“A&P” is a short story written by John Updike in 1961. It narrates one episode from the life of the “A&P” grocery store. Sammy, a 19-year-old cashier clerk, notices three girls who enter the store wearing “nothing but bathing suits” (Updike 140). The girls walk along the aisles, drawing other customers’ attention and evoking lust in Sammy and his colleague, Stokesie. When the girls are about to pay for their purchase, the store manager, Lengel, approaches them and reprimands them for being dressed indecently. While the girls were leaving the store, Sammy publicly quits his job and tries to catch up with the girls, but they are already gone.
This story will be analyzed from the perspective of feminist criticism. Feminist critics analyze literature with regard to a social context to see how literature reflects the effect of social norms, public attitudes, and other contextual factors on women’s position in society. Updike’s “A&P” shows the public attitudes toward women in the 1960s and how they began to change at that time.
The first thing drawing readers’ attention in “A&P” is that women are regarded as things rather than individuals. This is evident from how Sammy describes the three girls right after he notices them. He sees the girls as sexual objects; particularly, he is focused on one girl’s buttocks: “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad so-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs” (Updike 140).
At the same time, Sammy makes a derogatory remark about women’s intellectual abilities, doubting whether women have a mind or “just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar” instead of it (Updike 140). Like Sammy, Stokesie, a young married man with two children, also views women as sexual objects. Even old McMahon working at the meat counter does the same thing. He follows the girls with his eyes, “patting his mouth and looking after them sizing up their joints” (Updike 141). Thus, in the 1960s, women were valued for how they looked rather than who they were.
The idea of viewing women as objects is further developed in Sammy’s description of women other than the three scantily clad girls. For example, he mentions “a few house slaves in pin curlers” who look at the girls with surprise (Updike 141). Referring to married women as “house slaves” reflects the position of women in the 1960s. They were not regarded as individuals who might have their thoughts, plans, or aspirations.
Instead, they were considered mere objects designed to do household chores. From Sammy’s narration, readers also learn about “women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs” who are usual customers of “A&P” and who have to cover themselves before they appear in public (Updike 141). This quote shows that female body image was subject to public judgment. As a result, beautiful women were viewed as sexual objects, while other women were stigmatized for their imperfect bodies and were perceived as suitable only for raising children and doing domestic chores.
The story also demonstrates how women’s body image started to change in the 1960s. This change is related to women’s perception of their own bodies, which is reflected in the story’s main female character, Queenie. Queenie is the most attractive of the three girls in swimsuits. As Sammy fairly notices, she is different from anyone else in the store. That is why he calls her “the queen” and refers to all other customers, mainly housewives, as “sheep.”
The girl is confident about how she looks and does not let anyone embarrass her. This is evident from Sammy’s remark: “She must have felt in the corner of her eye me and over my shoulder Stokesie in the second slot watching, but she didn’t tip. Not this queen” (Updike 141). Queenie represents a beginning change in attitudes toward the female body image and women’s independence. All the other people in the store act according to the established social norms, in which women serve men in a male-dominated society. In contrast, Queenie breaks these norms by wearing what she wants and not being embarrassed about it.
A conflict between genders occurs near the end of the story, when the manager, Lengel, reprimands the three girls for their appearance. In general, Lengel’s remark seems fair because a store is a public place, and people in public places should follow certain rules to maintain public order and avoid chaos. Moreover, Lengel does not say that the girls are themselves indecent; rather, he notes that they should be “decently dressed” (Updike 142).
However, Queenie seems to understand his comment as an insult since she responds, “We are decent” (Updike 142). This situation shows that women in the 1960s were accustomed to doing what men told them and expected of them. Even Queenie, who appears to be ahead of her time, “remembers her place” when receiving a reprimand from a man (Updike 142). Thus, the story reflects women’s dependent position in the society of the 1960s. It shows that, in those times, women began to realize their value and freedom, but a long history of male dominance hindered the progress in women’s struggle for gender equality.
In conclusion, Updike’s “A&P” shows what attitudes toward women prevailed in the 1960s. The story reveals that, back then, women were regarded as objects: beautiful women as sexual objects, and the other women as “house slaves” capable only of raising children and doing chores. Queenie represents a change in these public attitudes because she is not afraid to wear what she wants to rather than what she is expected to wear. This female character demonstrates women’s willingness to free themselves from male dominance and show that they are worthy members of society. Yet, the conflict with the manager also reveals that, in the 1960s, Queenie’s aspirations for freedom and independence were still radical and not widely accepted in society.
Work Cited
Updike, John. “A&P.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, edited by Michael Meyer and D. Quentin Miller, 12th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019.