John Updike's A&P

“A & P” by John Updike

This is another piece that I could look at as actually taking place. Here this guy is doing his job at the A & P when suddenly he notices these girls coming into the store. He immediately knows they have come from the beach which is not too far from the beach. The rest of the story is about how he and others notice the girls and the bathing suits they have on. Usually, I see the antagonist somewhere in the beginning or at the middle, but with this story the antagonist comes toward the end of the story. Mr. Lengel did not approve of the girls attire in the grocery store and was ready to let them know. Sammy was the protagonist who was standing up to Mr. Lengel and in the end gave up his job to prove he did not like how the girls were treated. I think to begin with he thought maybe the girls heard what was going on but they just walked out. So why did Sammy go ahead and give up his job? Was it pride or did he feel some type of justification by doing what he did. I tend to think it was a little of both. Throughout the reading we see very discriptive words, for example, “Do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?” This is a simile. Another simile is, “...this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light.” Updike used discriptive language to keep the reader’s attention and boy did he do a great job. Updike suprised me when he had Sammy say, ”All of the sudden I slid right down her voice into her livingroom.” Wow! That got my attention. That was a great way to transition to another place or another thought. This was another great read!!