Something I found interesting in "A&p" was the objectification of people shown by Sammy. He doesn't treat the girls as humans but only thinks about them in terms of their looks. From the moment they walk in the door, the two friends of the queen are physically picked apart as Sammy criticizes the unattractive parts of their bodies. This is the same thing that Emily was probably put through in her story. She was physically underdeveloped and the guy that she saved pennies for just so she could buy him candy paid her no attention whatsoever.

Another common theme I saw was regret. When Sammy quits his job, he seems to immediately regret it. It seems like he had a decent job, but this "Queen" has made him desire more. He wasn't satisfied with what he had, but realizes the consequences of his actions as soon as he walks out the door. The mother in "I Stand Here Ironing" is disappointed with herself in how she raised Emily. Once she looks back on it all she can say is "wisdom came too late," which I take as meaning she didn't know how to correctly raise a child until it was too late.

I think the mothers role did show that working was very important as she wouldn't be able to support her daughter alone otherwise. I think further down in the story she did feel bad for not being there and spending the time with Emily as she did with the others, maybe that's why she would let her stay home, she was trying to spend time with her to make up for the time in the past. But in the ending statement, the mother didn't want her to bloom completely. It seemed to me that she didn't want to help Emily become as successful as she could've been. But she felt like she had made her this way by forming and shaping her into something other than the dress laying on the board.

I do notice a difference in the mentality geared toward working in, I Stand Here Ironing and A/P. The roles of the main characters are reversed as a mother supporting her family, and a son being supported by his. It is very obvious that one values work more than the other; however, when it comes to identity who has the upperhand? I think that would be Sammy because he stood up for a cause he believed in no matter how unimportant it may seem. He was not bound by a job, or a paycheck, regardless of how his situation may end up. I do think that this outcome may be due to the fact that he has no apparent responsibilities, but he is still free. Due to the the mother in I stand Here Ironing's life, she was forced to provide a means of financial support for her family. It may have caused a strain on her relationship with her daughter, but she wanted the same freedom for her daughter that Sammy had.

In I Stand Here Ironing, the mother is torn between work and her family, but she has to work to support them; there's no way around that. She realizes that work has strained not only her relationship with Emily, but Emily's physical, mental, and emotional appearance. In this short story, work plays an important role in personal relationships, albeit negatively. In A&P, I feel you don't know much about the main character's personal life to realize how work effects his relationships. He seems to not have to work for everything like the mother in I Stand Here Ironing. Granted he is only nineteen, but his life seems much more simple and less stressful. The mother in I Stand Here Ironing needs work to support all her children and herself, unlike the character in A&P.

I think that these stories both play largely into the idea of work and identity. Both of the characters in these stories are identified in the story by their role in society. In "I Stand Here Ironing" the mother is recounting the hard times that she has faced while trying to raise her daughter to be the best that she can be. Shes knows that she didn't always treat her fairly, and feels regret for not always being there for her, especially during the first 6 years of the daughter's life when she had to work. But, in the end she sees that her daughter is going to be alright, and is still a beautiful lady and feels happy to be her mother. I think she does feel a certian amount of guilt and is willing to accept the things that have already happend, and use them as a stepping stone to do better the next time around. She can't help but be happy that she has successful children, but knows that she can't walk away from her first born, as she had many times before.

In A & P, its a story of a young boy who is looking for something to entertain himself while working at a cash register waiting for customers. His job is not as serious and doesn't take a lot of thought and consideration. He does worry about those around him which shows that he must be young and carefree. He has the freedom to walk away from his job when he feels that things aren't being handled in a just way. Even though he knows that he parents won't be happy, as his manager reminds him, he still chooses to do what he thinks is right instead of just taking things in stride and dealing with them, as the mother does. The two stories show the difference in responsibility that come with adulthood vs. adolecence. The mother knows that she has to take her roles and fill them, while trying to figure things out as she goes, but the boy can pretty much do as he pleases and make decisions without having to think about the consequences of his actions.

In I Stand Here Ironing, the narrator is seen wading through a stream of thoughts regarding the upbringing of her daughter. One of the issues she confronts is work. For years she had no choice but to work long hours in order to survive and provide for her daughter. Consequently, she did not have much time to spend with her daughter. At one point she even had to relinquish her daughter's care to her ex-husband's family. She ponders how this, among other factors, influenced her daughter during her impressionable childhood years. In this story, work is portrayed as a lifelong hardship which must be endured.

