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Coming Of Age In John Updike's A & P

1337 Words6 Pages

Most people have an experience in their life that causes a turning point and for him or her to loose their innocence and transform from a child into a more mature adult. In the story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, coming of age, is displayed throughout his experience in his home church, another example of coming of age is displayed in the story “A&P” by John Updike through the narrators choice to stand up to his boss and quit his job, and I was able to have an experience that formed me into the woman I am today when attending a mission trip to Cap Haïtien Haiti. “Salvation” by Langston Hughes is a coming of age story and this is displayed when Langston attends a revival at his church and makes a decision that changes his life forever. At …show more content…

“In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits. I’m in the third check-out slot, with my back to the door, so I don’t see them until they are over by the bread” (Updike 142). “A few house-slaves in pin curlers even looked around after pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct” (Updike 144). These quotes set the tone for the story and shows these three new characters are certainly out of the norm and not what this small town grocery store is used to seeing. Updike uses some descriptive language that reveals his affection for the girls. “With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare pane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light, I mean, it was more than pretty” (Updike 143). This quote gives us an insight on the feelings the narrator has towards the three girls and helps us understand why he made the decision he later

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John Updike's short story "A&P" is about a 19-year-old boy “Sammy” who is going through changes in his life, and has to make crucial decisions that are going to affect his job and his future in the long run. The story is set in an A&P grocery store, in a town north of Boston, and begins with Sammy’s description of the three girls that enter the store. Sammy decides to quit his job in order to impress the girl “Queenie.” Unfortunately, his gentlemanly act goes unnoticed by Queenie and her friends, and he has no choice but to face the consequences of his action. The author of the story clarifies that Sammy’s immaturity comes from his judgmental attitude, sexist beliefs, and disrespectful attitude.

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“A&P” by John Updike is a short story expressing the issues of female objectification and degradation in society by following a young A&P employee’s views (Sammy) as they change through experiences second hand. Sammy goes from stereotyping objectifier to a form of a public defender, standing up for girls who can’t really do so for themselves. Sammy initially characterizes and describes all of the people in the store based on their looks and his initial opinion of them, rather than waiting to make judgements based on their personality, or not at all. He is very critical of looks, and is judgmental about why and how they look or act the way they do.

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The grocery store symbolizes the social “norms” within a society and Sammy’s fear of living a boring and mundane life. While watching the girls shop, Sammy describes the grocery store and everything in it using bland, generic language. As he watched, he noticed that “the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) -- were pretty hilarious. You could see them, when Queenie's white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed. I bet you could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering ‘Let me see, there was a third thing, began with A, asparagus, no, ah, yes, applesauce’ or whatever it is they do mutter.”

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The grocery store was not that busy, informed in the story that “The stores pretty empty, it being Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again” (Updike 475). Sammy did not miss the opportunity to keep his eyes on the girls, especially since he was instantly interested in Queenie who was introduced to us as the leader among the girls. Each of the girls was different and had bathing suits on. Sammy was very descriptive about each bathing suit; he included many details. Queenie “had on a kind of dirty-pink beige maybe, I don’t know bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down, they were off the shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess"(Updike 473).

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Langston Hughes used rhetoric words in his story “Salvation,” to provide foreshadows, and emotional appeals to his struggles in becoming religiously saved. Hughes began his story by stating “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen (179).” The irony in this opening is that Hughes initially believed in the presence of Jesus, but unexpected pressures pushed him to betray and deceive his faith. The setting of Hughes struggles took place in a religious ceremony in his Auntie Reed’s church. In this service, many young children like Hughes were gathered to be spiritually cleansed by the light of Jesus.

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This helps the reader visualize a sarcastic and frustrated cashier ringing up an impatient customer. Sammy refers to the customers as “sheep” in paragraph five because of their conformity and slow mosey throughout the store also making the three girls stick out more. In paragraph 2, Sammy refers to one of the girls as a “queen” using a direct metaphor as if she truly was a Queen. This reinforces Sammy’s observant mind and way he breaks down each girl. Whether his opinion was positive or negative, deducing women by their looks and staring at their chests, “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,”(3), does nothing but further supplement the idea that these three girls are being watched just because of their choice in attire.

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In “Salvation,” Langston Hughes presents his momentous coming-of-age story as a dark and saddening ending to his childhood that provides the reader with understanding of the loss of innocence; and faith he faced and how it impacted who he came to be. Hughes makes a strong implication that children become less and less innocent over time. Hughes himself proves that through the tone of his entire essay. It begins with a light toned; yet still ironic introduction, but ends with a dark, depressing final line. Hughes supplies his reader with multiple literary devices such as imagery, flashbacks, and irony to present this comparison of his younger self and his older self.

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