John Updike's A & P

John Updike is considered one of the greatest writers in modern American history. He is known for the idea that seemingly ordinary aspects of American life are actually quite fascinating. He wanted readers to see the beauty and magic of life, so he tried to describe everyday things using the most clear but beautiful language possible. Many of Updike’s pieces are drawn from his own life such as his marriage and his boyhood, as shown in three of his short stories: “A&P”, “Ace in the Hole”, and “Pigeon Feathers”. Updike’s narrative technique is explored through the analysis of plot structure, thematic patterning, and irony in these three short stories.

John Updike's story "A&P" talks about a 19-year old lad, Sammy, who has a job at the local grocery store, the A&P. Sammy works at the register in the store and is always observing the people who walk in and out each day. On this particular day that the story takes place, Sammy is caught off guard when a cluster of girls walk into the store wearing just their bathing suits. This caught Sammy's attention because the nearest beach is five miles away and he could not figure out why they would still be in their suits. Sammy continues to overlook the girls in the store throughout their endeavor to pick up some item's that they were sent in for. While they are wandering around the store Sammy watches the reactions of other customers, is yelled at

Wearing only bathing suits, three girls walk into a store, causing chaos and forever altering one

John Updike, one of the most forward-thinking and socially provocative writers of the 50s and 60s, is known for his “incisive presentation of the quandaries of contemporary personal and social life.” (Lawn 529) Updike graduated from Harvard University and wrote for one of the more cutting edge publications like The New Yorker- both are notoriously ahead of their time and harbor controversial ideas. In his short story “A&P”, Updike reveals a young man named Sammy in a society on the brink of a social revolution- one in which a group of girls and an innocent cashier will unknowingly lead. Updike, through symbolism and syntax, shows how the girls are leading the revolution, how Sammy is feeling the wrath of this revolution, and

Originally when the girls come into the store Sammy thought the three girls were ignorant and foolish. This is seen from his lack of understanding of women “You never know for sure how girls’ minds work” (Updike 1) When Sammy says this he reveals what he really thinks of women. This not only shows he does not understand women but also how he assumes without previous knowledge that these three girls were ignorant. Sammy assumes they are ignorant because they do not see things the same way or do not see eye to eye. Sammy shows more of this when he says “Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t help it” (Updike 2). Sammy assumes that just because they are girls that they lack intelligence that men possess. He thinks that the girls should be afraid or fearful for trying to stand up for their cause. Sammy also does not view the girls as beings but rather objects. As in the story Sammy says “It is alright for those young girls to walk around in their bathing suits, but other women with six children and varicose veins, should put on some clothes.” (Updike 3) Based on this we can conclude that Sammy is not as interested in the

Primarily, Updike portrays Sammy as a sarcastic and hypercritical teenage boy who has very little respect for his customers who are primarily women. It’s understandable that a horny teenage boy would be terribly distracted when three girls enter the grocery store wearing only swimsuits; however, his first thought was to refer to a grown woman as “witch about fifty with no eyebrows,” because she got upset with Sammy for ringing up the HiHo crackers twice. To follow he stated “if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem.”

A & P is a story of Sammy who is a 19 year old boy working as a clerk at a grocery store in a small town in New England. Published back in 1961 narrative defining A & P is the popular mythology of 1960s basically where youthful rebellion powers took over the soulless system. (Sustana) Therefore Updike has written a story that includes key elements of myth along with the background of postwar prosperity and the attendant consumer culture. Where there is a strong hint of the Cold War as hero character of the story, Sammy imagines A & P controlled by Russians in 1990. Narrative revolves around the obligatory opposition of authority and youth in the confrontation between Lengel, girls and Sammy. Story provides particular significant indicators of the 1960s seismic social upheavals in the shape of inappropriate dresses of the girls. Girls walking in revealing bathing suits depicted the immodesty around the A & P and remained a forerunner of various confrontations over public decency of the resultant decade ahead.

