A & P Updike Analysis

People say that we are a democracy; that we build our ideas. But, when it comes to society why do we let others decide what is wrong and right? This is the basis of the story A&P. Three young girls in a local A&P store threaten the rules of the society that the manager Lengel has created. Lengel looks long and far to keep the balance of society that has been created. This “Manager” of the A&P store represents society as a controlling figure due to the fact that he is portrayed as the typical white male that runs a cookie cutter lifestyle, and he lives by a made up policy that others have created.
A&P was written in 1961. This time period in life America was growing into a strong nation, never less this mean society was changing. However, in the ‘50’s America had “The American Dream”; simply putting it a cookie cutter house, white man, with his wife and 2 children, the white picket fence wrapped around the white painted house. This was the current “normal” for the typical American family. Everyone dressed properly. Lengel the manager is the exact representation of this lifestyle. Updike wrote in the story “Lengel’s pretty dreary, teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn’t miss much. He comes over and says, “Girls; this isn’t the

However, Lengel the manager in the story and lives by the society rules and regulations that have been set by others to govern others. The three girls in bikinis that are in the store strike out against the classic forms that have been given, but Lengel wants to keep control in his store. In history citizens had the caste systems; now there are amendments and laws that govern us. Lincoln stating in the famous Gettysburg address "government of the people, by the people, for the people”; is how society rules its people. But, yet people say they have more power over others just by their title or status in