Laura B. answered • 09/08/20
APA and MLA citation instruction and all forms of research
Hi Vincent,
In just a few pages Updike seems to encompass many of the conflicts of his generation. His writings focus on the years during the early sixties that gave birth to changing the world, lending it’s young voice to the VietNam War and the Civil Rights Movement. In “A and P,” a nineteen year old grocery worker expresses his surprise at three young girls who have broken the rules of acceptable behavior by sauntering into his store wearing nothing but bathing suits “in the middle of town,” and also the negative feelings he has toward the store manager’s shaming the girls by telling them that they need to “cover their shoulders” when they are in the store.
Updike, in great detail, allows his audience to see stark contrasts between old and young, notions of acceptable behavior. The store manager is described as, “an old and gray” man who embarasses the girls by telling them their dress is unacceptable. Critics have described Updike as a “diagnostician of the human condition.” ” “A and P” clearly illustrates this closeness to the mores of the 60’s middle-class America and of its conflicts.
Best,
Laura B.
