The older generation thought it was for the worst, because the younger generation seemed to be going wild. The younger generation thought it was for the best, because of the freedom offered. Sammy, who is a typical 19 year old boy, gets side tracked by three beautiful girls and quits his job. Queenie, the most attractive leader of the three girls, defends, herself and her friends from the store manager when he tells the girls they are not dressed to company policy. Lengel, the store manager, is very uptight and all for the store company policy. This story has a lot of contrasting themes, including generational, traditional, and coming of age. In earlier years, women wore clothes that covered their entire bodies. They had parents who were …show more content…
Younger girls did not believe in covering of their bodies any more, because they felt they get more attention wearing half-dressed clothes. Lengel, tells the girls " we want you decently dressed when you come in here." Queenie and her friends felt that they were not doing any thing wrong. Queenie, says " we are dressed decent " as their walked in the A&P with just bathing suits on. The older generation sees this as disrespect to the elderly. They felt that girls in the new generation felt no remorse in their way of dressing, and they did not care about being a typical teenage girl. It was a decade of extremes, of transformational change and bizarre contrasts. This is when the generation conflicts. The coming of age theme is evident seen in the teenagers of the new generation. They were nothing like the traditional teenagers in the early 60s. Girls were not respecting their parents, girls' clothing were to over rated, girls choice of clothing were not appropriate to the older generation. Young girls did not worry if every man turned his head to look at them, for the clothes they had on. The older generation worked hard and put a lot of time in raising their younger girls up, to be respectful young
The plot of the story deals with three girls who come into the store dressed only in bathing suits. They make their entrance in the very first sentence, and they complicate Sammy's life. At first, Sammy, his older friend Stokesie, and McMahon the butcher all look at the girls lustfully. But of them all, only Sammy enjoys the entertainment the girls bring. The other shoppers crash their carts, look stunned, and are suddenly jarred out of their everyday routine. Sammy, who seems bored with his job, finds the change amusing. He even begins to feel sorry for the girls when everyone else stares at them lustfully. The plot's major conflict occurs late in the story when Lengel, the manager, comes in and scolds the girls. Sammy knows that they are on their way out of the store, but Lengel has to yell at them and make them feel bad.
While it's true that Sammy finds the three scantily-clad girls who enter the supermarket attractive, as would any normal nineteen-year-old male, what is most notable about his descriptions of the girls, and particularly of the "leader" of the group, is that Sammy holds them in contempt. Once we get beyond the descriptions of their bodies, we see nothing but derogatory comments directed at them, including the derisive nicknames that Sammy assigns to them. Nowhere is this more evident than in Sammy's description of the leader, "Queenie." The nickname assigned to her by Sammy points out the stereotypical snap judgment that Sammy makes about her personality and social status initially, and to which Sammy rigidly adheres despite no real evidence of its accuracy. From the description of her "prima donna" legs, to his imagining of ...
This story represents a coming-of-age for Sammy. Though it takes place over the period of a few minutes, it represents a much larger process of maturation. From the time the girls enter the grocery store, to the moment they leave, you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he sees only the physicality of the girls: how they look and what they are wearing, seem to be his only observations. As the story progresses, he notices the interactions between the girls, and he even determines the hierarchy of the small dynamic. He observes their actions and how they affect the other patrons of the business. Rather, how the other people view the girl's actions. His thought process is maturing and he starts to see things as an adult might see them.
Imagine walking in the streets where all other women and girls are dressed in long dresses, look modest, and have long hair with hats. Then, there is a girl with a short skirt and bobbed hair smoking a cigarette. This girl makes a statement and is critically judged by many people for dressing this way. Women during the 1920s were not to look “boyish” in any way, so when short hair and short skirt were introduced, it was seen as shameful. The girls wearing this new style were known as flappers. Their style was introduced in the early 1910s but did not spark until the 1920s. The style was said to be more comfortable, but was not appealing to the more conservative. Before the change of style, most women were dressed modestly; however, women's
Because of this new demographic, people started seeing teenagers differently than children, as they did before. They had more freedom; they would be able to go out after school, they would start doing some “adult” activities, such as working. They had more independence from their parents. Teenagers would usually want to stay alone in their rooms talking to friends over the rotary dial phone (if they had one) or they would sneak out at night to go to clubs and parties.
In John Updike’s “A&P”, the revolution of the young people of the current age against authority is explored and explained. “A&P” reveals the shift from conservative and deferential to avant-garde and disrespectful. Through the observation of the behavior of the characters in the story, one can receive a clear picture of the evolution of the sexual revolution that has come in this age. Sammy is the first character that is introduced, he is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Stoksie and Lengel are next, Stoksie is a fellow store clerk with Sammy as well as a good friend and Lengel is the manager of the store. Finally, Queenie is introduced. “A&P” begins with Sammy noticing these three girls that come into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. Sammy then proceeds to analyze each of the girls bodies, finally coming to rest on the leader of the group, his favorite, who he affectionately names to himself, “Queenie”. Although Sammy and Stoksie joke back and forth about the girls sexiness, he is privately revolted by the butchers bluntly ogling the girls as they search for whatever they wish to purchase. Throughout this recounting of the experience, one begins to wonder, when did girls become pieces of meat to be observed and handled by men? They used to be cherished and protected as they should be. The sexual revolution of the past and current decades have changed all of that.
