Paper Example on Updike and Existentialism

Introduction

John Updike is a renowned fiction prose author with distinguished attention on American society's concerns, sufferings and passion for Christian theology, sexuality and sensual divide. In the fictitious narrative "A&P" Updike demonstrate the insightful perspective on the unique traits and features of human nature. In the narrative, he escapes the monotonous routine of the A&P grocery store in scenes that bring out idealistic views of individuals and social norms. Through the scenes, Updike exposes his audience to the internal and external conflicts of the ideal self. On the other hand, Aho defines existentialism as a philosophical perspective that emphasizes on the individuality of choice, existence, and freedom in the bid of human beings contextualizing the meaning of their life (5). The existentialism school of thought drives under the impression of six principles that explain individualized behavior, reasons, and thinking. These tenets include isolation of the individual, freedom to desire, life purposeless, God's force, morality, and realization of hopelessness or futility (Ginev 198). This paper will, therefore, explore the work of John Updike's "A&P" reflecting on the tenets of existentialist philosophy to show the rationality of the different decisions made by the characters in the narrative.

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From existentialist's perspective, a person has the authority of making rational decisions about important aspects of their life with sound thinking despite the social odds presented by the irrationality of the universe. This philosophical perspective questions human existence showing none related purpose or explanation of core existence disregarding the existence of divine or transcendent powers while giving meaning to life through embracement of existence as purported by Jean-Paul Sartre among other philosophers. Using the guiding principles of existentialism Sartre dictates that "existence precedes essence" as the driving force to introduce existentialism distinctively. Borrowing on their perspectives views on individualism Updike's "A&P" applies this school of thought in the development of the themes and characters in the fictitious narrative (Batchelor 2013). The protagonist in the text 'Sammy' presents a character that contradicts individuality on self-idealism, and self-expression as he battles repression, oppression, confusion, and pride. Using these character traits, Updike presents Sammy and the other characters like the three girls, Lengel, and Stokesie within the existence tenets rather than essence.

The initial tenet of existentialist of philosophy advocate for the isolation of the individual. Using this principle of philosophy, Updike developed the character of Sammy and Stokesie to show the unexplainable and stress-free elements of choices and responsibilities each individual makes and bears the consequences of the individualized actions alone. Using this tenet Updike was able to develop the theme of desire prominently in the narrative. The two grocery attendants do not hide their erotic desires when the three girls enter "A&P" wearing bathing suits. Sammy's mind is distracted from daily routine boredom in his job with the desire to have the leader-girl whom he nicknames Queenie due to her beauty. Adopting existentialism he unaware desires drives him to make indecisive choices to resign from his job because e he felt that their boss - Lengel was rude to the girls. Lengel cautions him of the consequences for his actions later in life when he says "You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?.... (2). Taking unprecedented decision leaves him to be responsible for the consequences of his own actions. The two men who are of different ages, Sammy and Stokesie hold different levels of perverted desires for the girls because of their dressing code and their appearances but their response to their desires is different to demonstrate the principle of isolation of the individual as a guiding tenet in understanding existentialism in human life (Simons 59) Each man is responsible for the consequences of the decisions he makes at liberty of responsibility and desire to choose what one desires.

Secondly, the tenet of the freedom to do whatever an individual desire is applied by Updike to demonstrate how the theme of desire is developed in the existence of the individuals in the plot. Borrowing on the philosophical mindset that human beings are free to commit an act solely based on their individualized self-satisfaction or self-actualization. Queenie and her friends are walking freely in bathing suits despite the fact that the author tells us that the "A &P" is not situated on the beach. Updike presents the girls with a strong sense of self-satisfaction and confidence. The description of the composition of how Queenie walks into the store with her unnamed friends shows that she walks like a queen earning her the name Queenie from the narrator. This use of symbolism and simile expression shows that the girls felt that they were at liberty to do whatever they desired for self-actualization and satisfaction. Again when they enter the store their purchase order demonstrate a great sense of individualized freedom of fulfilling their desire when the narrator says Queenie orders "Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream" (11). This character showed the freedom of sophistication.

Additionally, another element of existentialist philosophy's tenets is the purposeless life as a whole. Adopting to this line of though Updike demonstrates characters in his narration without any potential purpose, reward or punishment for whatever any individual does. Sammy feels like his work was not rewarding and therefore perceives that the punishments are not applicable because life was purposeless. He spent many days watching clients coming to and from the store and cautiously sees nothing unique in any of them he says "The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle" (Updike 18). He wants to justify the existence before essence as dictated by Sartre perceiving that there was no real difference in the different customers who routinely went in and out making his schedule boring and monotonous. Using the principles of existentialism Updike shows how Sammy and his colleague lack purpose in the life they were leading at their workplace prompting Sammy to make a hasty decision because he felt that he had nothing to lose despite his boss warning him of his future. The feels that the whole life everybody was leading was purposeless. Finally, Updike adopts the tenet of realization to show the philosophical perspective of life that individuals felt they were hopeless and their effort is fruitless or futile. When Sammy make a hasty decision to quit his job on baseless allegations, he later realizes that his life would turn hopeless as the consequences of the choices he makes when he says ".....feels how hard the world is going to be to him hereafter" (31). The positive and negative impacts of the decisions one makes are demonstrated to show that the consequences validate the essence of existence as opposed to the character's perception.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Updike reflects on the philosophical perspective of existentialism to develop the different themes and characters in the narrative to bring out the fictitious element in the individualized values of life. Using existentialist philosophy the work of Updike gives life a different meaning especially of the freedom of choice without fearing any transcendence forces that will impact the consequences of our choices in reality.

Works Cited

Aho, K. Existentialism: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014.

Batchelor, Bob. John Updike: A Critical Biography, California: Praeger, 2013. ISBN 978-0-31338403-5.

Ginev, Dimitri. The Tenets of Cognitive Existentialism, Ohio University Press, 2011, 198pp, ISBN 9780821419762.

Simons, M. Beauvoir, and the Second Sex: Feminism, Race, and the Origins of Existentialism. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013.

Updike, John. "A&P." Literature. An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 12th Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education (US), 2012. 17-21. Print