Sucker Short Story

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Carson McCullers short story “Sucker” (1963) revolves around the life of the main character Pete, his cousin ‘Sucker’ and Maybelle Watts, a girl two years senior to Pete and after whom Pete unsuccessfully goes. Pete, 16, is four years older than Sucker and both they stay in the same room since the longest time Pete can remember. Older, Pete severally mistreats Sucker and illegitimately blames him for his loss of Maybelle. This ends tragically for Pete who can no longer face or dominate Sucker. John Updike’s short story “A & P” (1961) tells about Sammy, a late teenager working in A & P grocery on the checkout, and three young girls who walk into the grocery wearing their bathing suits only. Sammy is the narrator and tells how he (and other workers) …show more content…
Lust is vivid in both stories and it t is shown to be a blinding phenomenon that significantly clouds rational judgment. In the story Sucker, Pete is emotionally perturbed ever since developing lust and desire for Maybelle, a girl remarkably older than himself. He was always confused whenever he saw her and his lust always made him do apparently stupid things around oblivious and/or ignorant Maybelle. For example, he says he would pass close to the girl just to see whether she would smile to him (McCullers 241). In a similar way, Sammy, the narrator in the story A & P, was always glued to the three girls that only wore their bathing suits. Sammy describes the girls in a very detailed manner which only implies that he gave the almost his full attention. He particularly lusts for Queenie and the strength of his lust can be pegged onto his dubbing her ‘Queenie’, obviously likening her to a real queen. Lust and desire, in the end, bring about destruction and instability to both Pete and Sammy in both stories. For example, it is because of lust for Maybelle that finally breaks the bonds between Pete and his cousin Sucker, Pete regrets and feels guilty for unwittingly offending Sucker, and Pete concedes less dominance over Sucker. Similarly, Sammy ends up quitting his job and endangering his future (Updike 54), all owing to his lust for …show more content…
In other words, unreasonable and uncalculated blame or hate on others cannot go far and eventually yield self-destruction. Both the authors show this by strategically using teenagers who eventually so destroy their future in one way or another. For instance, in Sucker, Pete initially dominated his cousin Sucker. Even though Pete says he had a soft heart for Sucker all along, it is shown that he despised him. He insults him openly: “You’re too dumb. Just like your name – a dumb sucker” (McCullers 246). Pete would fool Sucker before too (McCullers 239). Tables overturn for Pete as Sucker eventually dominates over Pete’s pride, superiority and self-centeredness much to Pete’s loneliness and dejection. In the story A & P, Sammy also illegitimately blames the manager Lengel and claims that Lengel was mistaken for chastising the girls. Actually, for the reader, Sammy’s hate and reaction towards Lengel is very dramatic and almost unreal. He ends up losing his job which Lengel (momentarily) takes
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