On American Consumerism: An Analysis of John Updikes A & P - Essay Example

?On American Consumerism: An Analysis of John Updike’s A & P A surface reading of John Updike’s A & P reveals a story about a young man’s impulse to take a stand and face the consequences of his decision. However, beyond the usual understanding of A & P being a “coming of age narrative” is the analysis that John Updike’s masterpiece tells more about an individual’s struggle in a consumerist society. Looking at A & P in this perspective enables us to see the bigger picture about how the story actually mirrors the consumer-based society which Americans live. With this, it is important to first devote our attention to the context of the story and then understand the symbolism behind each character to reveal the author’s intention to create an irony about living in a consumerist country. Since the story is published in the 1960’s, it gives us a picture of a conservative society where people adhere to traditional values and norms. In those days, conforming to the standard appearance and behavior was necessary, especially to middle class families who aspire for social equality through the American dream of typically owning a house, driving a car, and buying enough goods. Adding to this set-up is the industrial development which allowed grocery store chains like A & P to dominate and offer packaged consumer goods around the country. It is this typical middle-class setting in the 1960s which establishes the internal conflict of a young man against his society. In the story, the ultimate act of Sammy to quit his job represents non-conformity to a social structure that is based on commoditization of goods and perpetuation of conservative values. In Sammy’s words, the setting of the story points to an area “right in the middle of town” where “you can see two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store and three real-estate offices ". This description tells us about the narrator’s location in the central part of a consumerist society where a grocery store lies in the middle of the financial, spiritual, informational, and property structures. In the story, A & P is the focal area where packaged goods are made available for the consumption of every Americans. In grocery stores, all products are homogenized in order to meet the material demands of every consumer. As such, Sammy becomes part of this materialistic environment which deals with people purchasing goods and individuals finding meaning on things. Because of this, it is no surprise that the narrator himself is inclined to also objectify the things and people around him. At first, he describes the empty store as a “pinball machine” and searches for the girls show up, as if to find the objects of his attraction. Meanwhile, he labels other customers as “sheep” and describes a girl’s rear as a “can” which means that he compares people to things and animals. In Sammy’s eyes, people lose their humanity once they enter the confines of A & P. He sees the girls inside as mere sex objects, viewing them in the same way as customers choose their products. He judges the girls based solely on their physical features in the same way as customers judge a product by its package. Like a consumer who judges a product based on commercials, Sammy is also fascinated by the typical standards of beauty in media advertisements. For Sammy, old and less attractive customers are worthy of his mockery – labeling them as “a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows”, classifying them “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle”, and calling them “house slaves in pin curlers”. Apparently, this view women also mirrors to what Hatcher (1997) believes that Sammy’s character reveals his biased thoughts that it is all right for the young girls to walk around the store in their bathing suits, but other women, ‘women with six children and varicose veins’, should put on some clothes before they get out of their cars. On the other hand, it is clear that the nineteen year old Sammy sees attractiveness of a woman based on her physical figure. It can be noted that the sexual connotations he used to describe women often refers to the products sold in the shop. For instance, when one of the girls in bathing suit came to A & P, he describes her as someone who has “a sweet broad soft-looking can” and then, towards the end of the story, he describes Queenie as a woman who has “the nicest two scoops of vanilla breasts”. This commodification of women is clearly a reflection of how Sammy seems to blend people with the products sold inside the grocery store. He is attracted to well-packaged looks, in the same way as customers are encouraged to buy well-advertised products. Ultimately, even Sammy’s momentous decision to quit his job in an attempt to impress Queenie is mainly based on his desire for upward social mobility. Once again, we point to American consumerism here as the factor that affects people like Sammy to desire higher status in life. In a consumerist society where more goods are produced, people tend to define themselves based on their material possessions. For a person like Sammy, who belongs to the bottom of the social ladder, it is only natural to desire someone like Queenie who obviously comes from an upper middle class background. The socio-economic divide in the north of Boston is evident when Sammy described the area as unlike being on Cape because “there's people in this town haven't seen the ocean for twenty years”. Being a grocery store clerk, Sammy appears to be an unhappy employee who is simply bored with his work since “there is nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again”. Then when finally the girls appeared, Sammy focuses more attention on Queenie because she belongs in a social class which he wishes to fit. With Queenie’s declaration to purchase a jar of herring snacks, Sammy immediately formed an image of his family in a formal party where “her father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them”. With these thoughts, it is clear that Sammy secretly fantasizes to be part of the upper middle class circle and fully reveal his air of superiority among others. For him, defending Queenie is his way of renouncing his poor economic status and aspiring for upward social mobility. Sammy wants to fit in within Queenies circle so that he too could enjoy the freedom exercised by the people in the upper echelon of the society. For Sammy, freedom is only enjoyed by those who are rich and powerful enough to express themselves and challenge the existing conventions. As a mere grocery clerk, he is only allowed to keep his thoughts to himself as he is bound by the conventions of his workplace. And so, when Sammy quits from his job, he makes it clear that he wants to break away from the monotony of his work and denounce his status in society. Unfortunately for him, this move is the closest he could get to “freedom” in consumerist setting. Works Cited Hatcher, Nathan. "Sammy’s Motive." Ode to Friendship & Other Essays. Ed. Connie Bellamy. Norfolk, Virginia: 1996. 37-38. Updike, John. "A&P." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. 1026-1030. Read More