Symbolism In A & P By John Updike

The short story “A&P” by John Updike starts off with the description of three girls walking in to a store. Sammy, the nineteen-year-old narrator who works at this A & P store near the beach as a cashier notices these three girls walk in wearing nothing but bathing suits. The story takes place in the 1950s so wearing just a bathing suit to a store is out of ordinary. Sammy starts to like one of the three girls and nicknames her “Queenie” because she was the leader of the three girls. Everyone in the store starts to notice the three girls including Sammy’s manager named Lengel. The girls got only one item from the store, a jar of herring snacks, and was in Sammy’s checkout line when Lengel comes in from outside. Lengel also notices the girls and decides to tell them that the next time they enter

One example of symbolism used in the short story is the way Sammy describes the way the customers react to Queenie and the other girls as they go through the store trying to find what they need. Sammy uses the words “sheep and scared pigs in a chute, indicating that they are driven not by their own volition but by blind forces” (Harrington, commodification) to describe the appearance of customers through Sammy’s eyes looking awe at the girls because of the way they dressed in the store. Updike adds to this by stating “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). Updike is saying that the customers were shocked to see the girls in their bathing suits walking throughout the store without anyone saying anything. The customers are acting like sheep and pigs because they started following the girls throughout the store because they were shocked at what they saw. Updike uses symbolism of the customers to further the imagery in the short story by having the comparison of pigs and sheep to the customers in the