AReader—ResponseCriticismtowards“A&P”

MaJu

【Abstract】John Updikes best known short story， “A & P， ” is famous for its plot and richness of meaning. However， it is not as popular as it is in the America because of the omissions and blanks which brings the difficulty in understanding. Therefore， this paper aims to analyze it through the perspective of reader response criticism.

【Key words】John Updike； “A & P”； reader response criticism

John Updikes short story， “A & P， ” first appeared in The New Yorker， a publication that assumes a reader with considerable literary and cultural knowledge. As it is said in “The Art of John Updikes ‘A & P”， the popularity of “A & P” contributes to a number of ironic ambiguities， but the reader who perceives Updikes allusions to art can take special pleasure in the plot.

1. Wolfgang Iser and reading process

In Wolfgang Isers the reading process：a literary work， one must take into account not only the actual text but also the actions involved in responding to that text. Iser says that literary work has two things， the artistic refers to the text created by the author， and the aesthetic to the realization accomplished by the reader. The literary work is more than the text， because the text only takes on life when it is realized， and the realization is by no means independent of the individual disposition of the reader. Therefore， trivial scenes and omissions are deliberately organized in a work.

2. Blanks and allusions

The setting is a small town north of Boston around 1960. Sammy is trying to clarify why he has impulsively quit his job as a cashier in the local A & P supermarket. Sammy tells how three teenage girls， barefoot， in bathing suits， came into the A & P store to make a purchase. He is quietly disgusted by the butchers frankly lustful gaze as the girls search for what they want to buy. Worse is his managers puritanical rebuke for their beach attire as Queenie pays Sammy for her purchase. Outraged that his manager， Lengel， has made “that pretty girl blush” and wanting to demonstrate his refusal of such demeaning authority， Sammy quits his job on the spot. Though the girls leave without recognizing their hero， and though his manager tries to dissuade him from disappointing his parents， Sammy feels “that once you begin a gesture， its fatal not to go through with it” （196）. In practical terms， Sammys action has gained him nothing and cost him everything. He finds himself at odds with the only society he knows， sure that “the world will be hard to me， hereafter” （196）.endprint

The first blank lies in “I stood there with my hand on a box of Hiho crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not. I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell.” Even the author does not tell us how old Sammy is， we can still know he is young， maybe single， from the way he behaves. The blank makes reader to actively interact with the text.

The second blank is “our （his） town is five miles from a beach， but there is people in this town have not seen the ocean for twenty years.” Readers can not help asking the reason of not seeing it. If readers know something about geography， then they will know it is because Boston belongs to New England and it is the place where Puritanism prevails.

The next blank is “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” . “Sheep and house slaves” here means that people used to their routine life and are used to being slaves of the society and themselves.

To sum up， in a world full of material desires， freedom appears more precious. However， that does not make people quit pursuing it， on the contrary， it makes freedom more attractive. The same truth for the short story， it is not the blanks and allusions make it hard to understand， it is exactly the blanks and allusions make it an ever-lasting piece of work.

References：

[1]Toni Saldivar “The Art of John Updikes “A & P””.Studies in Short Fiction.FindArticles.com.21 Dec，2009.

[2]张中载，王逢振.二十世纪西方文论选读[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2002.

[3]Yuzhong，Zhou edt.An Introduction to Fiction for Postgraduates， Yinchuan：School of Forergn Languages Ningxia University，2009.

[4]王先霈，胡亚敏.文学批评导引[M].北京：高等教育出版社，2005.

[5]郭欣.试析A & P的文本召喚结构[J].巢湖学院学报，2009，11（1）.endprint