In this short story written by John Updike titled “A&P” features a teenage boy gazing and taking note of every move these three teenage girls take who walk into the local shop. They walk in with nothing on but bathing suits, drawing all this attention that they were very much aware of. The girls were using strategy the entire story which set up the theme. Inspiring desire but not subject to it, as long as the girls don’t engage in the men’s interest they are in the position of power. The overall theme of “A&P is the power of desire.
From the moment the girls walked into the store they were attracting attention from every man that walked by, their sexuality was giving them power over the opposite sex. Queenie, the head of the group, was most aware of what was going on because she was making the point of acting nonchalant and showing no interest.
Their strategy worked well and the employees at A&P were even showing some interests. Sammy, eighteen years old could not keep his eyes off of the group of girls. Stokesie, twenty-two years old, married, and two kids, also had his eyes on these young ladies but tried his best to look away and asked Sammy when they were gone. Lengel, the store manager, shows some sexual interest but undermines the girls strategy.
Lengel’s goal was to lessen the power of the girls by confronting them about their clothes. He did so very bluntly that it embarrasses the girls. He confronts their behavior and calls them out on the fact that they are aware that they are dressed inappropriately. Instead of Queenie admitting her faults she responds back to Lengel saying “We are decent” (Kirszner & Mandell 145). This was Queenie’s attempt to turn the situation around on Lengel. She was implying that Lengel was the one being inappropriate and trying to regain her position of power.
The girls in this short story have a dramatic effect on the men in this store. The employee most effected by them is Sammy. They are inspiring the men to act greedy in regards too having all eyes on them and everyone talking about them. Regarding the men, their reactions seem to stem from their hormones being that they are still young. Lengel’s attempt is more of protection for the girls. He tries to get the girls to respect the social norms by coming into the store fully clothed in effort to keep the desire coming from young men away from the girls.
In Sammy, the girls spark a different reaction in him. This is because he is under the influence of his desire for Queenie. He takes a dramatic step to change his life and he quits his job. He made this decision thinking Queenie would look at him like a hero and like him for standing up for her.
At the end of this story Sammy made a resolution while Lengel was trying to convince him to keep his job. “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture its fatal not to go through with it” ( Kirszner & Mandell 146). He knew once he uttered the words “I quit” there was no going back. Sammy thinks that it would look bad on his part if he does not complete the gesture of quitting over Lengel’s treatment of the girls because that moment was self defining for him.
“By quitting, Sammy intends to align himself with Queenie’s world, a world of sophistication, youth, and beauty, opposite values of A&P” ( “Important”). Sammy feels like if he does not go through with it he will be conforming to the values of A&P. He realizes that going through with it and not going through with it is the same feeling. Sammy must now face and live with the consequences of this moment.
Within the stories about the supermarket noted A&P John Updike can showcase the misfortunes and the story of our everyday lives. In relation, the key things John Updike uses in his writings revolved around Social Inequality in the 1960s. This along with Classicism which is defined as people categorized based on their job, level of education, and the economic status of class is a theme used by John Updike. In essence, during the interview for the A&P story John Updike speaks on how the protagonist is a white collared boy longing for the antagonist who was a blue collared girl.
Similar to Sammy and Queenie in the A&P story both Social Inequality and Classicism play its role throughout John Updike’s writings. John Updike also goes into more detail on how he views of Sammy’s feelings towards his bosses attitude towards the antagonist, and her friends at the end of the story are unethical, and it promotes Sammy to take on the determination towards showing he can stand up for them with the quick gesture of quitting his job.
The way the girls come to the store dressed in the bikinis make some of the store employees and customers skeptical on the level of class the girls are at in life. The notion of public nakedness combined with it’s confusion in contemporary society was a concept that John Updike wanted to depict in the A&P story.
