Feminist Issues In John Updike's 'A & P'

John Updike’s short story, “A&P”, takes place in 1961, in a compact New England town 's A&P grocery store. It is a fun, goofy, language-oriented short story. The action in the short story takes place when three teenage girls, wearing “nothing but bathing suits,” walk into the grocery store. Suddenly, Lengel (the manager) scolds the teenagers for their appearance. This results in Sammy quitting his job at the supermarket because the manager has embarrassed the three girls. Written 1962, “A&P”, in its own simplicity, raises many of the themes that are big for America such as feminism, foolishness, and status which are all major themes introduced in this short story.
First, “A&P” raises some feminist issues such as the idea of women’s liberation. …show more content…
For example, Sammy splits up the many people he associates with into status. For example, Sammy looks at his friend Stokesie, and decided that his life is not the life for himself as he is married with two children. The main character is hoping for something bigger and better. Another possible future for Sammy is Lengel who he rejects right away. Lengel represents the conservative community as he is a Sunday school teacher whose life it too dull for him. The final possibility for Sammy besides Stokesie and Lengel is Queenie. Queenie is the lead girl in the group in which Sammy realizes is an injection of freshness and adventure into his boring life. As Queenie walks to the register, Sammy sees a contrast between her and her life and the A&P life he is a part of. Queenie buys herring snacks which is very crucial as it shows her level. She is of a higher class than Sammy. With that, Queenie certainly inspires Sammy, and is not developed enough as a character to have her full identity and own goal. Due to this, Sammy projects an identity onto her. This results in Sammy seeing Queenie’s life as more of desirable life and where he sees himself. All in all, due to the fact that the story is from the Cold War era, Sammy 's vision of the future includes the possibility of Soviet ownership of the A&P. He is looking towards the future in the story, especially his own. He …show more content…
This story is an interesting mid-century time capsule for one to look at an instance of a young man trying to do what he thought was right and maybe, in fact, did it for no reason. In his mind, when Lengel insults the three girls “wearing nothing but bathing suits,” he has immediately insulted Sammy as well and of his dream of becoming a status similar to