Analysis of anatomy and physiology

¶ … authors who write alike and in discussing post modernism, one factor that was mentioned by writers like Walker especially of the literature of the twentieth-century short story was the narration based on the central character under severe pressure. It was the traditional course that many authors took, and the examples are: "A&P," "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," "The Jilting of Granny Weather-all" and "Araby." All based on Joycean epiphany, and Boyle's Greasy Lake and John Updike's "A&P," belong to this genre. John Updike shows Sammy's rebellion against the store management and its oppression, there is the realization that while the revolt will not gain anything for him or the three girls, or for any one, there is the assertion that the action is the deepest reflection of his character. (Walker, 247)

There are works that all have similar themes, and in the case of A&P there is the question of its closeness with the works of James Joyce, - Araby. The question is not the adaptation but the consequence. Perhaps the work has been a restatement of another work, at least in the opinion of scholars of literature. John Updike's way of adapting works, especially that of James Joyce whose work based on the Dubliners, is the "Arab." The second attempt at transforming Vanity Fair into the background of the supermarket is the story A&P which published in 1962, has been the single story of Updike that has received the most attention in anthology. (Walker, 127)

There is a closeness of the story to Araby, and the tale is the reminiscence of a youth now much in the know of the ways of the world, and has transformed from the starry eyed youth behind the supermarket counter to the frustrated reencounter of his infatuation with a beautiful but inaccessible girl. The tragedy is set in an emotional upheaval. There are several differences between the heroes of Joyce and Updike, and in the analysis of Updike's lad, the scene is set from the time he meets Queenie in the aisle, and being similar in situation critics often say that the settings of Updike have been influenced by the tale "Araby." (Walker, 127)

The question is if the story based on allusions and symbolism with a nineteen-year-old narrator Sammy who leaves his job, and wants the reader to sympathize with his motives in doing so. Or is there a more subtle message in the deed? The impulsive reaction to the way grown up reacts to the coming into the supermarket of three girls in bathing suits for purchase. There is a pointer to the changing values in modern society -- the changes in 1960s are clearly underlined. While we are shown the fact that Sammy, ogles the girls and makes a queen of the leader. On one hand while he feels no pang in doing so he is disgusted by the butcher's lustful gaze. (Saldivar, 214)

There is rebellion when the manager who is a puritan rebukes the girls. The only outrage that the manager, Lengel, seem to have done is to make the queen blush. Thus Sammy quits his job against an authority that demeans people. The girls seem neither to have noticed the managers' consternation or admonition nor have they noticed Sammy standing up for them. Sammy gains nothing but loses his job in the bargain. (Saldivar, 215)

There was parody of other works for which Updike is noted. Here in this story too, apart from Araby we find the parody of the classic Vanity Fair. Parody of the Vanity Fair can be seen in the way Updike hints at American Christianity by writing of the three girls stroll through the aisles of the A&P inappropriately clad, in a parody of Bunyan's pilgrims in Vanity Fair. Further the girl Queenie's approach to the checkout stand, as per the character Sammy, is when Lengel, the store's manager, confronts the girls at the register, and there is mortification f the girl. That is where at the checkout stand, Sammy witnesses Queenie's discomfiture with great sympathy. As a gallant gesture he makes many promises. This is comparable to Joyce's boy in Dublin where the hero like Sammy offers a gift. In the face of the mortification of his adored object. (Wells, 128)