John Updike's use of Imagery in A&P.

Out of the four pieces of literature I read this week my favorite was the short story by John Updike titled A&P. In this story the main character Sammy, a cashier at A&P Grocery store, notices three girls walk in wearing nothing but bathing suits. As the three girls walk around the store, Sammy voyeuristically watches their every move, one girl in particular catches his eye, Sammy decides that she is the "Queen" of the three. Updike describes her in great detail, the color of her bathing suit, the way it hangs on her body, the color, size, and feel of her hand and just her demeanor in general. So, when the girls are done shopping they come to Sammy's line and he rings them up. As they are about to leave the Manager of A&P confronts the three girls telling them that they are dressed inappropriately. Sammy sees that the girls are embarrassed, so as an attempt to win them over Sammy quits his job, but when he walks out of the store the girls are no where to be found.

What I liked most about this story was the picture Updike painted of how the three girls

looked, while reading this story I knew exactly, without a doubt what they looked like. I felt like I was there, and like I was seeing everything Sammy was seeing. The great use of imagery kind of justifies Sammy's actions at the end. When describing the girls Updike makes it seem realistic that someone would quit their job just to impress them. The line that gave the most imagery was when Sammy first saw the girls and described the one he called the Queen, " She had on a kind of dirty-pink --beige maybe, I dont know-- bathing suit with a little nubble all over it, and what got me, the straps were down. They were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess as a result the suit had slipped a little on her, so all around the top cloth there was this shinning rim. If it hadn't been there you wouldn't have known there could be anything whiter than those shoulders."

Another example of imagery is when Sammy compares the grocery store to a pinball machine. My favorite line in the story is when Sammy says, "The whole store was like a pinball machine and I didn't know which tunnel they'd come out of." After reading this sentence I thought of the three girls rolling around a pinball machine, bouncing off bumpers, and going through tunnels.

As the author was describing the main girl I was reminded of Marilyn Monroe. Updike described the girl as having sun and salt bleached hair. He also said that she walked with her head held high, and had long white prima-donna legs. She was described as a confident and classic beauty, all of which reminded me of Marilyn Monroe, especially in the photograph at the top right.

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