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Social Norms In John Updike's A & P

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“A & P” represent the time in the 60s? In that time there were strict norms that people followed and when they were broken people freak out. In the story there are three important people that represent different symbolisms. Sammy who is a young man that is rebelling against these norms, Lengal represents the people who follow the traditional beliefs and will do anything to keep it, and the girls that are the trigger for the two beliefs colliding. In “A & P”, John Updike emphasizes the conflict between Sammy's younger generations against the social norms, and lengels older generations and their desire to uphold traditions, by using allegory in his characters.
In the short story Sammy is working at a store when some girls come in wearing bikinis …show more content…

The traditional belief in the 60’s was that women should listen to the older and wise people from the last generation. Lengal is the manager and when he shows up sammy thinks that he is strict and uptight. He starts talking to the girls and tries to explain why they can’t be wearing that."I don't think you know what you're saying," Lengel said. This quote shows that Lengel thinks the girls are ignorant ot native to what they are doing. The girls are fighting the social norms of the times and are met with the resistance of the older generation . Sammy thinks that Lengal enforces the rule rather than help the customers or the employees. He would like the store to run smoothly with little to no disruption. While Sammy's younger generation is rebelling against the norms, Lengals' older generation want to uphold the social norms. He wants to keep social order and prevent any more moral decay. The old generation believed that if a woman were to show too much skin then they would be branded as satanic. Lengals aren't harsh on the girls as Sammy thought. Lengal might not be as strict as people think he is because we are only getting the perspective of one person. The younger generations often thought the older generations were being too harsh on them when most of the time they would just say what they are doing is useless. The dynamic between sammy generation rebelling and Lengel generation traditionalism. Lengel traditionalism beliefs are people have to act professional, act in line, and dress

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