Power In John Updike's A & P

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John Updike does something clever and interesting in "A&P": he gives us a lusty 19-year old guy for a narrator and has him perform what Updike calls "an act of feminist protest. “This story is about three girls who walk into an A&P grocery store on a Thursday afternoon, wearing only their bathing suits. The girls are aware that others are watching them, but they act oblivious, and this dynamic seems to lend the girls a kind of unspoken power. However, this power proves to be something of an illusion, since the girls can't really harness it as Sammy says, "Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it" and they can't adequately come to their own defense. The reaction they get from the other customers makes up the bulk of
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Reponse Essay

Laszlo Papp Professor Tomb English 1B 13 February 2013 John Updikes story, “A&P”, had strong relations to me, because I myself used to work at a local Savemart here in San Jose. As I read the story I saw how some of Johns stories related to my own experiences. As I read it gave me feelings of happiness and gratitude, it reminded me of the fun times and bad I had at Savemart. As Updike did to help pass the time, my coworkers and I would watch females walk into the store, we would play jokes…

Words 1307 - Pages 6