Joyce Oates and John Updike are writers from the same time period. According to Great American Writers: Twentieth Century, “Joyce Carol Oates's childhood landscape of upstate New York and its people and places are a major influence in Oates's fiction.” (Shuman 1110). The style of Oates's writing is slightly like fairy tale or folk tale. For example, Arnold was portrait to have some super power where he can see Connie's family which they are miles away at one of the aunt's back yard having a barbecue. Often in her story, there are strange moments within the story such as all of the sudden Connie started to follow exactly what Arnold is telling her to do. Unlike Oates's style, John Updike's stories are more realistic. According to Popular Contemporary Writers, “John Updike's own life has been the major inspiration for his work, his style and approach have a number of literary antecedents.” (Sharp 1350). Updike also uses the idea of mindleness in his stories. He like to write stories about the middle class people. “The concept of middleness evokes a number of rich ideas for Updike" (Sharp 1348). By using his own life experience and the middleness concept, Updike's stories seems more realistic to readers than Oates's