In John Updike’s short story “A&P,” we open in on a scene of three teenage girls entering at local grocery store. Sammy, a young, sarcastic, teenage boy is the narrator, who’s observations push the story to progress along. He observes the three girls in bikinis walking around the store. He is obviously distracted when he rings up an object more than once and an old lady, who “they would have burned over in Salem,” gives him a hard time (Updike 178). Eventually the manager of the store, Lengel, comes in and notices the girls attire. Lengel embarrass the girls for not being “decently dressed” and once paying for their items rush out (181). Sammy unexpectedly quits his job and when he rushed out of the store, the girls are no where to be found.
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This brand name links with light-heartedness and high spirits. Thus, the movement of the story takes Sammy from the freedom of his youth to the harsh world of adult judgments. Although Sammy says that he “felt how hard the world was going to be hereafter,” he has yet to see this misfortune (Updike 182). Queenie is associated with Kingfish Fancy Herring Snake in Pure Sour Cream. “The brand name not only fits the imperial Queenie, but also suggests that social class, the upper class to which she belongs” (McFarland 97). This is another thing that Sammy will have to learn as a part of his lesson. He is not used to this luxurious life as he mentioned that he was visualizing Queenie’s parents living. MacFarland can even see this form of irony in the store itself. “The A&P, after all, is the subsuming brand name in the story. It is a democratic melting pot of sorts, a typically American institution where, just as the Atlantic and Pacific come together, so do crackers and herring snacks, and so do the proletarian, the bourgeois, and the patrician. All are equal, on might suppose, at the supermarket” (98). The irony actually cuts at the upper class girls, and Sammy doesn’t treat the shoppers or bum and better than Lengel treats the girls. The girls, who are supposedly upper class, are actually too casual for the snob of a manager. Finally, the most irony rests with the final brand …show more content…
Dessner’s article states, “The running theme which links the bulk of the story’s incidents repeatedly demonstrates Sammy’s inability to imagine himself personally at risk. The expectation this motif awakens in us is that Sammy will continue to underrate the world’s dangers” (Dessner 315). At the end of the story, however, the audience is surprised when Sammy, instead overrates the world’s dangers. Sammy gives little thought about the old lady and what has caused the “rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows” (Updike 178). He rather refers to her as a “witch” and moves along in his observations (178). Also, when the “old party in baggy gray pants” stumbles to the cash register carry pineapple juice, Sammy feels no remorse or anything similar (180). Rather, Sammy asks the question, “What do these bums do with all that pineapple juice? I’ve often asked myself” (180). Sammy gives little thought to the fact that he could be in the mans position one day if things were to suddenly go south in his life. When Queenie had handed him the money that rested in her bathing suit, he admits to ogling the girl. However, when the butcher was doing the same thing, Sammy “began to feel sorry for them” (180). Ironically Sammy could someday become McMahon, the butcher. The article later attacks Sammy’s observations, saying, “While enormously overrating the world’s subsequent interest in his own employment
This brand name links with light-heartedness and high spirits. Thus, the movement of the story takes Sammy from the freedom of his youth to the harsh world of adult judgments. Although Sammy says that he “felt how hard the world was going to be hereafter,” he has yet to see this misfortune (Updike 182). Queenie is associated with Kingfish Fancy Herring Snake in Pure Sour Cream. “The brand name not only fits the imperial Queenie, but also suggests that social class, the upper class to which she belongs” (McFarland 97). This is another thing that Sammy will have to learn as a part of his lesson. He is not used to this luxurious life as he mentioned that he was visualizing Queenie’s parents living. MacFarland can even see this form of irony in the store itself. “The A&P, after all, is the subsuming brand name in the story. It is a democratic melting pot of sorts, a typically American institution where, just as the Atlantic and Pacific come together, so do crackers and herring snacks, and so do the proletarian, the bourgeois, and the patrician. All are equal, on might suppose, at the supermarket” (98). The irony actually cuts at the upper class girls, and Sammy doesn’t treat the shoppers or bum and better than Lengel treats the girls. The girls, who are supposedly upper class, are actually too casual for the snob of a manager. Finally, the most irony rests with the final brand …show more content…
Dessner’s article states, “The running theme which links the bulk of the story’s incidents repeatedly demonstrates Sammy’s inability to imagine himself personally at risk. The expectation this motif awakens in us is that Sammy will continue to underrate the world’s dangers” (Dessner 315). At the end of the story, however, the audience is surprised when Sammy, instead overrates the world’s dangers. Sammy gives little thought about the old lady and what has caused the “rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows” (Updike 178). He rather refers to her as a “witch” and moves along in his observations (178). Also, when the “old party in baggy gray pants” stumbles to the cash register carry pineapple juice, Sammy feels no remorse or anything similar (180). Rather, Sammy asks the question, “What do these bums do with all that pineapple juice? I’ve often asked myself” (180). Sammy gives little thought to the fact that he could be in the mans position one day if things were to suddenly go south in his life. When Queenie had handed him the money that rested in her bathing suit, he admits to ogling the girl. However, when the butcher was doing the same thing, Sammy “began to feel sorry for them” (180). Ironically Sammy could someday become McMahon, the butcher. The article later attacks Sammy’s observations, saying, “While enormously overrating the world’s subsequent interest in his own employment