Sharon Olds poems vs. John Updike's short story

When Sharon Olds describes the little boys, she uses words that would make it sound like these were not little boys but actually grown men. She calls them short men, and talks about them fighting and going to war at the end of the poem. When she describes the little girl in the other poem, she makes the girl sound like she is very smart with all of the math that she talks about. Her poems made children seem like adults. When I think of a hero that she describes, I see someone who is small but has a lot of fight and courage in them. I get a similar vibe when I think of Sammy from John Updike's "A & P." When I think of Sammy, I see a teenager who does not have a lot of power over his boss. The only thing that he can do to stand up to his boss is to quit, so that is what he does. He is courageous in that now he has to face the whole community he lives in, and he will have a somewhat bad reputation because he quit. In his mind, however, he is moving on to something else. Even though he did not get the girls in the end, he made a valient effort.