Critical Approach Analysis

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A Feminist point of view of A&P by John Updike
The A&P Updike’s story starts as women walk together in bathing suits. This statement sums up everything that a reader would expect from the narrative. Updike explains that the girls in the story are viewed as sex objects, while other women are viewed negatively as farm animals, witches, and slaves. The narrative is about a young man’s perspective of all women as a whole in the early 1960’s. He included his mother in this point of view. This paper presents a feminist point of view of A&P John Updike’s narrative.
At the beginning of the tale, Sammy complains of an older woman, fifty years old, who had no eyebrows and had rouge on her cheeks as she waited at the counter to check her groceries. The writer explains that the woman was a witch. A young woman walks into the store and Sammy starts to drool over her. Sammy’s disrespectful behavior annoys the old woman who looks at him in disgust. The half-naked woman is a chunky girl who wore a two-piece bathing suit that revealed her "sweet broad soft-looking can", explains the author. Her mode of dressing catches Sammy’s eye as he continued to stare at the girl’s backside. Sammy also notices her breast, which in the story are referred to as "two crescents". The writer emphasizes that the "two crescents" never seemed to be hit by the sun and so young man was fascinated by this view.
A feminist would hold that the girl would be insulted by Sammy’s behavior, which would be unacceptable especially at the grocery store. The question would be if Sammy were justified for his lack of self-control because the woman dressed provocatively. Some individuals would assert that a nineteen-year-old man would be justified for this behavior but an older man, who would compare to the age of the girl’s father, would not be excused for his lack of self-control. However, no matter a man's age, this kind of harassment would not be acceptable at any cost.
The story goes on to introduce Sammyâ€&tr...