In “A&P” by John Updike we have the theme of desire, change, conformity, rebellion, liberation and consumerism. Taken from his “The Early Stories” collection the story is narrated in the first person by a young nineteen year old boy named Sammy. After reading the story, the reader realises that Updike may be exploring the theme of desire. Though it is obvious that Sammy is physically attracted to Queenie as the story continues, the reader also senses that Sammy wants to live his life as he thinks Queenie may be living hers. While Queenie is at the check-out, Sammy imagines what parties at Queenie’s house may be like. Unlike the parties his own parents have, which Sammy considers to be boring, he imagines parties at Queenie’s home to be more …show more content…
exciting. This may be important as it is possible that Updike is suggesting or highlighting to the reader the desire that Sammy has to live a life beyond what he already knows and which he does not accept. There is a sense that Sammy wishes to change his life. It may also be important that Sammy’s perception of Queenie and how she lives her life is based on two observations that Sammy makes. He believes that Queenie, by walking around the store in her bathing suit, is living her life as she chooses as an individual rather than conforming to societal norms by purchasing some Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks Queenie must be upper-middle class unlike Sammy who is working class.
Sammy also appears to objectify Queenie and often compares her or parts of her body to commodities. This is noticeable when Sammy compares Queenie’s chest to a “dented sheet of metal tilted in the light.” Also while Queenie is at the checkout paying for the Herring Snacks Sammy again compares Queenie’s chest to “the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known were there.” Though both of these incidents may highlight that Sammy is viewing Queenie as a product or commodity (that he could buy in the store) it is also possible that Updike is suggesting that Sammy lacks the maturity to view Queenie as a person rather than as a commodity, he is after all still only nineteen. Some critics also suggest that by quitting his job, he not only acted impulsively, but that again he is showing a lack of maturity. By quitting his job, it is also possible that Sammy is displaying a sense of individuality which mirrors the individuality that he believes Queenie and her friends are showing by walking around the store in their bathing …show more content…
suits. This theme presents an interesting counterpoint to the theme of religion in "Good Country People." For Mrs.
Hopewell, existence rests in having, as her name suggests, a hopeful outlook on life. Hugo, however, with her doctoral degree in philosophy, sees life as a meaningless illusion. And though Manley is on a similar existential journey, Hulga can not see past his country boy exterior long enough to really listen to him. The story seriously questions the nature of life, while at the same time poking fun at oh-so-serious philosophical discourses."Good Country People" looks at views, is in a state of identity crisis due in large part to her health issues and her general superiority the ways the characters identify themselves and others. Mrs. Hopewell sees her employees as either "good country people" or "trash" (3), and herself as above both of them. Her identity remains relatively fixed throughout this darkly funny tale. By contrast, Hulga, who shares some of her complex. In the case of both mother and daughter, the labels they throw around blind them to the people they come in contact with. This is never really challenged for Mrs. Hopewell, but when the Bible salesman Manley Pointer enters their world, Hulga learns that there is more to good country people than she ever thought before, as a result, her own identity is fiercely challenged. "Good Country People" doesn't exactly seem suffused with love. The characters have incredibly tough exteriors and seem bent on
annihilating rather than loving each other. Yet, we would argue that a deep love drives the story—O'Connor is just the kind of writer who expresses her love for the world by showing its dark side. Manley and Hulga are both, on some level, reaching out to the possibility of love. Unfortunately, what might have been a genuine connection takes a seriously sour turn. But hey: Just because love is a theme does not mean anyone in the story has to be good at it. "Good Country People" looks at class and social divisions in the southern United States in the 1950s or thereabouts. Mrs. Hopewell is a wealthy landowner who sees her employees as beneath her because of their lower economic class, and she further divides working class folks into the categories of "trash" and "good country people." It is not quite clear what the criteria are for membership in either of these classes, though. Hulga, her daughter and the protagonist of the story, looks down on the same people her mother does. However, her disdain has focused on their lack of education, and what she perceives as their lack of intelligence. Bible salesman Manley's vengeful act challenges Hulga's views, though as far as we know, Mrs. Hopewell remain, stable. Both stories are similar to each other because each of the characters have problems with love and being rebels.
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.
Updike chose to have Sammy speak with colloquial language. By having Sammy speak in this manner it expresses to the reader his age and allow them to connect with him. For example in the beginning of the story Sammy describes one of the girls, “There was this chunky one, with the two-piece -- it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp…” Sammy’s description of the girl as “chunky” reveals his age to the reader and how much he progresses later on in the story. Furthermore, Sammy’s informal speech provides the reader with the understanding that he is an average teenager, thus,
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.
While it's true that Sammy finds the three scantily-clad girls who enter the supermarket attractive, as would any normal nineteen-year-old male, what is most notable about his descriptions of the girls, and particularly of the "leader" of the group, is that Sammy holds them in contempt. Once we get beyond the descriptions of their bodies, we see nothing but derogatory comments directed at them, including the derisive nicknames that Sammy assigns to them. Nowhere is this more evident than in Sammy's description of the leader, "Queenie." The nickname assigned to her by Sammy points out the stereotypical snap judgment that Sammy makes about her personality and social status initially, and to which Sammy rigidly adheres despite no real evidence of its accuracy. From the description of her "prima donna" legs, to his imagining of ...
