Be Your Own Person There is an unwritten set of rules that dictate what is and is not socially acceptable. The theme of “A & P” by John Updike is to be your own person. Updike uses setting, symbolism, and point of view to establish this theme. The grocery store setting is crucial to the theme. Sammy is forced to wear a tie and apron as part of his uniform which demonstrates exactly what he hates—conformity. “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle—the girls were walking against the usual traffic—were pretty hilarious. You could see them…kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed” (193). Sammy is critical of the costumers, referring to them as sheep because they follow the flock without breaking free and acting as an independent individual. The three girls cause a disruption …show more content…
Clothing in general is an important symbol for rebellion in “A & P”. But, in the girls’ case, they are rebelling by ignoring the unwritten rule of wearing clothes and shoes in stores. “…The women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street” (193). To Sammy, the bikinis represent freedom because the girls seem to be free of the rules that society forces on everyone—the girls are independent. Although the bikinis represent freedom to Sammy, to Lengel, the girls’ clothing, or lack thereof, represents disobedience. ““We want you decently dressed when you come in here”” (194). The girls are not conforming to the store’s dress code. Sammy’s own clothing becomes symbolic when he quits at the end of the story. “I pull the bow at the back of my apron and start shrugging it off my shoulders… I fold the apron, “Sammy” stitched in red on the pocket, and out it on the counter, and drop the bow tie on top of it. The bow tie is theirs…” (195). By removing the uniform, he is removing the conformity that is forced on him. He is becoming his own
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.
As they go about their errands, Sammy observes the reactions, of the other customers, to this trio of young women. He uses the word "Sheep" to describe the store regulars, as they seem to follow one and other, in their actions and reactions. The girls, however, appear to be unique in all aspects of their beings: walking, down the isles, against the grain, going barefoot and in swim suits, amongst the properly attired clientele. They are different, and this is what catches and holds Sammy's attention. He sees them in such detail, that he can even see the queen of the bunch.
Updike, John. “A&P”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 864 - 869.
Women as a gender have been objectified throughout time. Their bodies and overall usefulness have been viewed as a man’s property alone. The short story “A&P” by John Updike depicts the objectification of young girls specifically. The three girls in the story are objectified by their choice of wearing swimsuits in a convenience store, and how they reacted to being asked to leave the store. Updike’s short story centers around Sammy, the main figure objectifying the young girls. He uses his persona as a young adult male in the 1960’s to assert his dominance over them, as well as to justify how he can think about and talk to them. The concept of the objectification of young girls by men has been normalized in society or is seen as being a woman or girl’s fault because of what clothing they choose to wear or how they act. Sammy is painted as a hero in a way because of his alleged chivalrous act in defense of the girls. Nevertheless, in the view of
In his short story "A & P" John Updike utilizes a 19-year-old adolescent to show us how a boy gets one step closer to adulthood. Sammy, an A & P checkout clerk, talks to the reader with blunt first person observations setting the tone of the story from the outset. The setting of the story shows us Sammy's position in life and where he really wants to be. Through the characterization of Sammy, Updike employs a simple heroic gesture to teach us that actions have consequences and we are responsible for our own actions.
“A&P” is a short story by John Updike about a nineteen-year-old male named Sammy. Sammy lives in a small town five miles from the beach and works at a grocery store called A&P. Throughout the story Sammy reveals signs of agitation at his job. Things begin to change as he gazed his eyes on three girls that walk into the store. The A&P and the girls are important symbols in “A&P” that help reveal the conflict in the story.
