammy refers to Queenie by saying, â€Å"She just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima-donna legs† (17). Sammy also illustrates this idea when he says, â€Å"You never know how girls work (do you think it’s a mind in the re or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)† (17). The fact that Sammy is has no respect for women is undoubtedly true. Author, Patrick W. Shaw explains this in his short story criticism, â€Å"Checking Out Faith and Lust: Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’ and Updike’s ‘A amp; P’†. Shaw states, â€Å"He punctuates his juvenile thoughts with chauvinistic asides and double entendres† (1). When Sammy talks about his manager, Lengel, he does not seem to respect him, which is another reason why Sammy is disrespectful and not only towards women. An example of this is when Lengel comes in from the outside lot, Sammy says, â€Å"is about to scuttle into that door marked MANAGER behind which he hides all day when the girls touch his eye† (19). For a regular employee to talk about his manager in such a way suggests that Sammy does not have much respect for Lengel. That quote also illustrates that Sammy also is a jokin gly juvenile young man. The way in which Sammy talks to and about Queenie and Lengel shows very little respect. The fact that Lengel is Sammy’s boss and Queenie is a woman who he doesn’t know says to the reader, Sammy does not feel obligated to show respect for anyone,Show MoreRelatedA Lesson Before Dying - Lessons Learnt Before Jeffersons Demise1095 Words   |  5 Pagesnumerous lessons learnt throughout the novel A Lesson Before Dying and they are learnt by a multitude of different characters. A significant number of characters throughout the book gradually evolve whilst story unfolds with this gradient of change emphasised in Jefferson, Grant Wiggins and the deputy, Paul. The lessons substantiate themselves in the words and actions of all the characters throughout the novel; however, it is Grant who learns perhaps the most. 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