This essay examines the role of setting in John Updike's short story "A&P" and its effect on the plot and theme. The essay argues that the supermarket setting functions as a symbol of homogenous, consumerist American society, placed in stark contrast with the natural world represented by the beach. Through Sammy's perspective, the analysis traces how the entrance of three girls in bathing suits disrupts the artificiality of the store, how supporting characters reinforce the theme of conformity, and how the manager's confrontation crystallizes the incompatibility of the two worlds. The essay draws on textual evidence to show how Updike uses setting, character naming, and language to critique mid-twentieth-century American consumer culture.
The central theme of John Updike's short story "A&P" is rooted in some of the most important socioeconomic changes brought about by the twentieth century. The story's setting in a modern supermarket — and even its title — signals a focus on the nature of American society: consumerist, homogenous, and hostile to individualism. Updike constructs two antithetical worlds within the narrative: the artificial world of the supermarket and the natural world of the beach. These two worlds are placed in direct opposition throughout the story.
The contrast between them is emphasized by the point of view from which the story is told — that of Sammy, a teenage clerk who cannot quite articulate the differences between the two worlds but who intuitively rebels against the rigid, consumerist society. His rebellion takes the form of a seemingly "heroic" gesture: quitting his job and defending the girls in front of the store manager. The setting is therefore symbolic, underscoring the stark contrast between the artificial and the natural.
The two worlds are thrown into opposition from the story's abrupt opening, when the entrance of the girls registers as a breach in the monotony and artificiality of the supermarket: "In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits" (Kennedy and Gioia, 128). Sammy's naive description of the girls carries its own special symbolism. The name he gives to his preferred girl — Queenie — suggests a different world entirely, perhaps even a fairy-tale one. Queenie's defiance is further amplified by the fact that the straps of her bathing suit are down, intensifying the sense of freedom that the girls collectively project.
This spirit of defiance is also expressed spatially: the girls move against the store's established flow of traffic. As Sammy observes, "The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle — the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) — were pretty hilarious" (Kennedy and Gioia, 128). Their physical movement against the current of the other shoppers becomes a visual metaphor for their resistance to the conformist order of the supermarket world.
"Shoppers portrayed as automatic, non-individual consumers"
"Manager's words crystallize the two opposing worlds"
The peak of this opposition is found in the manager's words — "this is not the beach" — words that he significantly repeats. The store manager, Lengel, becomes the embodiment of the artificial world's rules and expectations. His insistence that the girls dress appropriately for the store environment makes explicit what the story has been suggesting all along: the two worlds, the natural and the artificial, are simply incompatible.
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