Gender Roles and Age Stereotypes in Literature

Many people would say that all teenagers don’t think before they act which gets them into consequences. People tend to think teenagers are self-centered and only care about the opposite sex and that’s all they want. Young people have to grow up and realize that they will be independent, and that is something teenagers do not want to think about as they go through their adolescent years. They make the transition from adolescents into adulthood this is when the decisions that they have done will soon be catching up to them. Updike and Oates both portray these ideas in “A&P” and “Where are You Going Where Have You Been” through the help of Sammy and Connie. The author also uses different literary devices and writing techniques to further emphasize the views which Sammy and Connie show the relationship between men and women.

Many teenagers make life altering decisions without even knowing it just as Sammy and Connie did. Their minds wonder about all the different possibilities Sammy and Connie have to look forward to as they grow up, and many do not think about the different consequences that could come to them in the nearby future, even though they do not think that the future is that close. In “A&P” written by John Updike and “Where are You Going Where Have You Been” written by Joyce Carol Oates are both stories that teenage children have to make life changing decisions. John Updike an award-winning writer born March 18th, 1932. Updike grew up in Shillington, Pennsylvania where his father was a high school math teacher and his mother wrote short stories. Joyce Carol Oates was born in Lockport, New York, where she grew up on her parents’ farm. Oates’s grandmother gifted her with her first typewriter at 14 years old. That’s when she began writing novel after novel.

The views that John Updike in “A&P” and 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' written by Joyce Carol Oates both illustrate the decisions that Sammy and Connie make. Updike and Oates both also illustrate in “A&P” and 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' the story of teenagers who make the life changing choices and not thinking before these decisions. In 'A and P,' written by John Updike, a nineteen-year-old teenager named Sammy quits his job at A&P to impress three girls in bathing suits, to later realize that he does not know what is going for him in the future. In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' written by Joyce Carol Oates introduces a fifteen-year-old teenage girl named Connie who leaves her home and her family to run off with a random man, with whom she does not know his intentions. Connie is clueless to all the lifelong challenges which she is going to have to face now. Updike and Oates both make their character out to be typical teenagers.

Each story shows the view point from a different gender, Updike shows the point of view from a male, and Oates shows the point of view from a female. In Updike’s story, the main character Sammy tries to impress girls at his work, trying to portray the typical “male gender role” on how men should go after women and have the women attracted to them. When this fails, it angers Sammy, it makes him feel like less than a man. Sammy makes a drastic decision in order to just follow the girls, “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say, “I quit”, …” (Updike). Sammy felt that he had to impress the girls, so he ruined his job for that, so he did not look like a fool for not being able to get girls. This shows how society’s standards on how all men are “supposed” to be able to pick up women and if they cannot they are seen as weak; it puts a lot of pressure on men and makes them think irrationally. Sammy had so much anger inside of him just because he could not obtain a girl’s attention, and it made him quit his job and most likely ruined a relationship with his boss or his coworkers, and most likely the girls as well. Society makes a very clear and unreasonable role for men as they act towards women and makes them seem very irrational especially in this story. A man should not feel that much anger at himself or anyone just because they can not get a girl, it should not be that big of a deal, but that is what the gender norm is in today’s society.

In Oate’s story, Connie just a young girl, who makes a large mistake. Society tells women from a young age, “let a man take care of you”, “you’re a woman let the man do the work”, which should not be the case at all, but that is what society says. In this story, Connie, a young 15-year-old girl, who has the typical teenage drama at home and school and was very full of herself. Connie met a man who complimented her and let him take advantage of her. She was conscious at first, where most people think for being a 15-year-old girl she was going to be very flattered with any man complimenting her. In the story Connie is taken back by the man, “I never said my name was Connie” she showed fear at first when speaking to him, but it ended up with her in his car and them driving away together. This story shows two sides of a woman that society sees, Connie being strong and trying not to give into the man, defies society’s standards of how a women can seem “easy” and give into a man, which indeed she did in the end, but she did give a fight before doing so. Most of society would think that a young girl would just give in to any man giving her a compliment, but she did not. She fought back, but she did give in, most likely because that is what she felt was the best idea because this man was threatening her in a way.

Society has what they think a “perfect” idea of how men are supposed to act and how women are supposed to act, and if these ideals are defied then those individuals are seen as “not normal”, when in reality they are 100% normal, just in their own ways. Both of these stories convey gender norms that are seen throughout society, but Oate’s story shows two sides of how women are “supposed” to act, since Connie does give into the man at the end of the story, but she still shows her strength by questioning him at first and not giving into his mind games. In Updike’s story, Sammy is trying to show strength and masculinity like the male gender norm is seen in society, but he does fail and that bothers him and makes him make a drastic decision. The male and female gender norms are unrealistic in society, and there are many different ways to portray and defy them, not everyone needs to conform to them. But in these two stories, it seems as if the main characters almost want to conform to them, but they both end up with a bad outcome, so does this mean society should change their ways to make the world a better place? After analyzing these stories and seeing how the characters react in certain situations pertaining the opposite sex, the gender roles in society all over the world need to change. A man should not feel pressured to have to peruse a woman or feel less masculine then he is just because he cannot get a women’s attention or even if he does not like women in that way. And a woman should not have to strive for the attention of a man or feel that a man needs to provide for them.

After reading these stories, it seems as if the authors both follow the typical gender role stereotypes or they feel as if society should follow them, which honestly should not be the case. Both Sammy and Connie are young teens who are being conformed to the gender roles of society, and if the world stays this way, all people in the up and coming generations will do so as well.