Showing Ordinary Life as Being Worth Writing About

John Updike has the rare ability to “show ordinary life as being worth writing about.” In his widely acclaimed short story “A & P,” Updike communicates two distinct worldviews through the eyes of a checkout boy at a local supermarket. He places Sammy in a position to choose between the conservative and conventional, represented by Mr. Lengel, and the individualistic and non-conformist, represented by the teenage girls. In the end, Sammy chooses to defy Mr. Lengel.

Although Mr. Lengel does not make his grand entrance until the story’s final pages, many characters foreshadow his timely arrival and also his conventional outlook. Updike refers to the masses of shoppers as “sheep,” mindless customers who plop through the aisles, monotonously categorize items, and follow their unchanging routines; they would continue to do so even if someone “set off dynamite” (5). In a way, the local supermarket shoppers are the typical people we imagine. The people have normal, regular, and at times, boring lives. As we “walk” through the shopping aisles, we can guess that the A & P customers go to work from nine to five, come home, cook dinner, watch television, and go to sleep. The shoppers are so used to the same routine that they react with amazement as Queenie’s bare and strikingly white shoulders come into view They “jerk, or hop, or hiccup” and then immediately snap back to their shopping carts (5). At the end of the story, the sheep, who love scenes, all gather around to see Queenie and Mr. Lengel battle it out (19). It is no surprise that Updike emphasizes how habitual these shoppers are by placing them in the most predictable environment, a supermarket. In turn, the shoppers symbolize regularity, order, and common practice.

Likewise, the supermarket staff is astonished when the three girls come in. Sammy points out that it is perfectly normal to wear nothing but a bathing suit on the beach, but in an A & P, a bathing suit stands out too much in the cool air, fluorescent lights, and orderly packages (6). An older clerk, McMahon, a married father of two children, begins “patting his mouth and looking after them, sizing up their joints” (10). The men are reacting to the presence of the suggestion of sexuality in an environment which is usually free of it. Similar to the shoppers, the A & P staff is comfortable only when surrounded by static people and static events.

Our very first view of Mr. Lengel immediately indicates him as sturdy and hardworking, since he stays in his office all day, and as a man often engaged in manual labor, since he “comes in from struggling with a truck full of cabbages” (14). His role as a Sunday school teacher gives evidence that there may be an ensuing conflict between him and the three scantily clad teenagers. Lengel repeatedly barks, “This isn’t the beach” as he stares down the girls. In a profound way, Mr. Lengel, as manager and “head lifeguard” of the A & P, feels he has the right to enforce the professional tone expected in a workplace and denounce what is deemed unacceptable and inappropriate in a public place (14). He believes the girls’ frivolous attire has vandalized his sacred space and his morals, which are traditional and resistant to change.
Updike gives subtle clues that Queenie and her friends represent free-spirited and progressive minds. Sammy notes that the “girls were walking against the usual traffic” (5). Supermarkets certainly do not have divided roads for shopping carts going in different directions. Therefore, the three teenage girls signify a different outlook and attitude. As previously stated, the customers will keep reaching for products even if someone sets off dynamite; however, they all turn around to look at Queenie. The three teenage girls are the literal interpretation of dynamite: attention-grabbers and excitement. Finally, the girls dress and look very different from the conventional customer. Updike spends two pages describing the look of the girls as very noticeable. Queenie saunters in on her “prima-donna legs” with her bathing suit straps down. Her two friends, one in a bright green suit and the other with frizzy black hair, follow Queenie and watch her walk the walk (2). The teenagers are different from the usual herds that pass through A & P because they possess diverse opinions on appearance.

The true riddle of this story is why Sammy quits. On first glance, it seems that Sammy quits because he wants to stand up against the mean, demanding Mr. Lengle. He wants prove to the teenage girls that he is not conservative or conformist like the whole of A & P, but is he really acting on selfish instincts? Sammy quits because, in his own belief system, it is acceptable for men like McMahon to be attracted to young ladies and not feel guilty about it. Teenage girls are allowed to wear bathing suits and go grocery shopping. The girls have the freedom to attract attention and if they do, society should be able to resist the shock and surprise. To restrict oneself to a static view of society is to condemn oneself to the average.

Updike ends the story as Sammy realizes “how hard the world was going to be to me here-after” (31). It is puzzling because Sammy just quit a job that was deemed too stifling for him. What exactly could be hard about the world now? Sammy says that “once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it” (30). As Sammy leaves the single-minded people of A & P, he knows he will encounter people exactly like Mr. Lengel. There will be many other Mr. Lengels and only one of Sammy. If Sammy is to stay with his beliefs, he must continue to combat the narrow mindedness of those like Mr. Lengel. (975)