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No Shoes, No Feminity In John Updike, A & P

567 Words3 Pages

No Shoes, No Shirt, No...Decency? Written in 1962 by John Updike, A & P tells the story of three girls in swimsuits who walk into a grocery store and are forbidden to return until in “decent” clothing. The girls are portrayed as rebellious, immodest, and aloof. However, upon closer examination, it can be determined that the girls are not at fault. It is society’s view of teenage females and a manager’s personal agenda which are wrong. To begin, the narrator states that the girls are causing a scene. Everyone in the market, including employees, are staring at them. Usually, women who come to the store from the beach “put on a shirt or shorts… before they get out of the car into the street” (Updike, 1962). But, these are “women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs and nobody, including them, could care less” if they did not cover themselves anyway (Updike, 1962). Thus, it is evident that the girls …show more content…

He says that Lengel “hides all day” behind “the door marked manager” (Updike, 1962). When he notices the girls checking out, he tells them they cannot wear swimsuits in his store. This is problematic for several reasons. First, it shows that Lengel decides who can wear what in his store. He is not patrolling the aisles looking for people in violation of the “dress code”, but tucked away in his office only to emerge when he wishes. If and when he leaves his office he sees someone “breaking the rules”, he confronts them--and only if he decides their outfit is improper. Second, he approaches them when they are about the leave. Why do this unless the goal is humiliation? If he had talked to them when they entered, the confrontation would have been more understandable. But to approach girls who are buying one item and about to complete their transaction is not only rude, but also a trivial display of power. The girls are not at fault--the manager, who is power hungry and makes his own rules,

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The short story “A & P” uses the postmodern quality of alienation of individuals. Nearing the end of the story the girls go to pay for their item but are stopped by a man saying, “Girls, this isn’t the beach” (492). And the man again says, “But this isn’t the beach” (492). The man is implying they don’t belong in the store dressed how they were. In these examples of alienation of individuals, I believe the store manager had every right to tell them they needed to wear more clothes but the way he did it was much less than necessary.

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John Updike’s story “A & P” was written in 1961 and takes place in a small town in Massachusetts. In a supermarket named “A & P,” which is on the town’s Central Street and is across from typical small-town stores – “two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store and three real-estate office” (Updike 748) – a cashier-clerk named Sammy witnesses three girls walking into his store wearing bathing suits, and he recounts his perceptions of them, their actions, and how they contrast with his relatively bland setting. Since he objectifies these women throughout the story (using phrases such as “sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it” (Updike 746-7)), it could be suggested that “A & P” is a satire

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In the short story, “A&P” by John Updike, Updike narrates through the point of view of a 19 year old cashier. Three girls enter the supermarket that the young man works at, in bathing suits, although they catch the attention of the cashier, the manger disapproves of their dress code in the store. The supermarket plays a vital role in Updike demonstrating the rebellion of the younger generation, by the girls not dressing conservative in public, the cashier’s fascination of their bodies, and the older manager disapproval. The first demonstration Updike used to show the teens rebellion was when the girls walked into the supermarket in just their bathing suits. The reaction of the young cashier and his coworker showed how unusual it was for girls to walk around in public with their bikinis on.

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