A&p Literary Analysis

  A&P

 "It seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it" The narrator Sammy strived to escape the conformity nature of the society and tried to set himself apart. However, due to his tendency to insinuate assumption, he ends up in the same loophole of reality. From both the immaturity and lack of foresight, Sammy’s judgments only reflected his flawed character. John Updike developed this revolution of a teenager in A&P through the usage of the first-person point of view and rhetorical devices that allow the reader to gain an insight into the narrator’s voice of true thoughts and motives.

  The whole story is carried out in a first-person narrative, every characters and setting are developed through Sammy’s observation and judgment. Due to his own condescending thoughts, Sammy established himself as an unreliable narrator. Sammy only uses the stereotypical assumption to convey everyone in the store. His action is not done through chivalry but as a mechanism to impress the girls. “You never know for sure how girls minds work ( do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar)” (Updike 1).  His arrogance shines through when he could not understand the girl’s mind because he assumes there is no mind in the girls. In addition, Sammy also sexually objectify the girls since the scantily clad girls were what caught his initial attention, “I don’t know-- bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and what got me, the straps were down. They were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms” “this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones” “I mean it was more than pretty” showing that he completely focused the physicality of the girls, thus it was sexual interests that drive Sammy’s motivation (Updike 1).  Furthermore, his judgment on the surroundings also underlies the casual sexism of the narrator. “House-slave in pin curlers” is another generalization and sexism made towards women just from their appearances without knowing their lives (Updike 2). Implying that his perception of wives are conformist and girls are mindless sex objects. Even when a customer scolded Sammy for his own mistake, he characterized the women as a witch “would have burned her over in Salem” and assert a sexist notion “I know it made her day to trip me up” (Updike 1). Sammy’s contempt for women is evident throughout his prejudice thoughts.

As Sammy continues apprises the girls from outfits to gaits, the power of sexuality and men’s sexual desire becomes apparent through his narration. Sammy’s criticism shifted and started to find Queenie attractive, which led to further proof of condescending thoughts that reflect the unreliable narrator. "Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it" The pity he asserted on the girls for not being able to harness their sexuality yet, “I thought that was so cute” Sammy ends up falling for the power of sexuality from his lust (Updike 3). Just from watching and observing them, Sammy already took possession of the girls “I look around for my girl” his sexual desire is the upbringing of his illusion and imagination that he thought he had it all figured it out (Updike 4). Explicitly sexualizing the girls from the start, everything from their outfits to how they walk, Sammy’s assumption of their structure is purely built upon his own interest.