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Literary Analysis Of A & P By John Updike

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John Updike is known for his fictional stories showing an understanding realistic chronicle of the changing morals and manners of American society. In his story “A&P,” the narrator is nineteen-year-old Sammy. Sammy is a cashier at the “A&P Supermarket.” He tells us the story of three young girls that walk in the store wearing only their bathing suits. Sammy admires the girls from afar as soon as they walk in, but he especially has eyes for the leader of the three girls the most. The manager of the supermarket, Lengel, starts to criticize the young females. This causes them to start feeling embarrassed. To save themselves from anymore negative attention and humiliation, they try to leave the store as quickly as they can. As soon as they walk …show more content…

He openly confesses that he hopes that he says it quickly enough so maybe the girls would hear him. He bluntly tells us maybe the girls will stop and watch their unsuspected hero (Updike 134). It seems as if Sammy wants this incident to be a like a “fairy tale.” In this case, Sammy plays the part of the brave hero; the girls are the helpless princesses that are waiting to be saved by their true love and hero. And, of course, Lengel is the evil villain. In most fairy tales, the hero is trying to save the princess from the evil villain. Sammy gets his hopes up that the three young, attractive girls are admiring him for doing something so “brave.” At this point, Sammy just quit his job as a cashier at “A&P Supermarket,” and he walks out to catch up with the girls to find out if he won their attention and admiration. He looks around for the girls and to his surprise; they are nowhere to be seen. Sammy admits that his stomach drops as soon as he realizes how difficult the world is going to be from now on. Not only did Sammy never see the girls again, but because he wanted to grab their attention, he was now jobless. This happened because he was trying to be ignorant and petty while attempting to prove a point, which later came back to seek revenge on

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He comes over and says, "Girls, this isn't the beach." " (Updike pg. 163). Lengel tells the girls that their outfits go against store policy and that they must dress differently the next time they enter the shop. This embarrassed the girls and enraged Sammy. He tells Lengel that he quit and that Lengel didn't have to embarrass the girls the way he did.

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In “A&P”, John Updike wrote a short story about a male clerk at A&P grocery, named Sammy, who worked at a hot summer day shift when three young women in his age entered the store only in swimsuits to purchase some snacks. Even though shirts and shoes are required, Sammy did not report on the girls to the manager, but instead he allowed them to continue shopping as he looked and imagined the girls based on their appearance. As Sammy watched, Lengel, the store manager, felt that the three girls did not had shirts and shoes on, reprimanded them the rules, which the manager thought Sammy reported on them. Sammy did sign out after the girls left, which he not just realized the three girls’ affection, also was disappointed on this

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The grocery store symbolizes the social “norms” within a society and Sammy’s fear of living a boring and mundane life. While watching the girls shop, Sammy describes the grocery store and everything in it using bland, generic language. As he watched, he noticed that “the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) -- were pretty hilarious. You could see them, when Queenie's white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed. I bet you could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering ‘Let me see, there was a third thing, began with A, asparagus, no, ah, yes, applesauce’ or whatever it is they do mutter.”

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Lengel states, “We want you decently dresses when you come in here”. Which the girls respond, “We are decent”. Blushing, the girls seem to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. Disliking how Lengel speaks to the girls, Sammy decides to take a dramatic step and quits his job. He tries to impress the girls with this gesture, but the girls had already left.

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Sammy’s decision is stated by all as a terrible mistake. Sammy slips out of his slot and walks straight towards the door and walks out without looking back. Not surprisingly he thinks to himself, “I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course.” While trying to use a heroic gesture to feel equivalent to the girls they seem to have not appreciated the gesture and leave.

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This crafts a story with a in-depth focus on the mind of a character, who makes the choice to rebel because of three girls wearing swimsuits in a grocery store. Therefore, the distinct voice that Sammy possess ultimately gives the story a feeling of youth and

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