John Updikes A&P Essay -- English Literature

John Updikes A&PMany of the events that take place in John Updikes A&P would nothave happened had the town lived under a Marxist society. Marxism is asocio-economic ideal where all people work for the good of thecommunity and is characterized by not having any social classdistinctions. The division of Classes in A&P is very apparent,especially between Sammy, the protagonist and first person narrator,and the three girls, unity of the three antagonists, who walk into thestore during the exposition. There is also a cast disparity betweenSammy and Lengel, the store manager and another antagonist (along withsociety, who complete the three). A distinction is also noticeablebetween the three girls and the rest of the shoppers in theconvenience store.The story is told entirely in flashback and is set in a marketplace storein a town north of Boston, Massachusetts during one Thursday insummer. During the exposition we learn that Sammy is working one ofthe cash registers. afterwards in the s tory we are told that he is 19 yearsold and by his description of how his parents treat company we canassume he comes from a middle class family. We are lead to believeduring Sammys narration that the three girls, on the other hand, comefrom a rich or high societal background. The way Queenie is describedby Sammy as having prima-donna legs and walking slow while holdingherself straight paints a portrait of a high society woman. The itemthat Sammy calls her prim twice also leads us in that direction. Sammylooks up to Queenie because she is different and places her on ahigher level than the sheep in the store. When Sammy quits his job,creating a skirmish between he and Lengel, his motive is to become the... ...ls us she wasembarrassed by the whole situation-where she felt out of place becauseof her high stature in society. These scenes, of course, would neverhave taken place in Marxist cultures because the government would haveprovided for its citizens and the girls would have neve r foundthemselves being humiliated in front of a lesser class of people.All the conflicts that take place in Updikes A&P would have beenavoided in a Marxist society. Lengel and Sammy would have never had aconfrontation because Sammy would not have been trying to impress ahigh society girl. Likewise, the three girls would not have foundthemselves shopping for a nosh in the A&P because the governmentwould have provided it for them. This leaves us with one question,however, In a Marxist society, would Sammy have realized his adulthoodor would he have remained a child?