In A&P, the narrator is a nineteen year old boy working in a grocery store. Ultimately, he quits his job after witnessing the store manager treating three young female customers in a manner that he deems to be unacceptable. While it is unseen exactly what background the boy comes from, he alludes to the fact that his family is not a wealthy one. Yet at this point in life, he has no hesitation when quitting his job. He views work in a very different manner than did the narrator in I Stand Here Ironing. As the boy is leaving the store however, he turns back and sees the manager, a man he does not regard as a hard worker, picking up the slack he created by quitting his job. And the manager's "face was dark gray and his back stiff". The boy is observing someone who has worked many more years than he has and perhaps has a life experience more similar to the mother in I Stand Here Ironing. At this point, the boy says he "felt how hard the world was going to be" to him thereafter. He has realized that he will not always be able to quit his job on a whim and that it is indeed the hardship portrayed in I Stand Here Ironing.

I like the last point that Christine made, regarding Sammy from A&P: “I think he knows that he won't always be able to quit when put into difficult situations as the mother couldn't simply give up on her children.” This, for me, characterizes one of the key differences between the narrators of the two stories. In I Stand Here Ironing, the mother feels the agony, the passion, and the eternity of her job. For better or worse, she is a mother to her children, and the fact that she cannot quit them becomes a part of her very being. On the other hand, Sammy works his job as an outsider, scoffing at the “sheep” who move up and down the aisles, comparing the store to a pinball machine, and going so far as to quit his job for some enticing scantily-clad girls who unexpectedly enter into the monotony of his day.
I found it interesting that while Sammy is entranced by the bodies of the girls, fantasizing about the “two scoops of vanilla” that are one’s breasts as if they are savory objects that awaken his senses, the mother feels physical pain in her breasts for her children, and describes how they “ached with swollenness.” This stark difference between the jobs of the two characters (one of them giving up her body for her job, the other giving up his job for a stranger’s body) is what stands out to me.

I think that both stories illustrate the role of work in relation to one's identity or character. In "I Stand Here Ironing" work is essential to the mother. Her whole life is tied to her need to work (she even has to send her daughter away in order to continue to work), and her work life has a very definite effect on her relationship with her daughter Emily. It seems as if working is a part of the mother's identity. In A & P, work seems much less dire and not so tied to Sammy's identity. In "I Stand Here Ironing" there are obvious negative consequences from the mother working, but she continues to work. Contrarily, when Sammy faces negative consequences (feeling upset about the manager embarrassing the girls) he quits, so it would seem that being a worker isn't as high on his list of character traits.

Both "I Stand Here Ironing" * "A&P" are stories that depict the work of individuals. In "Ironing," the mother shares her ups & downs of parenting especially concerning her oldest two daughters. It also showed how hard Emily had to work to find her identity. Being sick as a child & playing (what she thought was) second fiddle to her younger sister always made it hard for her to find her place in her family & in life.

In stark contrast, "A&P" is about a young man working in a grocery store. After oggling some bikini-clad women, he quits as a result of his boss embarassing them. While it seems like he's making a hasty and rediculous decision, it shows a lot about his character & identity. He's very galant and protective even though he gets no praise for his actions (even if that may have been his goal).

These two stories represent two completely different types of work. The story "I Stand Here Ironing" concerns a mother's work as her role in the family while "A&P" is about a teenager working in a grocery store. The mother in the first story admits that she made many mistakes in raising her first child. She also discusses her successes with her other children which makes it seem as though motherhood is a job where you must learn as you go and the quicker you learn, the less regrets you will have. Above all, you can't give up. The grocery store cashier however takes it upon himself to quit his job. He realizes that he is capable of giving up his temporary work to do what he believes is right. In the end, they both learn that life is full of hardships and that you must stick to what you believe is right. The mother wanted so much to be able to care for her children but didn't always make the right decisions. The grocery boy gave up on his work to do what he thoght was morally correct which prepared him for the roughness that exists in the world. I think he knows that he won't always be able to quit when put into difficult situations as the mother couldn't simply give up on her children.