Essay on A & P by John Updike

As the story progresses Updike uses rich symbolism in reference to individuality, and conformists in A&P. It is given to the reader through Sammy’s perspective. “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle-the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything)” (149). Sheep are not very smart animals, as well as easily herded. This reference to customers as

Sammy’s obsession with Queenie shows how Sammy doesn’t get much action. He is about a twenty year old guy who is obsessing over a 16 or 17-year-old girl. Sammy gives every single detail about Queenie; for example, he says, “She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didn’t look around, not this Queen, she just walked on slowly, on these white prima-donna legs.” About 80% of the story is dedicated to the description of Queenie.

The short story, “A&P”, by John Updike, gives readers a glance at the life of a teenage boy, Sammy, who makes a rash decision after encountering three girls at the local grocery store. The theme of “A&P” is that desire for a new life can be dangerous when it provokes irrational action. Updike effortlessly conveys this theme through his use of setting, characterization, and symbolism throughout the short story.

In John Updike’s short story “A&P,” the main character, Sammy, is in a conflict against society that will determine whether he becomes an independent or a conformist. When Sammy sees a group of three girls in swimsuits enter, he is surprised by their boldness to willingly dress in such a fashion; however, he is not opposed to it. Contrastingly, those around him, mostly middle aged housewives, seem to be quite miffed and taken aback. Updike writes, “You could see them, when Queenie’s white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed… But there was no doubt, this jiggled them” (164-65). Furthermore, this represents the generational divide and external conflict that Sammy is involved in. While both Sammy and Queenie see nothing wrong with wearing a swimsuit in public, people did not typically wear

The story happens in 1961. This is the post war period when the market is prospering at the time. New ideas, such as dressing freely comes up as the economy grows. A&P is in a small town located in northern Boston, far away from the big cities. People there are not ready for the changes in the way people dress openly and in mindsets. People’s values in Sammy’s community are conformed. As Sammy points out that: “we’re right in the middle of town, and the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car in to the street.” Women in this town should not wear revealing costumes to public places. This is not only people’s values, but their policy. When three girls dressing in bathing suits show up in A&P, they get condemned by the manager Lengel. Lengle, the lower class in society, is the representation for conservative in the town. As a manager, he supposes to put customers’ need in the first place. However, he puts his personal value above business’s principle. He reprimands Queenie that: “We want you decently dressed when you come in here” (749). “It’s our policy” (749). It is obvious that people are under strict supervision in this town. They are not allowed to dress what they want, but should follow the town’s dressing standard. Therefore, Updike creates a conserved setting that helps to reinforce the theme of conformity versus personal

John Updike presents significant items to represent certain points in the story like the girls bathing suits, the herring snacks, and the sheep. When the girls walk into the A&P, they caused a disruption mainly because of what they were wearing, bathing suits. During that time, women were expected to be fully clothed when entering a store or else they drew attention to their sexuality, which Sammy noticed quickly. As everyone reacted to their bathing suits it later represented a kind of freedom to Sammy. After Lengal body shames them saying, “Girls, I don't want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It's our policy” (Updike 20), it crushed Sammy’s freedom feeling, so he reacted. Sammy also feels the contrast between the girls and the sheep as they try to purchase

The actions/interactions/reactions of the characters in this small setting also point to a female- suppressed environment. The males have the gall to stare openly at the girls as they go about their errands, while the women are shocked and “their eyes snapped back” to their respective business. Some might argue that this is normal for men to stare while the same sex-oriented people quickly avert their gazes. However, this is also indicative of a patriarchy. The status of the characters also indicates that even the store, an insignificantly small thing, follows the status quo of society. The males are the only ones with jobs, while the females are commented to be “houseslaves.” The naming of the characters is also blatantly slanted against the females. Sammy gives the three girls names instead of taking the time to ask them if they even have

Status is the social or professional standing of a person, and it is often a unifying factor which John Updike uses to show comparisons of several different characters. Through Sammy’s point of view, several comparisons are shown between the employees of the A&P, even though their ages are different. Firstly, Lengel and Sammy assume the girls are ignorant and incompetent. Sammy’s demeaning view is viewed when he says, “Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it.” In Sammy’s mind he saw the girls as helpless prey that had walked into a trap he needed to save them from. The manager saw the way they were dressed and proceeded to scold them the way a principal in a school scolds disruptive students. Another parallel between the two men is they both objectify the girls. Lengel is shown to look the girls up and down before he passes his judgement. Sammy’s defense of the girls, while it seems honorable, has ulterior motives. His hope is the girls hear him quit his job so that he can impress them; this action further objectifies the girls making them passive objects of passion. In the A&P there is another comparison between some of the repressed customers; the group of women he calls houseslaves and the trio of girls. Houseslaves are women whose only job was to cook, clean, and care for children. When the trio passed by these women there is a moment of shock from the girl’s appearance, but they look a second time possibly out of envy for the freedom they lack. The women in this story seem to all lack a voice and in the 1960s that was not uncommon; men in this time were still seen as the ultimate providers for the households. Queenie, like

