A&P

When I read John Updike’s A&P, it struck me as being a feminist protest. First of all, the girls come into the A&P wearing swim suits. “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits.” (Chopin 220). “They didn’t even have shoes on” (220). Even if someone did this now days, they would get a funny look. This is the first thing that stood out to me as being a feminist protest. They are scantily clad in the super market. Secondly, they are walking the wrong direction. “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” (221). The girls are walking towards people, not behind them. It is as if they wanted people to see them by walking against the traffic. They were also showing that they were not afraid to go against the usual way of doing things.

Sammy quits because he is smitten with the girls and does not like how Lengal embarrasses them. “You didn’t have to embarrass them” (223). Also, he is hoping to impress the girls by quitting his job in protest to how they were treated. “…their unsuspecting hero” (223).

Sammy’s epiphany is happening when Lengel is talking with the girls. I can tell his mind is racing and he is thinking about what is going on. Everything clicks when he says the words, “I quit” (223). He realizes the full meaning of those two little words when he says, “…my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (224). The girls are nowhere in sight. He was hoping that they would realize what he had done for them, but they did not.