Possible Futures In John Updike's A & P

John Updike's "A&P" is about a boy named Sammy, who lives a simple life while working in a supermarket he seems to despise. As he is following his daily routine, three girls in bathing suits enter the store. The girls affect everyone's monotonous lives, especially Sammy's. Because the girls disrupt the routines of the store, Sammy becomes aware of his life and decides to change himself.

Sammy begins the story by describing the three girls in bathing suits who have walked into the A & P grocery store. The girl who catches his attention is a chunky girl in a plaid green two-piece swimsuit. As Sammy continues to observe the girls, his interest seems to focus only on the girl who leads the other two into the store. Sammy refers to the girl he likes as "Queenie",someone showing poise and leadership, while the other girls

Firstly, setting plays a crucial part of the story because of where and when the story takes place. This story takes place around the 1950’s in the United States near Boston. In the story, it read “It's not as if we're on the Cape; we're north of Boston and there's people in this town haven't seen the ocean for twenty years.” (Updike) This quote demonstrates of why the locals in the town where so upset to see the three young girls wearing only their bathing suits in the supermarket. This also takes place in a much older generation that is not okay with people walking around with revealing clothing. That is why Sammy’s boss, Lengel was so upset with the

The short story “A&P” written by John Updike, is about three girls who change Sammy’s life. The three girls came from the beach and are not dressed properly to enter a grocery store called A&P. Sammy, the main character, is a check out clerk, and observes every detail about the girls. Sam even gives each of the girls a name. His favorite is “Queenie.” Sammy is obviously the type of guy who doesn’t get a lot of girls. Sam has a conflict of person vs. society. Because of his dead end job, obsession with Queenie, and his noble act to save the girls from embarrassment, Sammy has a conflict between himself and society.

He verbally attacks the girls, saying "This isn't the beach... After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It's our policy." (336). Not only does he attack the girl's outward appearance, but he also attacks them emotionally. Lengel's actions cause everyone in the store to stop and stare at the girls, causing the half-naked trio to become somewhat uncomfortable with what they are wearing, embarrassing the girls beyond all shame. Lengel does not stop for one second to think that maybe these girls have more pride than they are outwardly expressing. He does not seem to care who the girls are, or what the girls can become, he simply stereotypes them into being nothing more than those of ill-repute. Even though Lengel has spent the entire morning "Haggling with a truck full of cabbages" (335), this is still no reason to "fly off" at the three girls for doing nothing more than representing the free-spirited, individualistic, andnon-conformists of the era.

He can let Lengel’s criticism of Queenie and her friends go, therefore conforming to society’s standards, or he can voice his own opinions and become independent. He appears to come to his own conclusion on what to do when he reminds himself of Queenie’s reaction to Lengel. Updike writes, “but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside I punch the No Sale tab and the machine whirs ‘pee-pul’ and the drawer splats out” (167). Sammy then realizes the magnitude of what he has done once he has left the store. Updike writes, “… and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (167). Sammy knows that now, since he has gone against the normalities of society, he will not be looked upon fondly by others around him. Although he may not be liked by all, he has become his own person with his own thoughts, marking his coming of age and transition to adulthood. The external conflict experienced by Sammy in “A&P” helped him transition from conformity to

“In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits”.(Updike 430) John Updike immediately introduces the 1962 short story “A & P” with a strong voice and an eye catching event. Updike continues the short story with partial sentences, word repetition, and tense shifts to bring excitement and life to the readers. A & P is the grocery store, located in a small New England town that tells the life of a typical 19 year old boy who is maturing into adulthood.Through the eyes of the narrator the readers are quickly introduced to three mouth drooling, beautiful, and confident teenage girls. As they casually stroll into the store looking for a specific item, they attract all the eyes of every man in the store; especially Sammy, the narrator. Updike demonstrates the power their desirability has over the men which causes a commotion at A & P. Despite the narrator 's final decision, Queenie and the other two girls are shown as the power of aspiration, his desirable future, and how women was seen during this time.

Their wealth allows them to most likely live within a large city where the world moves much faster than in the rural regions and even in the suburbs. Whereas cities are always advancing in all aspects, the small communities, much like the one Sammy lives in, tend to hold onto tradition and more conservative values. The normal behavior for beach-goers in this small town is, as Updike so blatantly puts it, “the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street.” (Lawn 401) The three girls are part of a new generation, one that is changing styles of fashion and lifestyle faster than ever before.

The intense interaction between Lengel and Queenie escalates into a small argument, resulting in Queenies embarrassment “Queenies blush is no sunburn now” (194). Lengel decides to end their interaction by restating policy, and communicating with Sammy that it is time to ring up their purchases. The opportunity for Sammy to act on his feelings has now arrived, the intense conversation, coupled with the numerous external cues regarding Queenie, has bombarded his thought process, and he has aggregated ever clear his intention to draw closer to her, and ultimately derives the motivation for the next two words he speaks, “I quit” (195). Sammy hopes that these brazen words will capture the attention and kinship of the girls, to form his ever so desired connection, “hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected

The three girls in the story, Queenie and her two sidekicks flaunt their young bodies in very small bikini bathing suits in a small, conservative, town general store. Their “dirty-pink—beige…bathing suits with a little nubble all over it” (p371) is one of the very few examples of sexuality throughout this story.

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,

Even though Sammy’s mindset is childlike, he still tries to portray himself in an adult manner. The reader can observe throughout the story the way in which Sammy thinks to be immature and quick to judge. Having his concentration only on the girls, he made a mistake while ringing up a customer. Because he is so focused on how the girls are dressed and what they are up to, he has full descriptions of each girl and thinks he has them all figured out. He points out the leader and even names her “Queenie” while not giving the other two as much attention. The reader can see how Sammy sort of mocks some of the customers when he sees Lengel “checking the sheep through” (Updike 435). Sammy’s priority, which should only be ringing up customers, but happens to be seeing what the girls are up

"So I say 'I quit' to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me." When Sammy quits his job, it is obvious he is doing out of envy for these girls. He mentions that he was hoping for the girls to stop and watch him but after he quits and walks out of the A&P grocery store, the girls are gone. "I look around for my girls, but they are gone, of course." Sammy's jealousy towards the girls has grown from their good looks to their parents parties to his quitting his job just so they notice him, which they

The 1960’s was a time of rebellion. African Americans rebelled against a corrupt justice system and police force. People across America, especially young people, protested the Vietnam War. The 1960’s were a pivotal time in the United States chockful of rebellion and unrest, so it’s natural that the arts and literature of the time reflected this. The short story A&M features strong themes of rebellion in most aspects of the story, from Sammy quitting to the girls leaving without thanking him. But the most prominent examples of rebellion in this story by the “bikini girls” are the girls wearing the bikinis in the first place and the girls insisting they are decent when Mr. Lengel confronts them.

Thus, Sammy, the first person narrator, plays an essential role in portraying an in depth viewpoint of the story.  His portrayal of a typical teen working in a dead-end job, his thoughts and feelings are very obvious in the story "A & P." He develop through out the story, he did some outstanding decision that the reader would not expect.