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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper looking at the character of the store manager in John Updike's well-known story. The paper asserts that Updike's manager represents the entire narrow-minded attitude of this small New England town, and thus is metaphorically present through the entire story, even though he only appears in person at the end. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Updikeap.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
from this that he performs a very small role in a story that is dominated by Sammy, the checkout boy, and the three teenage girls who enter the A &
P clad only in bathing suits. However, this could not be further from the truth. For the persona of Lengel represents something that up to that point has only been
implicit in Updikes story: the traditional, middle-of-the-road, conventional point of view. This point of view is, in fact, carried throughout the story, so that even though Lengel does not
make his physical appearance until near the storys end, his arrival has in a way been foreshadowed by a number of other characters who preceded him. For example, Updike notes
that as soon as the three girls appear in the A & P, the "sheep" -- Sammys word for the run-of-the-mill customers who plod through the store, pushing their shopping
carts, following their prescribed routes like sheep -- react to their presence with amazement; "You could see them, when Queenies white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop,
or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed. . . .But there was no doubt, this jiggled them. A few houseslaves in
pin curlers even looked around after pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct" (Updike, 1274). The staff of the market, likewise, can hardly believe
it when these three girls traipse in. Stokesie, another young clerk, whom Sammy tells us is married and the father of two babies, comments to Sammy that he "feel[s] so
faint" when he sees the girls (Updike, 1274), and an older clerk, McMahon, begins "patting his mouth and looking after them, sizing up their joints" (Updike, 1275). What all of
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