A & P By John Updike Analysis

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John Updike’s “A&P” (1961) takes place in an A&P grocery store in New England, which is where we are introduced to the main character, Sammy. This story dramatizes contrasting perspectives through the Sammy’s first person narration. The tone that Updike develops for Sammy is informal, but at the same time explanatory. Without a doubt, Sammy is very smart. Nevertheless, he is lacking knowledge, and able of making fascinating images. For example, he describes one of the girls’ hair as “oaky” (202) and depicts the sunshine “skating around on the asphalt” (204). Updike keeps Sammy’s narrative commonly, using phrases such as “You know” (202) and containing confidential statements and uncertainty in an effort to maintain the language very casual. …show more content…
For instance, he describes toys “that fall apart when a kid looks at them anyway.” (203). He also describes music records as “gunk,” which is a repulsive term. Despite this, Sammy has a young, adolescent tone to the way he describes everything in the A&P. For example, he visions the store as a “pinball machine”. At times, Sammy can switch from being informal and nonchalant to more detailed and sometimes very poetic. Sammy tries theorizing on the minds of girls, but he believes that he can’t perceive the structure of their minds and that it is a result of having no mind to grasp. Sammy asks if “it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar” (201). It could also be his insight that is inadequate, but Sammy doesn’t fully realize it. Sammy is intensely curious about the three girls, though he’s not as reasonable as he thinks he

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