Sammy's feelings for Queenie changes when he hears her voice. Her voice is normal and he has built this romantic image of her in his mind. Hearing her voice and realizing she is a normal person, (that happens to be wealthy) slightly changes his feelings for her. It brings him back to reality a little. “Her voice kind of startled me, the way voices do when you see the people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony, too, the way it ticked over "pick up" and "snacks." All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room.” Sammy feels as if he has no chance to get noticed by her unless he does something out of the ordinary. So after she is done arguing with Lengel, Sammy decides to stand up for her and quit his job in hopes that she will notice him.
Sammy was obviously near the bottom of the class ladder, a place where he was extremely unhappy. His dead-end job at the grocery store, where lower class citizens are the prime patrons, was not a place he felt he belonged. He wanted to be a member of the family where the "father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big glass plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them" (Updike 1028). Sammy realizes that Queenie comes from this sort of background, a very different one from his. When Queenie is being harassed by Lengel, Sammy sees that "she remembers her place, a place from which the crowd that runs the A & P must look pretty crummy" (Updike 1028). Queenie’s family was in the class that he envied, that he admired, that he wanted to become a part of.
Sammy observes their movements and gestures, up until the time of checkout. At which point, they are confronted by the store manager and chastised for their unacceptable appearance. He believes their attire is indecent. Sammy, feeling that the managerial display was unnecessary and unduly embarrassing for the girls, decides to quit his position as checker. Though he knows that his decision may be hasty, he knows that he has to follow through and he can never go back.
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.
I quit! These words can be attached to so many things in life. At times in life things seem to be different then they really are, for instance the thrill and the excitement of having a summer job or even successfully getting a first job. There are certain moments in a person’s life that will always have an impact on them one could call this a definitive moment or an epiphany. In the short story A&P by John Updike the main character Sammy has an epiphany in that he realizes that a moral line has been crossed in his working environment.
Sammy is astounded by three young girls that walk into his store in their bathing suits. He follows their every move as they peruse over the cookies and other goods. The first thing this typical nineteen boy recognizes is the one girl’s “can”. But then he goes on to say that this girl is one that other girls seems to think has potential but never really makes it with the guys. One girl though especially catches his eye. He starts to call her “Queenie” because of the way she carries herself and that she seems to be the leader of the pack. Sammy does nothing but watch her every move as they parade about the store. He even daydreams about going into her house with her rich family at a cocktail party. He notices everything about her and thinks there was nothing cuter than the way she pulls the money out of her top. His immature infatuation with this girl is one of the reasons Sammy makes the hasty decision to quit in the end.
As people age, maturity and wisdom is gained through every experiences. From the time a child turns eighteen and becomes an adult, they are required to deal with the realities of the real world and learn how to handle its responsibilities. In John Updike's short story, "A&P", the protagonist Sammy, a young boy of nineteen, makes a drastic change to his life fueled by nothing more than his immaturity and desire to do what he wants and because of that, he has do deal with the consequences.
In the short story A&P by John Updike, the story is told in a first person narrative of a teenage boy working as a cashier in an A&P grocery store on a hot summer day. The story begins with the teenage boy named Sammy becoming preoccupied by a group of three teenage girls that walk into the grocery store wearing bathing suits. Sammy admires the girl's beauty as most nineteen year old adolescent boys would, in a slightly lewd and immature nature. His grammar is flawed and he is clearly not of an upper-class family, his job appears to be a necessity for a son of a family that is not well off. The name he gives the girl who seems to be the object of his desire, Queenie, portrays a social difference from himself. Sammy further imagines the differences in class and living style when he describes Queenie's voice as "kind of tony, the way it ticked over 'picked up' and 'snacks'." He imagines her with aristocratic home life in describing “her father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big glass plate and they were holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them."Sammy compares his own parents occasions, where they serve their guests "lemonade and if it's a real racy affair Schlitz in tall glasses with 'They'll Do It Every Time' cartoons stenciled on."
The short story “A & P” by John Updike is about a young man’s decision to stand up for others or, in the other characters’ opinions, make a foolish decision by abandoning his responsibility. At first he believes his decision is the right thing, quitting his job for how the girls were being treated. Then when he gets outside of the store, he realizes the world he just left behind, regrets his decision, and begins to question his actions. He starts to overthink what the world has to offer him, making his worldview change from underrating to overrating. His “unsure of the world’s dangers” worldview in the beginning changes to overrating the dangers of the future ahead at the end of the story causing Sammy to change throughout “A & P”.
Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" is a story told through the examination of the relationships between the four main characters. All of the characters have distinct feelings about the others, from misunderstanding to contempt. Both Joy-Hulga, the protagonist, and Manley Pointer, the antagonist, are multi-faceted characters. While all of the characters have different levels of complexity, Joy-Hulga and Manley Pointer are the deepest and the ones with the most obvious facades.
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.