Analysis of Teenage Rebellion in A&P by John Updike

In John Updike’s “A&P”, Updike describes his past experience observing three young girls in the grocery store he works at and how they lead him to teenage rebellion. The story begins with a young Updike mindlessly scanning items and illustrating different types of people who shop at the A&P. He notices that three young out of town girls walk in wearing bathing suits and no shoes, and goes into detail about the “chunky one” and “Big Tall Goony-Goony”. The narrator then notices the unofficial leader of the group, who he names Queenie, and goes on a page and a half long description about how attractive she is.

We are introduced to the narrator’s coworker, Stokesie, a married man who is three years older and expecting his second child. Updike watches the girls walk aimlessly around the store like a “pinball machine”, before deciding on purchasing a can of Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks. Unfortunately, the girls are faced with Lendel, the conservative sunday school teacher/manager, and are scolded on their attire. Updike, upset by the way his manager is speaking to the girls, decides that he is fed up with the grocery store and quits in a heroic gesture, only to realize that the girls had left before they could notice his grand exit. Updike’s story is of his past teenage rebellion; we are introduced to the idea that this occurrence is a flashback by the narrator describing that his parents were saddened by his behavior, but “he doesn’t think it’s so sad”.

The author uses the characters Stoksie and Lendel to create an image of conformity. Stokesie “thinks he’s going to be manager some sunny day” and already has started a family, while Lendel is the epitome of what this young nineteen year old boy wants to become. “Policy is is what the kingpins want” and Updike wants no part of that. The narrator juxtaposes the mundane establishment of his coworkers at the grocery store with the new and shiny girls from out of town, especially Queenie. She is almost a goddess to him, as he tracks her every move and describes every inch of her body, even down to the “two smoothest scoops of vanilla” that he called her breasts. In many ways, Updike’s description of Queenie is sexist and exaggerated, even for the mind of a teenage boy. The author purposefully makes the reader uncomfortable to showcase the rebellion he felt against the boring life he felt he was being forced into.

The girls from out of town knew better than to come inside a grocery store “five miles from the beach” wearing swimsuits, no shoes, and a “look at me” attitude, and Updike envied their care-free attitude. While they were not the reason for his quitting, they became the straw that broke the camel’s back. When Lendel began to scold the girls, the narrator became faced with an internal turmoil that made him question the future he had laid out for himself. He saw a future that didn't require the monotony of managing a grocery store for the rest of his life, and chose a different path, despite knowing “how hard the world was going to be to him hereafter”.

Updike’s story, while provocative and slightly uncomfortable, details teenage rebellion and how it can alter and shape the rest of your life.