The constant metaphorical description of the regular A&P customers as sheep sets the adults, in the era of the Cold War as a people that wouldn’t think for themselves and shut down when an anomaly occurred. The first time Updike describes the regulars as sheep is when they are “pushing their carts down the aisle”. These aisles are also described as narrow and very similar to blinders, or walled off passages that livestock would travel down before being slaughtered, so that the animals would be completely ignorant of what was to come. Even while there were no “one-way signs or anything,” the girls were defined as going “against the usual traffic”
“The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece,” (131) He evaluates their looks and all the details about the way they carry themselves. Sammy also notices their personalities and their motivation for entering the store dressed the way they are. The author purposely had these girls flaunt their bodies to show how society may judge you for what you wear. The way Sammy focuses on the girls and how they are dressed exposes his own prejudices and blind spots. He has a desire to set himself apart so that he can prove to girls that he is different which leads him to quit his job. By doing this Sammy proves to be a dynamic character. He changes with whatever comes his
Sammy’s adolescence can also be seen by the way he describes the customers that arrive daily to the grocery store. In the story he mentions them as being like “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (156). Comparing people as animals can be seen as childish and slightly disrespectful. Although Sammy behaves immaturely for half of the story, during the climax he begins to act more mature.
Sammy, the protagonist in John Updike’s “A&P,” is a dynamic character because he reveals himself as an immature, teenage boy at the beginning of the story and changes into a mature man at the end. The way Sammy describes his place of work, the customers in the store, and his ultimate choice in the end, prove his change from an immature boy to a chivalrous man. In the beginning, he is unhappy in his place of work, rude in his description of the customers and objectification of the three girls, all of which prove his immaturity. His heroic lifestyle change in the end shows how his change of heart and attitude transform him into mature young man.
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
Lengel, the manager of the store, spots the girls and gives them a hard time about their dress in the store. He tells them, “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” He says that they are not dressed appropriately to come into this grocery store. Lengel’s words cause Queenie to get embarrassed and start to blush. Sammy cannot believe this and gets frustrated at his boss. He doesn’t believe that it is right to prosecute these innocent girls for the way they are dressed. He also states at this point that the sheep are piling up over in Stokesie line trying to avoid all the commotion the scene has caused. I believe Sammy takes this as the last straw in a long string of aggravations.
The story unfolds when, “Lengel, the store’s manager” (2191) confronts the girls because they are dressed inappropriately. To Sammy, it is a moment of embarrassment and in defiance he quits his job. The student suggests that in quitting, “Sammy challenges social inequality and is a person who is trying to
Before the girls enter the store, Sammy is unaware that the setting he is so judgmental of reflects his own life. Sammy feels that he is better than the rest of people at the A&P, referring to them as "sheep" and "house-slaves" because they never break from their daily routines. He also condescendingly talks about "whatever it is they[the customers]...mutter." Reinforcing his superiority above the people in the store, Sammy sees himself as a person that can seldom be "trip[ped]...up." Although he sees himself being superior to the store, the reality is that the store closely reflects Sammy's life. He seems to have a long-term commitment to the store since his apron has his name stitched on it, and he has been working at the store long enough to have memorized the entire contents of the "cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks-crackers-and-cookies." His day is also filled with the routine of working at the register, a routine that is so familiar that he has created a cash register song. Sammy also identifies with his co-worker Stokesie, "the responsible married man," and therefore wishes to someday be the manager of the store, like Lengel. Even the "checkerboard" floor represents a game of checkers, a simple one-directional game that closely models Sammy's life. Although Sammy is nineteen ...
John Updike's A&P provides numerous perspectives for critical interpretation. His descriptive metaphors and underlying sexual tones are just the tip of the iceberg. A gender analysis could be drawn from the initial outline of the story and Sammy's chauvinism towards the female. Further reading opens up a formalist and biographical perspective to the critic. After several readings I began seeing the Marxist perspective on the surreal environment of A&P. The economic and social differences are evident through Sammy's storytelling techniques and even further open up a biographical look at Updike's own view's and opinions. According to an essay posted on the internet Updike was a womanizer in his own era and displayed boyish immaturity into his adulthood. A second analysis of this story roots more from a reader-response/formalist view. Although Sammy centered his dramatization around three young females, more specifically the Queen of the trio, it was a poignant detailed head to toe description of scene. I'll touch on that later.