John Updike was born in 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania, a small town where his father was a high school science teacher. An only child, Updike and his parents shared a house with his grandparents for much of his childhood. His mother encouraged him to write and draw. He received a tuition scholarship to Harvard University where he majored in English. As an undergraduate, he wrote stories and drew cartoons for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine, serving as the magazine's president in his senior year. Before graduating, he married fellow student Mary E. Pennington. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 1954, and in that same year sold a poem and a short story to The New Yorker magazine (Detweiler 173). The publication of Rabbit, Run increased his reputation as a leading author of his generation. Updike died of lung cancer at the age of 76 in 2009 (Achievement.org). In four of John Updike’s short stories the relationships between the men and women reveal the male characters’ desires in intimacy. The short story “Pygmalion” by John Updike begins with a man named Pygmalion describing his likes and dislikes of his first wife. He likes “her gift of mimicry,” but dislikes that “she would ask to have her backed rubbed and then, under his laboring hands, night after night fall asleep” (Trust Me 90). Pygmalion likes his second wife’s attribute of “her liveliness in bed” (Trust Me 90). He also “unconsciously” wants his second wife to perform imitations, but she does not. The second wife eventually figures out what her husband wants and does an imitation. She is lively in bed and makes him laugh with imitations: “She had become perfect for him” (Trust Me 92). But soon the second wife too asks for a back rub and “night after night,... ... middle of paper ... ...eams of C” (Problems 150). His use of everyday life, feelings and desires makes the fictional story believable. Updike’s emphasis on relationships possibly indicates his own idea that relationships between a men and women are important, especially in the ordinary lives of ordinary people. Works Cited Detweiler, Robert. John Updike. Twayne Publishers: Boston, 1972. 173. “John Updike Biography.” Academy of Achievment. 2009. Washington D.C. 9 March 2010. . Updike, John. “The Alligators.” The Same Door. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1959. 210-219. - - -. “Problems.” Problems and Other Stories. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1979. 150-153. - - -. “Pygmalion.” Trust me. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1987. 90-92. - - -. “Wife-wooing.” Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories. Fawcett Publications: Greenwich, 1962. 79-83.
The main character in John Updike's short story “A&P” is Sammy. The story's first-person context gives the reader a unique insight toward the main character's own feelings and choices, as well as the reasons for the choices. The reader is allowed to closely observe Sammy's observations and first impressions of the three girls who come to the grocery store on a summer afternoon in the early 1960s. In order to understand this short story, one must first recognize the social climate of the era, the age of the main character, and the temptation this individual faces.
Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A & P': a return visit to Araby.," Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 30, (1993) : Spring, pp. 127(7).
At first read, John Updike's 'A & P' contrasts old and new; the old manager in his settled life conflicting with the new age of girls wearing bathing suits in buildings. All the while, the narrator stuck in the middle, finally deciding to join the side of new, or youth. Instead of old vs. new, an observation closer to the heart of the story is conflict between the worlds of the rich and the middle class. ?A & P? is the setting for one man to decide in which way he will seek to follow his life, standing on his own two feet and treating everyone as equals, or bowing before the wealthy, and searching for his own riches above all else.
Porter, M. Gilbert. "John Updike's 'A & P': The Establishment and an Emersonian Cashier." English Journal 61 (Nov. 1972): 1155-1158. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.
Luscher, Robert M. John Updike: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1993.
Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A & P'" Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 30, (1993) : Spring, pp. 127(7).
McFarland, Ronald E. "Updike and the Critics: Reflections on 'A&P.'" Studies in Short Fiction 20.2-3 (1983): 95-100.
Bentley, Greg W. Sammy's Erotic Experience: Subjectivity and Sexual Difference in John Updikes "A&P". N.p.: n.p., 2004. N. pag.
Thesis- In the story “A&P”, John Updike illustrates how the protagonist, Sammy, immaturity and overall consequence is a result of his cynical attitude, and disrespectful personality and seemingly sexist stance.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
In, “A&P,” Updike depicts an unusual day for Sammy working in the A&P store. Sammy’s days are usually mundane but his day is changed when a group of scantily dressed girls walk into the store and they leave an everlasting influence on his life. Updike’s demonstrates these events through colloquial language and symbolism, allowing the reader to connect with Sammy and see his growth as a character.
In the stories written by John Updike and Jamaica Kincaid, both are completely different in terms of plot and the manner in which each were written, however through the elements of character and theme, the two can be closely associated to one another. By looking further into stories one will find that there is usually more than what meets the eye as illustrated in “Girl” and “A&P.”
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.
Callahan, John. "Review of Love and Trouble." Short Story Criticism Vol. 5. (Essay date 1974).
The bleak tone of this story takes a particularly sad and disturbing tinge when the wife illustrates a scene from early on in her marriage where she tries to get her husband to satisfy her desire and provide her with mutual satisfaction, only to have him rebuke and reprimand her. In fact, the husband responds in such a particularly brusque and hysterical manner that the reader can see how traumatized the wife would have been at ...