The Connections Between Four Different Unrelated Pieces Of Literature

The essay will take four different unrelated pieces of literature that includes; A & P by John Updike, Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the Prison by Bernard Malamud and The Right to Fail by William Zinsser. The connections between each of them will be then analyzed out so as to form a unique claim. In the short story A & P, the author John Updike describes the customers with great detail and on the other hand gives each character the names which subtlety describes their personalities. However in Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the author is against the habit of judging the books without the covers more than what a person can give. Bernard Malamud is a renowned and well respected American Jewish writer born in 1914 and died in 1986. His work includes novels, collections, nonfiction, and short stories. Most of what is featured in his writing is human conditions of Jewish life through his experience while growing up in New York. William zinner was a journalist and non fiction writer. As a teacher, his career began on New York Herad Tribune. His most famous work was a book on writing well, his books range from memoir, commentary, baseball, and craft of writing and so on.

In the stories of A & P by John Updike and Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the authors seemed to have something common in their literary works. The connection of the two stories is that, the story of A & P by John Updike, the narrator eyes are caught by three barefoot girls in their bathing suits while checking groceries. However in Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the poem talks about beautiful young prostitute woman, half-clothed body sway who entertains people with her dancing but she is not happy when she does so, but covers it up by smiling (Claude pg 123, 2004). In both the two scenarios, the stories show the exposure of the nakedness of the women that makes the stories to look somehow similar.

In Bernard Malamud’s the prison, he suggests that for a person to be fully a man they should accept the limitations that are most painful (Bernard pg 142 2013). He further states that those that escape the limitations are only able to achieve self-negating kind of freedom that is illusionary as they come out as less responsible human beings. He states that life is full of struggles and only the ability to overcome this struggles will make one successful. In William Zinsser’s right to fail he talks of a person’s right to take risks and chances. He further states that it is not wrong to make mistakes .so that one can be successful it is required that they fail a number of times so that they can discover their weaknesses and strengths. The writer underlines the reasons why people should not be afraid of failure since most people want to be successful they should know that even if they fail there is always room for doing a different thing. Both writers acknowledge the fact that there are challenges in life that can cause someone to make mistakes. They both suggest that the ability to overcome these challenges or deal with these mistakes accordingly will make someone successful.

Works Cited

Baraceros Henry “English for a Better World. The Right to Fail by William Zinsser. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.

Malamud, Benard . “Bernard Malamud.” Fantastic Fiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/bernard-malamud/>.

McKay, Claude . “The Harlem Dancer, by Claude McKay.” Poetry Archive | Poems. N.p., 2004 Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.poetry-archive.com/m/the_harlem_dancer.html>.