Sexual desire, social conformity, and fantasy vs. reality are the three main themes present throughout Updike's "A&P". Sexual desire is illustrated by the fact that the cashier follows the bikini girls outside that he is attracted to. Fantasy vs. Reality is present when the cashier envisions the girls liking him by the fact that he stood up for them to quit his job, but realistically they didn't care and were not there for him when he went outside. Social conformity is present by the fact that it was significantly less common for girls to publicly walk into a place with bikinis in the 1950's than it is now.
Moreover, the reason this work is interesting is because of the irony that is present. During the 1950's, it was very rare that people who go out in public are dressed half-naked. Currently in this day and age, it is a lot more common. For example, Elvis in the 1950's was given a hard time just for hip thrusting. Children would be asked to cover their eyes or look away and nowadays, sexual behavior is more publicly common on TV and is seen a lot more explicitly as well. Ultimately, the reason this is ironic is because the girls were publicly flaunting themselves like this during that time period, which was very uncommon.
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