Short Fictions by Bielka

The story, "A & P" by John Updike is about three teenage girls that walk into an A & P wearing nothing but bathing suits. Sammy, the young cashier, watches them closely. He names their leader "Queenie" because of her regal, careless manner. Queenie and the other two girls want to buy Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream. When the girls approach the register, Sammy's manager, Lengel, reprimands them for not covering up before coming into the store. Seeing Queenie and the girls upset, Sammie tells Lengel that he didn't need to embarrass them like that. Lengel retorts that the girls embarrassed him and the town by flaunting their bodies. Sammy gallantly quits on the spot to defend Queenie's honor. However, she takes no notice. Sammy realizes that no one appreciates his gesture and that his romantic, chivalrous ideas will make life hard for him.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor begins in a household with a discussion of planning a tour to Florida. The main one is the grandmother. She lives in the house with her son Bailey and his wife, along with their two children. Then most hated character of the story, the Misfit gang, is introduced later. The grandmother reads on the paper about the escape of the Misfit gang from the federal jail and how dangerous they are. Therefore, the Grandmother insists on going to Tennessee instead of Florida. The tour is decided to be towards Florida. The next day, on the way in the car, Grandmother thinks about an old plantation, and other things. Then there’s a detour taken after the Grandmother ignites the desire of the children by telling them a false story about a hidden gate will eventually meet the car with an accident. At this moment Misfit arrives at the place in a car and Grandmother recognizes them. This recognition then lead to the death of the whole family. From th...

I read a short story titled, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and it follows this street girl named Sylvia who just wants to play instead of hearing lessons about the world from a lady named Ms. Moore. We are told that Ms. Moore has a college degree, is well dressed most of the times, and has a good command on her language. She seems to be a kind of a person who has seen the world, someone who has experienced life, and wants to use that experience in providing the children with an opportunity. In my opinion, she seems like a wonderful person because not many people look back at their community when they’re in a better position. I appreciate that Ms. Moore tried to teach the children about their living conditions and how it’s unfair when many other people are living a better life with no care for them.  The story created awareness for the adolescents about what life has to offer. The fact that many of the children and even their parents accepting the realities of life to such an...

In Hills like White Elephant by Ernest Hemmingway, is about a man and a girl who are currently in a Spanish speaking country. They were waiting for the express next to the railway station. During their time there, they drink beer and two licorice-tasting anis drink, with more beer as they spoke on a simple operation that the girl will be having. From their conversation, we see there was a lot of tension, and the man is urging her to have the operation and she kind of doesn’t want to. Since he continues to speak over and over about the operation, it made her feel like she had to go through with it in order to please him.   As I read this story, it just points out that a lot of men or society hold women back. They try to tell women what they can and can’t do whether it’s with their body, their job, their relationship with others, etc. One of the biggest thing’s society tries to tell women is whether they can have abortions or not. The choice over when and whether to have ch...