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Part A: Which of the following best identifies the theme of the story? Shopping by Joyce Carol Oates

User Woodpav
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Final answer:

In Joyce Carol Oates' story "Shopping," the fascination with costume can suggest themes of racial identity and societal pressures to conform to certain aesthetic standards.

Step-by-step explanation:

The theme of a story represents the main idea, lesson, or message conveyed to the reader. In Joyce Carol Oates' story "Shopping," one could explore how the fascination with costume and fashionable attire reflects societal values and personal identity. The opening scene with Amy in a dressmaker's shop trying on an expensive gown could suggest themes related to the construction of racial identity, as well as implying the societal expectations and pressures placed on individuals to conform to certain aesthetic standards. Additionally, the changing nature of shopping, as mentioned, from a masculine and community event to a feminized, solitary act, highlights changing social dynamics and gender roles in the early 20th century.

User Tyrone Slothrop
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Hello there! You did not post the options for this question. Since I was not able to find those options online, I'll give an answer and an explanation, as thoroughly as possible, that will probably fit one of the options you have.

Answer:

The theme in "Shopping", by Joyce Carol Oates is the difficult relationship between mother and daughter.

Step-by-step explanation:

The story is developed around Mrs. Dietrich and her daughter Nola's relationship. Even though Mrs. Dietrich loves her daughter unconditionally, their connection has been faltering now that Nola is growing up. Her mother is having a hard time understanding and accepting Nola's preferences, needs, and desires. She is not ready to see Nola leave, nor to admit that this daughter of hers is becoming a woman of her own. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Dietrich has come to a desperate point where she feels she does not know her daughter at all:

Once after one of their quarrels Mrs. Dietrich told a friend of hers, the mother too of a teenage daughter, “I just don't know her any longer, how can you keep living with someone you don't know?” and the woman said, “Eventually you can't.”

Still, there is love. If there wasn't, they wouldn't struggle so much to keep up - and put up - with each other. Nola will eventually become a whole individual, completely unattached from her mother. Yet, love will remain - a freer, more independent type of love.

User Md Yeasin Arafat
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