A & P written by John Updike is a short story of a teenaged boy of 19 named Sammy who worked at a local grocery store called A&P. Sammy relates in first person the three young girls in swimsuits who entered the store. He appraises them sexually, until the manager of the store, Lengel, enters and Sammy’s “luck begins to run out” (95). Lengel rebukes them for coming in the store in swimsuits and breaking the unwritten social dress code of the store. Sammy, irate due to the humiliation faced by the girls, quit his job and the story ends with an ironical note of Sammy leaving the store saying, “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (97). The story is a representation of the generational shift and gap that evolved in America in the post World War II era and a change in the American demographics in the 1960s which brought in social and cultural clash in society. The story presents a clash of cultures of the rigid and conservative 1950s with more free-spirited and ideological nonconformist culture of 1960s. By presenting the difference between Sammy and Lengel’s point of view of the three girls, Updike presented a changing male ideology in the 1960s as opposed to that of Lengel’s more conservation 1950’s ideology.
Updike presents the dilemma of the liminal cultural stage of the 1960s American in A & P. The story is a representation of the American social context. The story presents the luminal stage through which American culture traversed during the time in order to usher in the ideologies of the ‘modern’ America and leave behind the conservative and traditional outlook. The story directly presents an argument for feminism of the 1960s and shows how the “conventional” masculine ideology and cult had repressed feminine expression in every aspect (Bentley 14). Masculine identity in American and stressing on the feminist freedom of expression finds voice in the story through Sammy. The characterization of Sammy as the luminal counterpart of the male of the 1950s and 1960s who has been discoursed in the mores of both the cultures strives to be more considerate of the newfound female freedom. Lengel represents the conservative 1950s social ideology while Stokesie captures the conventional masculinity and Sammy is less of a conventional masculine character who cherishes female beauty while feels that the dress codes of the society can be done away. Through Sammy, Updike shows that social codes of the 1950s American society:
“What he meant was, our town is five miles from a beach, with a big summer colony out on the Point, but we’re right in the middle of town, and the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street. And anyway these are usually women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs and nobody, including them, could care less.” (95)
Updike points out the difference of the customs and social dress codes for females in the American society and the way the norms were changing through the daring of the three girls. Custom dominated societal discourse of America dominated the dress code of women and the norms that they needed to follow. Further, Sammy has explicitly hinted at the lowering of the sexual appeal of aged women in the above extract. However, Sammy points out that woman can come to the stores only in swimsuit, but young girls were exceptions because of their youthfulness and attractiveness (Bentley 4). The breaking away from the societal discourse and ideology is apparent when Sammy removes is conventional attire and heads towards an uncertain road. Thus, through the whole experience of female sexuality and conventional masculinity, and the death of Lengel, MacMahon and Stokesie, Sammy evolves into the new era.
Apart from the feminist aspect, Updike presents, through Sammy the beckoning of the “modernist”, i.e. a “world devoid of high culture, a world flattened into advertising art and cartoons” represents Sammy’s senses, feels, and imagines as beautiful (Saldivar 224). Updike symbolizes the modern culture of America ushered through the 1960s using brand names of products in the store in order to stress of the debasement of the artistic element of the culture and increased commercialism. The symbolization of budding commercialization in the American society of the 1960s is typically presented through repeated use of brand names like “HiHo crackers”, “Falcon station wagon”, or “Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream”. Further Updike uses the brands in order to describe the social class and economic status of the characters. For instance, HiHo crackers are an ironical symbolism of Sammy’s lower-middle class status (McFarland 97). The generational clash evident in the society finds expression through Sammy’s gaiety and desire for freedom in contrast to the societal judgment of adults. However, the teenager who is full of lust for freedom and expression acknowledges that life for him will be tough. In another instance, the girl whom Sammy addresses as “Queenie” is associated with “Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream” (95) which is suggestive of the social class of the girl, which is expected to be upper class (McFarland 97). Thus the class difference is distinctly presented in the story where Sammy, from lower-middle class background, is alien to the world of the upper crust who he visualizes to be “picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them” (96). McFarland points out that the title of the story itself is a “democratic melting pot of sorts, a typical American institution” where the different classes mingle and come together. Thus, in another way, Updike tried to show how the American identity of class and its structured dissolved in the 1960s and the rigidity of the classes based on social differences melted away.
A & P presents the melting pot of the cultural and societal differences that evolved in America. The two most distinct differences apparent during the era was the over sexual expression of the feminine in the 1960s which was criticized by the traditionalists (Lengel) and upheld by the modernists (Sammy) and the ushering of the consumerism which erased in one hand accentuated the class difference and on the other erased it. The story shows the social scene of America through the eyes of a teenager and presents the budding dilemmas of expression of freedom and breaking of the class structure through the continuous tussle between the ethos of the 50s and that of the 60s.
Works Cited
Bentley, Greg W. “Sammy’s Erotic Experience: Subjectivity and Sexual Difference in John Updike’s “A & P”.” Journal of the Short Story in English 43 (2004): 2-14.
McFarland, Ronald E. “Updike and the Critics: Reflections on “A&P”.” Studies in Short Fiction 20(2-3) (1983): 95-100.
Saldivar, Toni. “The Art of John Updike’s “A & P”.” Studies in Short Fiction 34 (1997): 215-25.
Updike, John. “A&P.” Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Fiction: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Orlando, Fl: Paulinas, 1984. 93-97.