Theme Of Feminism In A & P By John Updike

Feminism : A Work in Progress
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

This being the first line of the story depicts a beginning scene where the girls are automatically seen as wearing nothing, although they have their bathing suits on. The main character Sammy, upon seeing the young girls come in, views nothing but bodies, ripe for his attention. Unfortunately covered in bathing suits in his sexual eyes, the text seems to read. The key phrase in the literature is that Sammy gapes at them and observes nothing on the girls. Sammy describes each girl in their different bathing suits with painstaking detail, analyzing all of their flaws the majority of the time he is examining them, but pointing out their few strong points and attractions as well. His singular attraction is toward the main girl, whom he starts to call Queenie, and nicknames the other two Plaid, and Big Tall Goony