|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"A&P," John Updike's short story, is a much anthologized work. It is considered by many to be a fine example of modern literature, of artful writing. But when readers view this story from a feminist perspective, they find many sexist stereotypes, especially the judgment of women according to their physical appearance. These judgments are so dramatically apparent that parallels can easily be drawn between the way the narrarator views the females in the story and the way many men view nudes. This is revealed through Sammy's narrative honesty.
The reading audience views the events of "A&P" through the eyes of Sammy, a teenage boy working in the checkout lane of a supermarket. It is a typical job for a boy who is most likely typical in his views. Some of those views include women being objects meant for the pleasure of men as well as defenseless things that need men to protect them. Sammy doesn't question his own views at all, and probably wouldn't dream that anyone else would, either. He might expect the reading audience to agree and sympathize with his view of the events. But the fact that most readers are not Sammy's peers makes this unlikely; the reactions of most readers, in fact, are much different. Many men might find Sammy to be amusing, perhaps remembering similar chivalrous inclinations when they were his age, while many women will see evidence of the deeply sexist sentiment that affects obviously even the very young. Many feminists would argue that Sammy's judgement of females based on their appearance, their physical appeal, and the manner in which he objectifies and catalogs them into stereotypes are all typical factors in how males treat females in our patriarchal society.
One of those factors is pointed out by Berger: "Men survey women before treating them. Consequently, how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated" (387). This concept is illustrated quite effectively in "A&P", and from both sides of the coin. The first side viewed is the relative disdain felt towards females that are considered unattractive. The first nameless female described to the audience is referred to as a "witch", labeled according to what Sammy finds most unappealing about her: she has "rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows" (329). Other women in the story are seen as "sheep pushing their carts" and "house slaves" (330). Not only are they judged and condemned reflexively by Sammy, but they are cataloged with images of livestock--both human and animal. They are objects capable of being possessed.
The other side of the coin is seen in Sammy's views of the the three teenage girls that walk into the A&P wearing only bathing suits. That physical appearance is important to Sammy's judgement is shown well enough by the simple fact that almost half of the entire narrative consists of Sammy describing or alluding to the appearance of the three. Sammy also demonstrates that, even on the shallow level of appearance, first impressions aren't everything; he is constantly viewing and assessing the three, adjusting his opinion as he gets a better view of their bodies. The girl he dubs Plaid--the one he "liked better from the back"-- is appreciated for her "really sweet can" (332), but his opinion of her is soured by the fact that she is "chunky" (329). The second of the three is stuck with the epithet Big Tall Goony-Goony, though Sammy concedes that as "raw material" she is not "so bad" (332). The girl who achieves the most favorable name (Queenie) is the girl judged most pleasing of the three. Through Sammy's eyes all three girls are cataloged down to the tiniest details, from the spot on Plaid's legs where "the sun never seems to hit" and Queenie's "smoothest scoops of vanilla" (332).
Moving on from such objectification, it is easy to see the similarities between Sammy's visual judgement of the three and viewing them as objects of art, specifically as nudes. Further support for drawing these parallels can be found in Berger's statement that this view of seeing a woman as "a nude" is not limited only to paintings, but can in fact be expanded far beyond the realm of art. A female in a nude "is not as naked as she is. She is as naked as the spectator sees her" (389). Berger's statement explains why Lengel, the store manager, reacts as strongly as he does to the appearance of the three. While their bathing suits might well be considered immodest, they do not seem--from Sammy's rather explicit descriptions--indecent. But against the drab backdrop of the A&P the three were percieved by the male characters as being exotic, as being nudes. Hence they drew attention from Lengel and the fascination of Sammy, Stokesy, and the butcher .
With that fascination, they also draw up feelings of possession. Common interpretation of nudes have the subjects of the paintings belonging symbolically to the viewer, the "judge" (Berger 391). Similarly, in the back of his mind, Sammy considers the three girls to be objects belonging to him. Note the feelings of jealousy and discomfort he obviously feels when the butcher lays similar claims to the three. And, as the story comes to a close, Sammy leaves the A&P looking for "his" girls (333).
The girls may well be aware, if only subconsciously, of all that is going on in the mind of Sammy and the other men of the A&P. Most women are well aware that their appearance determines how they will be treated. Knowing this, many females seek to take some control of this process, internalizing it by manipulating their presence in accordance with how they wish to be percieved by the men around them (Berger 387). Berger posits that, in internalizing this process, women watch themselves with an intererior "male" surveyor. In seeing herself this way and modifying her appearance accordingly a woman turns herself into "an object... a sight--a nude" (388). It is very likely that the three girls in this story are practicing this manipulation of their appearance, and that they are quite aware of the reactions in their wake.
|
|
|
