Updike A&P
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John Updike’s short story A & P reads like a cross between Henry David Thoreau and David Herbert Lawrence. It reads like the latter because of its pervasive repressed sexuality and like the former because of its most profound theme that an individual’s first loyalty is to his or her own nature, and that when the individual is true to himself or herself only then is he or she capable of being true to man-made authority. Sammy is the narrator and from him we receive our perceptions of this surreal supermarket where customers appear as pre-programmed pig-like animals scratching and pulling for their needs. Employees entertain visions of middle-class values and achieving a position in management. Within this supermarket there is an established power hierarchy with rules and norms agreed upon by the majority and enforced via the supreme authority, Lengel, the store manager. Sammy is bored in this mechanical routine presenting itself as life, where even the cash register’s mechanical motion become musical to Sammy in their repetitive repetitions and rhythms. These mechanical repetitions mirror those of the customers and employees in the store. All, that is, but the three girls who wear swimming suits into this dry desert of lifelessness. They are perceived by the authority figures as being inappropriate. As Lengel tells them upon asking them to leave “Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. … It’s our policy” (Updike 393).
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Approximate Word count = 840
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)
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