Sammy's jokes along with him, but he feels the only difference between himself, single, and the married Stokesie is their marital status. Stokesie is contented in working at the A&P, whereas Sammy seems undecided to take the same path of him. As he watch the other customers and his coworkers' reactions, he feels a twinge of guilt for the girls for having compromised themselves, without them realizing it. This feeling suddenly changes to excitement when the girls choose Sammy's checkout line to make a purchase. The store manager, Lengel, approaches Sammy's check out lane. He reprimands the girls for wearing a bathing suit in the establishment, citing a store policy. The girls are embarrassed and Queenie argue that they are only running a quick errands for her mother. But Lengel again tells them that they must dress appropriately next time. As the girls begin to leave the store, Sammy suddenly outburst that his quitting his job, as a sign of protest to Lengel offensively embarrassing the girls. Sammy hopes the girls are watching him. Lengel tries to talk Sammy out of it, telling him that he will regret the decision later and

This story reminded me of the time I worked in a grocery store in high school. I always found myself observing people in their natural states. I questioned their tendencies, choice of groceries, and their apparel. I can't blame Sammy for doing the same. Before we question Sammy's maturity, we can't forget that he is a 19 year-old boy with a lousy summer job. How mature do we really expect him to be? I don't think we can judge Sammy's thoughts on women based on his descriptions of the girls. He is simply questioning their actions, movements, and decision to come into the grocery store in just bathing suits.

It has become a fact of life that our world is governed categorization. There is nothing in our realm of awareness that has not been labelled or ranked. These practices originated from the basic human conditioning for survival and understanding. However, they soon developed into numerous attitudes, behaviors, judgments and systems of policies that have constrained and segregated our population (Kadi). Heeding the ominous effects of these systems of classification, John Updike utilizes his short story “A&P”, as a reflector of our society. Updike exercises the literary elements of a condescending tone, commonplace setting and the characterization of Queenie to showcase the influence of classism in our country. Updike’s

Have you ever made mistakes that you regret later? So did almost 19 year old Sammy in John Updike’s short story “A&P”. Sammy works as a cashier at a family friend’s store A&P. He isn’t a teenager anymore but he isn’t no where ready for the real world. In the story “A&P” he goes through a life changing experience that taught him a very important

A&P takes place in a small town in New England. Sammy is a kid working the register at the A&P store. The story is told through Sammy’s point of view. Three young girls in bathing suits enter the A&P grocery store. Sammy evaluates how they appear and analyses their personalities and reasoning for walking into the store with the clothing that they had on. Sammy takes special notice of one girl, who seems to lead the group. Sammy gives her the name “Queenie,” due to her sense of leadership and attractiveness. The girls go from aisle to aisle, making their presence known.

John Updike’s mother, Linda Grace Hoyer, was an inspiring and passionate writer. Her influence on Updike was perpetual. He grew up to be successful in high school as well as Harvard, where he graduated with a degree in English. The short story A&P, written by Updike, is wonderfully written and full of implications and scenarios that lead his audience to draw conclusions and opinions based on their knowledge. At the time of Updike’s work, women were just beginning to take a stand for their rights and challenge long-established gender roles.

The story of A&P is written by John Updike. The story is written by Updike in 1961 as well. The story takes place in a chain grocery story names A&P, which is a famous store at the time in the United States. The story's main characters are Sammy, Queenie, Stokesie, Lengal, and two other girls who are friends with Queenie. Sammy is a nineteen-year-old cashier at the grocery store who is also the narrator of the story. Queenie is one of the leading protagonists of the story, and ringleader of her group of girlfriends. Stokesie is Sammy's co-worker at the grocery store, who is also married as well. Lastly, Lengal is the manager of the A&P store and the boss of Sammy and Queenie.

John Updike’s short story “A&P” appeals to Updike’s feelings regarding today’s customer conditioned society, and choosing to live “honestly and meaningfully.” Although this short story has a deeper meaning from Updike’s point of view, personally, the story did not exhibit any meaningful message. However, perhaps Updike’s main purpose for the story is to portray how people assume that living for a purpose means addressing useless things that have no meaning in order to feel as if one has impacted society in a positive way or made a difference in the world.