Family story

A&P by John Updike
Plot: Three girls in bathing suits go into a grocery store to pick up some herrings. The manager tells them they have to dress decently, and the narrator, a cashier, gets upset and quits his job because he didn’t like how the manager dealt with them.
Characters: First-person narrator, a male teenage cashier; Stokesie, another cashier; Lengel, the manager of the A&P; the three girls in bathing suits, McMahon, the meat counter guy.
Voice: Sort of wistful but also very intelligent in how it describes things.
Setting: The A&P, a grocery store.
Theme: Whether one should become one of ” the sheep” pushing carts in the same direction or should go out in a different direction.
Conflict: Between the narrator, who thinks the girls didn’t need to be harassed, and the manager, who thinks they did.
Literary Fiction
Linoleum Roses by Sandra Cisneros
Plot: Sally got married very young and her husband is abusive and controlling.
Characters: Sally, a young married girl; The Marshmellow Salesman, Sally’s husband.
Voice: A weird mix between whimsical and depressingly straightforward.
Setting: Sally’s house.
Theme: Why it’s dangerous to get married to somebody you barely know.
Conflict: Sally is afraid of her husband.
Literary Fiction