A&P

Literary Criticism on John Updike's "A&P"

 

Singing in the Dark

By: John Buchanan

 

"The reflections on John Updike’s work in this issue sent me to my shelves in search of a particular Updike story that I read long ago and have never forgotten. I am an unabashed fan of Updike. He writes thoughtfully and provocatively about ordinary American lives. My fondness for Updike has gotten me in trouble on occasion. After hearing me quote Updike in a sermon, some people have taken up one of his novels and been shocked by his fascination with and detailed scrutiny of human sexuality.I’ve read most of his novels, most of his short stories and some of his criticism. I’ve come to appreciate his poetry."  (Buchanan).

 

"But the best of Updike is in the short stories. Because they are compact and dense, they are valuable models for sermons. There are no wasted words in a good short story, nor should there be in a 20-minute sermon." (Buchanan).

 

Updike's 'A & P'

By: Corey Evan Thompson

 

"'On the basis of Sammy's forceful stand against his boss Mr. Lengel, who nearly kicks three girls out of the A & P for failing to comply with the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" rule, the established critical stance has placed Sammy in the position of "hero" (Saldívar 215-16). Although classifying Sammy as a hero is understandable, since he views himself as one (Updike 195), critics have failed to adequately consider the fact that he is also the narrator through whose limited point of view the story is told. Thus, he reveals much about the impetus behind his resignation when he describes the events prompting his decision to quit.'" (Thompson).

 

"The text suggests, however, that Sammy is not frustrated because he cannot woo Queenie but because of the length of time he has been working at the supermarket and his daily encounters with customers. Sammy wishes to quit, but he resists doing so because his parents would regard his decision as 'the sad part of the story'" (192). (Thompson).

 

"'I stood there with my hand on a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not. I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell. She's one of these cash-register watchers, a witch about fifty' (187). He suggests that he has been thinking about quitting for at least a few months because he recognizes the advantages of doing so in the summer rather than the winter (196)." (Thompson).

 

"As the girls enter the store, Sammy solely views them as sex objects. He goes from noticing how little the girls are wearing, to what they are not wearing, to finally focusing on their bare skin. He initially notices that they are wearing "nothing but bathing suits" (187) then that "[t]hey didn't even have shoes on" (188). Sammy moves from clothing to skin in his third observation: "She held her head so high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders, looked kind of stretched, but I didn't mind. The longer her neck was, the more of her there was" (189). By privileging the girls' skin over their clothing, Sammy indicates that his main interest lies in their bodies and not in their right to wear bathing suits in the supermarket." (Thompson).

 

"As the girls enter the store, Sammy solely views them as sex objects. He goes from noticing how little the girls are wearing, to what they are not wearing, to finally focusing on their bare skin. He initially notices that they are wearing "nothing but bathing suits" (187) then that "[t]hey didn't even have shoes on" (188). Sammy moves from clothing to skin in his third observation: "She held her head so high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders, looked kind of stretched, but I didn't mind. The longer her neck was, the more of her there was" (189). By privileging the girls' skin over their clothing, Sammy indicates that his main interest lies in their bodies and not in their right to wear bathing suits in the supermarket." (Thompson).

 

John Updike: Advice to Young Writers