John Updike: The A&P
Hey everyone! Here is a link to the story “The A&P”, by John Updike.
This story was originally published in 1961 as a short story in the July 22nd edition of The New Yorker.
This story is one of the common works of fiction used as a writing prompt for the Literary Analysis essay on the English Composition exam and is covered in the literary section of the Humanities exam.
Read the story carefully, paying attention to the recurring themes of coming of age, youthful rebellion, and authority.
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October 18th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
A & P
This literary piece by John Updike is told as if it is being narrated by the stories main character. Sammy the main character portrays himself as a heroic figure, as he takes a stand for three unsuspecting girls who enter his place of employment. The hero of this story takes you into his mind with his graphic descriptions that clearly come from the mind of a teenage boy. This is somewhat of a satire with this teenager coming to the girls rescue.
The setting of the story is where Sammy works, a grocery store in a small beach town in the l960’s. While Sammy is working one day three girls walk into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. He describes in vivid detail what the girls look like to him, “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white under it, where the sun never seem to hit, at the top of the back of her legs.” This tells you how the girls have clearly got his attention. He starts fabricating what he thinks the girls so called pecking order is, in statements such as “and then the third one, that wasn’t quite so tall. She was the queen.” Sammy begins to refer to the other customers as if they were animals “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle—the girls were walking.” And then others as house-slaves in pin curlers.
The story takes a turn when Sammy notices the man at the meat counters reaction to the girls after they ask him a question and then walk away, he sees the lustful way the man looks at the girls. “All that was left to see was old McMahon patting his mouth and looking after them sizing up their joints.” When the manager confronts the girls on more than one occasion that their attire is inappropriate for the store, Sammy comes to their rescue.
After the girls are reprimanded by the store manager more than once, Sammy stated “I quit” to Lengal quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” Feeling the girls would fall before him in undying gratefulness , they did not, they simply left the store. When Lengal, confronted Sammy about quitting he did not back down. He states “You didn’t have to embarrass them.” Sammy seems conflicted about his decision to quit his job, but follows through stating “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it.”
Clearly, the hero was only a hero in his own mind. The girl’s did not notice or care that this young man stood up for their rights, they were too self absorbed. Sammy is left without a job, and a moral lesson to learn. He will remember for the rest of his life, how standing up for human rights doesn’t always come without a price.
Susan Henthorne
October 27th, 2009 at 11:14 am
nursemom81:
Use of Written Language: 5 – This essay shows good language usage and very few grammar mistakes.
Use of Argument and Support: 4 – You did a very good job showing that the main character was only a hero in his own mind, but the prompt asked which character was the hero and was looking for an argument directed more toward the bag-boy vs. the manager as a hero instead of a generic response. You did a good job supporting your thesis, it was just a little bit off from the prompt.
Understanding Concepts: 5 – Excellent use of quotes from the story to support your concepts, but be careful not to use so many quotes that the paper ends up without much of your own writing!