Thursday, November 22, 2007
A & P
The story “A & P” by John Updike is about a young man named Sammy who works at a supermarket in the suburbs. His whole surrounding seems artificial. He seems trapped in a fake world, which he is not happy in. nothing seems to change day in and day out until three young girls walk in, in nothing but their bathing suits. Right away they seem to catch his eye especially one of them. To him they look real…what a person should be like. They are not trying to fake anything or follow the standards of the community. It a way I feel that he is not attracted to them physically but more visually. Being in that surround his whole life he admires the appearance of this young ladies. This does not last long as the manager of the store tells these girls that they are not dressed appropriately for the store. This is when Sammy quits. By quitting I think he rejected himself from the “norms” this society has set for him and went the opposite way. He does realize however that because he is still part of it this will be very tough journey that he will have to face on his own.
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If the story had continued I wonder if he would have been sorry that he quit.Also, I wonder why these three girls were so interesting to him. I think it was a quick decision to quit. The girls didn't even care about him. Why was the setting of this story in a supermarket why not an ice cream store or smaller store?
Maybe the supermarket represented the big world out there and the society we live in. An icecream store or a smaller market might have only been represented as possibly a neighborhood. Sam leaving meant he was noe on his own to face the whole world by himself.
Yea, I agree with andrea. I think the place of setting is quite important considering the title of the story is based off the name of the store. The store represents society and what happens within the store is built off rules that are governed. I think he said in the story that just outside were beaches everywhere. The beaches could represent our own opinions and how our opinions conflict with that of the real world, the supermarket ie. society.
Some interesting comments here all round. Yes, the A & P, and the close "reading" of it Sammy does--i.e., his detailed description of it--suggest it is important to him. It can be seen as a microcosm for larger socio-cultural conditions, and Sammy's critical view of them, as well as class conflicts--think of the description of customers, the store itself--the lighting, flooring, how people move in the sotre and behave; what the girls' naked feet touch, and what they're prevented from "actually" touching by what they touch; think about the "aisles"--not just the idea about motion through aisles (what sort of motion do they mandate?), but what's "for sale" in them; think about the different sores of "eyes" involved in the story; think about Sammy's class fantasy of Quennie, and how this comments on his own socio-cultural and class condition vis a vis (imnagined) others' Think about the town itself in which the store is embedded (the metaphor of a box in a box comes to mind...and there are plenty of other "boxes" to consider, esp. in a grocery store, after all...). Consider Sammy's description of his checkout station (think about the term he uses to describe it) and the sounds of the chash register. Yes, the description of the girls does contrast in many ways with the immediate setting of the store--it's not, then, that the girls themselves are so important to him, but what the represent for Sammy; jsut as when he says "I quit," it's not just his job that he's thinking of...
In any case, almost every observation Sammy makes cna be taken on both literal and symbolic levels.
There is a study sheet for this story in Blackboard; please review to that as you prepare your journals.
Sp--"Queenie"--tip: proof first!(tell me about it...)
errata:
"how people move in the stores"
"diffferent sorts of eyes"
"just as when he says"
...clumsy fingers...
dude, he choose to be different. The one thing that ruins a unique mind and personalty is the idea that if we don't follow what society tells us is right, then we are wrong. I'm glad he choose to go with those girls. He made a choice that many (like you) wouldn't do. He risked his job, his life style and choose the unknown, because embracing the random is the only way to embrace life's true gifts.
i agree with jason and andrea, in the fact that the supermarket is the kind of store with everything in it, similar to our large society comprised of many different things, unlike a small store. the story taking place in a place like a supermarket with so many things in it symbolizes and represents how many different things there are in our world. the only thing that bothers me then is why they couldn't accept that the girls would come in dressed like that, if the world is so large and filled with different things and different types of people, why couldn't they accept the girls the way they were, even though they were dressed inappropriately.
i agree with jason and andrea, in the fact that the supermarket is the kind of store with everything in it, similar to our large society comprised of many different things, unlike a small store. the story taking place in a place like a supermarket with so many things in it symbolizes and represents how many different things there are in our world. the only thing that bothers me then is why they couldn't accept that the girls would come in dressed like that, if the world is so large and filled with different things and different types of people, why couldn't they accept the girls the way they were, even though they were dressed inappropriately.
Yes I agree with you I think that Sam is pulling himself away from the everyday norms.The girls who came in the store helped him. They brought out the real Sam that was hiding in the everyday world to the real society.
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