A & P John Updike Analysis

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Bernard Rogers says in Critical Insights that John Updike wrote most and his best about how his domestic American life experience in the second half of the twentieth century was, he “experienced the currents of the 1950’s, 1960’s, and subsequent decades as they surrounded and invaded the lives of his white, middle-class characters” (9), like in “A&P” where John Updike tells a short story about Sammy, a cashier in an A&P store that watches three girls walk in the store, wearing only their bathing suits, as they buy some groceries. Sammy, while watching them gives a description of each one as they grab food from the stands: There was this chunky one, with the two-piece… There was this one, with one of those chubby berry-faces, the lips all bunched together under her nose… And then the third one, that wasn’t quite so tall. She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. (Updike 441) Sammy is giving a description of each one but emphasizing on the queen, or the most attractive one of the three. After the girls got what they needed, and went to Sammy’s cashier, the store manager, Lengel, told the girls that their outfits were not appropriate, and told Sammy to attend them, but that next time the girls should wear something appropriate or they would…show more content…
This is a sign of immaturity because Sammy is making fun of how one the girl’s bathing suit fits her and how she is showing her belly, an act that resembles a child. In John Updike by Robert Detwiller, explains that this kind of writing style carries a lot of controversy and criticism because it seems unnecessary

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