Saturday, January 7, 2012

What kind of language, sentence structure, diction, and imagery does the narrator use in "A & P"?

 "Sammy narrates this story in the first person. His voice is colloquial and intimate. His speech is informal, a factor that highlights his individuality and propensity to question authority."

Sammy is the young narrator in A & P.  He is a nineteen year old checkout clerk at the A & P store.  His sentence structure and diction are filled with slang expressions.  He uses colorful images to describe the scene around him, such as when he describes the usual shopper in the store, a housewife, as sheep. 

"His use of slang, like describing a dollar bill that had "just come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known" characterize him as a fairly typical teenage boy."

He makes odd comparisons, such as when the girls come into the store, he associates them with bees, denoting the leader as the Queen.

"Shortly after that, he wonders what goes on in their minds, if it is "just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar." Like buzzing bees, they make everyone just a little bit nervous." 

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