Sammy mentioned that “You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?) but you got the idea she had talked the other two into coming in here with her, and now she was showing them how to do it, walk slow and hold yourself straight” (129) as he observing the girls. Thus, this statement indicates Sammy being impressed of the girls’ determination to break the norms of bathing suit, which only decent to be worn on the beach. It also indicates how Queenie inspire and support her friend to do the same things. Queenie’s bravery can also be seen from the way she is answering Lengel after he embarrassed her. Sammy describes her voice when answering Lengel as “coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony” (131), which indicate she is fearless and not feel any guilt for what she is wearing. In addition, she is also bravely state “we are decent” as Lengel criticizes her as not decently dressed. From the evidence in the text, it indicates the girl is deliberately wear a bathing suit to the store. For instance, Sammy make some statements like one of the girl’s “belly is pretty pale” (129) which indicates no sunburn and “our town is 5 miles from the beach” (130) rejects the idea of the girls’ are coming from or about to go to the beach. Corey Evan Thompson makes a claims that Sammy is only interested in the girls’ bodies,
Queenie is confronted by Lengel at the check-out counter for the way they are dressed which causes her and the others to blush. In responds to this she says "We weren’t doing any shopping. We just came in for the one thing." Lengel still tells them that they aren’t decently dressed and cause a big embarrassing scene for the girls. Queenie stands up for them by saying "We are decent,".
Sammy watches every step the girls take while criticizing and admiring them at the same time. His observations of the leader who he refers to as Queenie and her followers give him an insight of who they are personally. Sammy likes Queenie as she possesses confidence which sets her apart from the group. Sammy, still being a young boy likes that her bathing suit has “slipped on her a little bit” (Updike 158). Updike conveys the obvious that Sammy cannot look away from Queenie when “there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her”. Updike includes these small details and imagery to indulge the reader in the perception that Sammy at this point in his life is a clueless teenage
Sammy is astounded by three young girls that walk into his store in their bathing suits. He follows their every move as they peruse over the cookies and other goods. The first thing this typical nineteen boy recognizes is the one girl’s “can”. But then he goes on to say that this girl is one that other girls seems to think has potential but never really makes it with the guys. One girl though especially catches his eye. He starts to call her “Queenie” because of the way she carries herself and that she seems to be the leader of the pack. Sammy does nothing but watch her every move as they parade about the store. He even daydreams about going into her house with her rich family at a cocktail party. He notices everything about her and thinks there was nothing cuter than the way she pulls the money out of her top. His immature infatuation with this girl is one of the reasons Sammy makes the hasty decision to quit in the end.
By them going against their gender roles and being inappropriately dressed in A & P, they also create the possibility for tragedy to occur. The manager of A & P, Lengel, an old Sunday school teacher embodies what is expected to be the male gender role of that time when he publically chastises the girls for being dressed in that manner in the store. Despite the girls’ attempts to justify their actions of being dressed in this manner by saying that they only came in to buy one thing, Lengel maintains his masculine gender role of keeping women in line. Lengel states quite matter-of-factly, “We want you decently dressed when you come in here.” (Updike 234). It is at this moment that Queenie pushes the envelope even further in going against her gender roles, by answering back Lengel. Queenie’s response of “We are decent,” (Updike 234) shows her somewhat rebellious and disrespectful nature, and her disregard for Lengel’s patriarchal authority. She instead would have been expected in this scenario to possibly apologize to Lengel and leave the store with her friends since he was not only male but senior to her thus demanding her
The third event in this fictional narrative is the argument that Queenie and the manager, Lengel The feud concluded Lengel upset about the way the girls are dressed, and that they should come into the store next time decent, But Queenie begged to differ, she says she is dressed decent, Lengel says," Girls, I don't want to argue with you, after this come in here with your shoulders covered.
As the student develops his essay, Sammy begins to compare the girls to other customers in the store. From “houseslaves in pin curlers” to “an old party in baggy gray pants” (2192 ), Sammy negatively characterizes customers in contrast to the leader of the girls, Queenie. To Sammy, the girl is someone that is not from their town. She is everything that every girl envies and wants to be. In contrast to Sammy, she will spend her summer vacationing while he spends it working. It is clear to Sammy that their worlds are different, however it is also obvious that he would like to explore hers.
In the article it informs the readers that “No period has shown more rapid change in silhouette of woman’s fashion than the first 50 years of the twentieth century. Each change of outer fashion was reflected in the underfashion in order to give women the silhouette and [character] that fashion demanded… which nature intended” (“Fifty Years of Change”). At this time period, female roles became more reasonable because women were given the rights to vote and as well as being apart of the workforce. According to Presley, “By 1970, 7,500,000 woman worked outside the home. Social and political unions for women were formed… The suffragette movement continued to grow” (“Fifty Years of Change”). Changes that happened to female gender roles during the 1900s were shown throughout society at the time by the types of clothing such like pants normally worn by workers, and even corsets that women at home used throughout the day; women wore what was suitable for those who worked or stayed at
From the age differences we get to experience how the women and girls thought back then and the sense of their maturity level. With the young girls having on flip flops and bathing suits inside of a grocery store, it probably offended the older women who were covered. This is a learning experience for the cashier inside the grocery store as well as all