John Updike Irony

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Lust makes people do crazy things. John Updike’s short story “A&P” provides a perfect example of how lust made a boy quit his job. In this short story, a boy, named Sammy, catches a glimpse of three under-dressed, attractive girls as they enter his workplace. The manager asks the three girls to leave. As a result, Sammy is outraged by the mistreatment of the girls and quits his job in protest. Sammy’s stand against the mistreatment of the girls makes him feel like a hero. Updike’s use of descriptive words and dramatic irony in “A&P” leads the reader to believe that Sammy’s heroic acts were not actions with rebellious intentions, but actions due to his lust for the three under-dressed girls. Updike’s use of dramatic irony aids the reader to …show more content…

The clients of Sammy’s workplace are described as having “Six children”(Updike 645) with “Veracious vein mapping their legs”(Updike 645) and ”haven 't seen the ocean in twenty years”(Updike 645). Through the details Sammy provides about the clients explains that Sammy is starved from the sight of a girl his age, and upon the first sight of a girl nearing his age, he is instantly attracted to her. The three girls in the store are Sammy’s rescue from the small tiresome town. The final point that proves Sammy’s heroic action are because of his lust for the girls is the theme of the whole short …show more content…

Updike argues that lust only requires two attributes of another person, confidence and physical appearance. The reader can see 3 examples of Updike’s argument by analyzing Queenie’s posse. The posse walks into the A&P wearing nothing but bikinis. The fact that these three characters are wearing nothing but bikinis shows the confidence these girls have. Making a statement by wearing something against the social norm, the three girls peak Sammy’s interest. The second attribute that Updike argues is necessary for lust to occur is a strong physical appearance. All three of the girls described by Sammy are said to have strong physical appearances. The first girl has the “Good Tan” (Updike 642), the second girl has the “Striking” (Updike 643) appearances, and the third girl, Queenie, has the “long…legs”(Updike 644). The theme, the descriptive words and the dramatic irony all explain the reason for Sammy’s heroic

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