John Updike's A & P
John Updike's "A&P" begins "In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits"(487). The title and first line surprise us almost as much as the girls did the other characters in the story. We are surprised again when Sammy, the narrator, quits his checkout job at the end of the story. Sammy does not tell us anything about himself except his age, 19. Updike decided it was important we understand Sammy is at the point in his life where decisions are made that affect the rest of our lives. In the time span of about ten minutes, the realities of Sammy's life are brought into sharp focus. The girls have dropped in by chance from a more affluent environment. Sammy sees through them the possibilities for a different sort of life than the one he's headed for. The other customers and employees are related to us mostly by their reaction to the girls. They are shocked by the girls' appearance, but immediately go back to their shopping. Sammy is amused by this "pretty hilarious...eyes snapped back to their own basket...there was no doubt, this jiggled them"(488). Sammy refers to them as animals several times "the sheep pushing their carts down the aisles"(488) and "scared pigs in a chute"(491). He does not have much r
'It was they who were embarrassing us.'"(490) The girl's embarrassment had soon given way to anger, however, when she remembered she was better than these people were. Sammy was embarrassed to be part of this group she felt disdain for, and now his anger forces him to break from this life he has known. Updike gives each of them the same emotion, shame, which caused the girl to blush and Sammy to feel "scrunchy"(491). Each also has the same response, anger, which she expressed with her scornful remark and Sammy expresses by quitting. The first subjective reference to the girls is not exactly complimentary, however. "You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think there's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?"(488). Sammy explains that the store is "right in the middle of town" where "there's people in this town haven't seen the ocean in twenty years" although it's "five miles from a beach" "the women generally put on a shirt or shoes or something"(489). He expresses pity for the girls in bathing suits "Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it"(489). Although he admits to feeling pity, we are not sure what Sammy is thinking at this point. Is he simply amused at this break in his dull day? Is he fantasying about asking the girls on a date? Is he annoyed at their audacity in coming into this environment not sufficiently prepared? Sammy quits right after waiting on the girls, "hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspecting hero."(490). When they don't stay, he still quits which lets us know it is not just a flirtatious attempt to gain their attention. The dialogue between the manager, Mr. Lengel, and Sammy contains no narrative as other dialogue has. Updike is calling our attention to this confrontation.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Updike's A&P, Lengel Sammy, people sammy, lengel sammy, girls bathing, sammy thinking, girl blush, embarrassed girls,
Approximate Word count = 1586
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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