In the story “A&P” by John Updike he tries to portray the conventional lifestyle and tendency of his community. The story “A&P” proves how feminism was a large part of the conservative lifestyle and is still present today. A&P helps you visualize how sexism could be happening right under our noses. The story is told through the main character Sammy, who is an ordinary teenager in the small town. Sammy makes a courageous effort to fight feminism and introduces ideas of liberalism but sadly loses his job in the process. The story A&P, based in the 1950’s, directly correlates to how women were treated in that time period. From the story A&P we can learn the distinct and harsh gender

In a continuing attempt to reveal this societal conflict, Updike introduces the character of Lengel, the manager. He accosts the girls and starts to make a scene accusing them of being indecent: “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.’ He turns his back. That’s policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want. What others want is juvenile delinquency” (Updike, 600). When the store manager confronts three girls in swimsuits because of their indecency (lack of proper clothes), they are forced to leave humiliated. At this moment Sammy makes the choice to quit his job in protest of the manager’s handling of the situation. In his mind, and arguably in John Updike’s mind, the standards of walking into a grocery store in a bathing suit and humiliating someone in front of other people are both unacceptable. This part of the story is pivotal for one main reason: a voice in the business community is speaking. As a manager at A & P, Lengel is the voice of The Establishment and guards the community ethics (Porter, 321). Queenie’s (the ringleader of the girls) blush is what moves Sammy to action. Here are three girls who came in from the beach to purchase only one thing, and this kingpin is embarrassing them in order to maintain an aura of morality, decency,

This imagery shows the kind of scandalous clothing that they were wearing giving them the power to bring attention and desire to Sammy and his coworkers. They stood no chance to these appealing looks that the girls had with the help of the bathing suits and the environment that they were in as Sammy describes “You know, it’s one thing in to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checker-board green-and-cream rubber-tile floor.” (Updike 165). This also shows that Sammy can not control himself once he unleashes his descriptive imagination when thinking about Queenie and her friends walking through the store.

Sammy faces the decision of staying at his job or leaving. His parents are friends with the manager of the store, Lengel. One day three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Seeing it is a slow day, Sammy observes the girls as they go through the store and to his luck come to his check out station. Lengel then sees them at checkout and confronts the girls to tell them about the store’s policy that they should be dressed decently upon entering the store, “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy’” (Updike). This is where Sammy has his transitioning experience. Upon hearing this conversation, Sammy tries be a hero for the girls by making the decision to quit his job, “The girls, and who’d blame, them are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear,

Sammy, the young cashier and the also narrator, is working his shift at the A&P grocery store. He notices  three girls walk into the grocery store wearing nothing but bathing suits. He is so distracted by them that he cannot remember if he rang up a box of crackers or not. While distracted, he rings them up twice, a fact that his customer, "a witch about fifty," lets it be know him quickly and loudly. He finishes ringing up the customer's items as the girls, who have left his eyesight come back into his view. He describes the three girls as: a "chunky one . . . and a tall one [with] a chin that was too long" and the "queen," whom he imagines is the leader of the teenage girls.  When the store's manager, Lengel, sees the girls he doesn't like

"A&P" is a short story written by John Updike published in 1986 regarding society's view on the power of desire and the power of conformity interpreted though a young cashier demanding the attention of an outside group of girls. Within this story, Updike uses literary devices to clarify the theme of influence. As an example, Updike uses similes as emphasis to enhance the mood and theme of his story. "Who shook open a paper bag as gently as peeling a peach, not wanting to miss a word" (6) he wrote. The use of this literary device allows the audience to experience this emotion of freshness and distinctiveness which directly corresponds with the theme of conformity. Prior to this, the author also uses a metaphor of sheep when referring to the

A Comparative Analysis of John Updike's "A&P' by Sherwood Anderson's is a story about Sammy. Sammy is nineteen-years-old from a small town, middle-class background, who is trying to enhance his self-worth. One day, while Sammy is at work in the A&P grocery store a group of teenage girls enters the store dressed in their bathing suits, upon seeing this Sammy's manager, approaches the girls and scolds them their clothing and perceives to tell them they shouldn't walk around in public dressed inappropriately. Wanting to impress the girls, Sammy stands up against his manager and quits his job and continues to tell his manager off. Unaware to Sammy the girls missed the exchange between him and his manager. The story of A&P uses round character, and the conflict against Sammy is internal. The idea for the story is about Freedom, a young man looking for a sense of rebellion as a reaction to his uneventful small town upbringing. Standing up against his manager towards the girls is him trying to get noticed it's the freedom in the choices we make as adolescents, that force us to grow up and can affect our futures.