A&P

As readers, we are delighted by descriptive language and well-thought out imagery—two areas in which John Updike’s short story “A&P” is certainly not lacking. Not only does Updike provide the reader with vivid descriptions of the store and the customers in it, he also describes them in a singular, yet complex fashion. He stays away from clichés and creates unusual similes and metaphors that describe his subjects particularly effectively.

Updike takes care to use just the right words to describe each one of his characters—particularly the three main girls in the story. His careful attention to detail in describing them through Sammy’s eyes parallels how much careful attention Sammy is giving them and to their appearance. The queen walks into the store on her “long white prima-donna legs” and “ [comes] down a little hard on her heels, as if she didn’t walk in her bare feet that much, putting down her heels and then letting the weight move along to her toes as if she was testing the floor with every step.(2)” Rather than simply saying she walks carefully, Updike finds the exact words to convey how she moves. Updike describes the girl who is Sammy’s favorite as “a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it (1)” paying the most attention to describing the part of her which Sammy seems to be paying the most attention to. The last girl is “the kind of girl other girls think is very “striking” and “attractive” but never quite makes it. (2) ” In addition to being slightly humorous, this description clues us in to the fact that she might have some good features but is awkward and clearly inferior to the other two.

Updike devotes this same attention to the other characters in the story as well—even the seemingly insignificant ones. For instance, when he describes the old woman whose groceries Sammy is ringing up at the beginning of the story, he goes beyond simply calling her a witch or a rude old lady. He tells us that “if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem. (2) ” In paragraph five, Updike spins an extended metaphor about the customers in the store as sheep who are startled by the girls’ appearance as an animal would be by a loud noise. The “sheep” typically walk one way and repeat the same motions each time they go to the store. However, the girls and their clothing startle the “sheep” and causing them to “jerk, or hop, or hiccup (5) ” but then return to their shopping like obedient livestock. Later, Updike refers to them as “scared pigs in a chute [29]” upset by the unfolding scene between Lengel and Sammy as Sammy quits his job. The store manager Lengel, the “bad guy” of the story is “ pretty dreary, [and] teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn’t miss than much. (12)” From that short description, we learn that he is usually fairly sedate, has observantly noticed the girls, and is upset by their clothing or lack thereof—probably because it offends his Christian morals. As the girls leave after being lectured by Lengel, Sammy tells Lengel that he quits “hoping [the girls] stop and watch [him], their unsuspected hero. (21) ” He wants their attention so badly that he thinks he is being heroic in quitting his job “for them” even though he and his family need the money.

The language Updike allows us to see how Sammy views the world and these people around him. Most of the judgments he makes about the customers are shallow and solely based upon their appearance, their groceries, and the brief interaction he has with them as they check out. However, when he comes face to face with the girls and watches as Lengel humiliates them in front of the other customers, he looks past his initial impression of them and sees them not as objects but as people—people who deserve his sympathy. (682)