With good humored sarcasm
The narrator meets Richards Richards meets the narrator.
The narrator in the success story finds Richards likable as long as he is not competing with him for the spotlight and attention. Richards' humble behavior and efforts to put others first make him endearing to the narrator.
With some slight disdain
a slide rule
a slide derule
bafflement (apex)
Manipulative
slide rule
Richards
ability to manipulate.
In "Success Story" by John Updike, the narrator works at the single-copy desk of a magazine publishing company. The story follows his interactions with a successful writer named Tom Margolies.
He dismisses this argument by pointing out that the story lacks an alternative worldview to that of the narrator.