COMPARISON/CONTRAST OF “A & P” / “SOLDIER’S HOME”

If one is to compare and contrast the short stories A & P, by John Updike, and A Soldier’s Home, by Ernest Hemingway, they must look beyond the obvious. One knows by reading that there is a distinct difference in time as well as place. Oklahoma is, after all, quite a ways away from the beach as most know. To compare or contrast the aforementioned short stories in a deeper context, a large amount of the focus must be centered on the main characters: Sammy and Krebs.
Sammy is disillusioned with the life he is living; day in and day out, the same monotonous occurrences populate his existence at the “A & P”. But this all changes one day as three bikini-clad vixens walk into his life. After being badgered by Sammy’s boss, Langel, for not wearing the “proper” public attire, the girls leave. Sammy, being imbued with a certain sense of heroism, defiantly quits his job; in some ways hoping this show of rebelliousness will bring him to “Queenie’s” attention. Unfort...