Briano Forte
Instructor Gifford
Interpretation of Fiction
January 25, 2013
Response #1: “A & P” (Updike) In “A & P,” written by John Updike, the story talks about a young man working in a supermarket post World War II. In the writing, one can see how the war affected society and the guidelines people were following at the time. The story indicates that women had to be appropriately dressed for every occasion. If they were not dressed properly, they would receive too much attention. It did not matter whether the attention was good or bad. An example of the positive attention would be when the three girls walked in and the one entitled “Queenie” was the main attraction. “From the third slot I look straight utp this aisle to the meat counter, and I watched them all the way” (836). The store clerk Sammy was so mesmerized by Queenie’s beauty that he could not take his eyes off of her and just watched her as she strolled through the store. Sammy’s co-worker Stoksie even noticed Sammy’s blatant staring onto the beach Barbie. The girls being dressed in bathing suits brought Queenie positive attention from Sammy but negative attention from his boss, Lengel. Lengel does not like that the girls walked into the super market in bathing suits and tells them that they need to be decently dressed when shopping in A & P (the supermarket). The story also shows the dire need of money that some families needed post World War II through the indications that the store clerk really needed his job. If he did not have a job it would be hurting his parents. Sammy quit because of how Lengel reacted to the girls and Sammy wanted to impress them. Lengel states, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad” (839).