Setting In John Updike's A & P

A&P” is a short story that is written by John Updike. It is a story that develops in setting of a grocery store (Updike, n. p). On a broader sense, the setting is a beach town, and the story majorly focusses on how ladies dress. A lot of the characters find the dressing intimidating and one goes even further to warn them about it. It is the view of this paper that the setting of the story forms the cornerstone of its development. Chivalry plays significance in the story because it defines how people should dress and the moral judgments that are associated with it. One of the ways in which Chivalry plays significance is that it describes what is given a lot of importance in the town. The order of importance is displayed when Sammy, a town clerk lists buildings in the ways that he communicates. He mentions banks first insinuating that people in that town give so much value to money (Updike, n. p)). He then mentions the congregation. It is the view of this paper that this connotes that religious beliefs are

It is evident from the language that is used that there is sexual interest in the story. Sammy, a character, likes the prettiest girl of them (Rodgers, 63). He describes her as a consumable commodity. This document notes that there is male chauvinism in the story where the men view themselves as superior to women. The chauvinism can be seen when he compares the mind of women to that of ‘little buzz like a bee in a jar.’ There is also the element where the character dehumanizes the girls by finding fault in them and the way they dress. It is the opinion of this paper that this should not be the case. It is through the act of Chivalry that Sammy tries to impress the girls. When the manager of the store refutes their dressing, Sammy pretends to be angry and quits his job in the effort to impress the ladies. The ladies leave without taking a lot of consideration to what he had