Summary Of A & P By John Updike

Surrounded by the beautiful nature of New England, and privileged with the picturesque coastal line of the Atlantic; a traditional middle class town can’t hide from the revolution of a culture. As a reader, theirs a perceived perception that author John Updike’s has an attentive admiration for his historical community, through the story A&P, his perspective on the era of his culture is portrayed through the elaborate characterization.
Author John Updike’s historical hometown, provides a perfect inspiration for the setting of the story A&P. “It’s not as if we’re on the cape; we’re north of Boston and there’s people in this town haven’t seen the ocean for twenty years” (Updike 458). The historical town of Ipswich, MA, founded in 1633, and known
When A&P was published in 1961, author John Updike portrayed some of the changes America was starting to experience throughout the country. “It’s one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down at the beach, and another thing in the cool of the A&P” (Updike 457), the youth culture became trend-setting with their idealism, and rebellion; they opposed things like government, etiquette, racism, and war. For the older generations during this era, the rebellious youth was an eye opener; the prior decades leading up to the sixties, America was considered a conservative culture, people called it the last age of morality, law and order, respect for your family, and a popular culture that was exemplar (Marwick par. 2). In the story A&P, when Queenie rebelliously argues, “We are decent” (Updike 459), to store manager Lengel about the girls appearance; the blatant disrespect signifies that theirs a disregard for authority in the youth of the American culture, a person of Lengel’s generation was raised in an era that they more than likely wouldn’t dare disrespect their elders. Awareness of the characters interactions in a story, can help form characterization and provide a good