My thoughts on " The Lesson"

Miss Moore takes the children on a trip to F.A.O Shwartz to teach them a lesson. Miss Moore is a "femenist" in a"pre-femenist" world. She is an educated woman, which is not populat at the time. The narrator describes her as a woman with " nappy hair and proper speech with no make up". She also tells us that all the parents talk about her behind her back. This tells us that the woman of that time were expected to be dolled up and uneducated, Miss Moore is breaking the mold. Miss Moore feels that since she is an educated woman it is her responsibility to educate the young children of the neighborhood. She takes them to F. A. O Schwartz to show the kids the inequality in the country. Some of the kids get the message and some of them don't, I think the narrator completely understood what Miss Moore was trying to show them. While she may not want to thank Miss Moore now, as she gets older and mature she will be grateful for Miss Moore's work.

My thoughts on "A&P"

I found this story to be rather enjoyable. It is a story about a younger generation rebelling against the social norms. Sammy describes the customers as " sheep". I think he is pointing to their routine and normal lives that are held in check by societal "norms". The girls attire represents a break for the norm. It is obviously frowned upon by the older generation, as they are embarrassed in front of the entire store. Sammy quitting at the end of the story seems to represent him breaking away from the normal and also foreshadows the radical new way of thinking that characterizes his generation.