A & P By John Updike

Updike used foreshadowing in this piece by letting the audience know that something is going to happen, without letting us know exactly what it is. I believe that the best example of foreshadowing is when Sammy thinks to himself, “The sheep pushing their carts down the isle---the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) ---were pretty hilarious. You could see them, when Queenie’s white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back into their own baskets and on they pushed” (Updike 143). By this

There is a sudden change in Sammy's attitude toward the girls throughout the story. At first, Sammy and his friend's he work

John Updike's "A&P" is about a boy named Sammy, who lives a simple life while working in a supermarket he seems to despise. As he is following his daily routine, three girls in bathing suits enter the store. The girls affect everyone's monotonous lives, especially Sammy's. Because the girls disrupt the routines of the store, Sammy becomes aware of his life and decides to change himself.

When three young teenage girls enter the store wearing nothing but bathing suits, things begin to change for Sammy. Sammy takes notice of the actions of the girls; how they go against the normal “traffic flow” of the supermarket and break the social rules of society with their attire. It is these attributes that attract Sammy to them, as they represent freedom and escape from the life he finds himself in. When Lengel approaches them and reprimands them for what they are wearing, Sammy quits in the hopes of becoming the girls unsuspected hero.

The short story “A&P” written by John Updike, is about three girls who change Sammy’s life. The three girls came from the beach and are not dressed properly to enter a grocery store called A&P. Sammy, the main character, is a check out clerk, and observes every detail about the girls. Sam even gives each of the girls a name. His favorite is “Queenie.” Sammy is obviously the type of guy who doesn’t get a lot of girls. Sam has a conflict of person vs. society. Because of his dead end job, obsession with Queenie, and his noble act to save the girls from embarrassment, Sammy has a conflict between himself and society.

In John Updike’s coming of age story “A&P,” the protagonist Sammy sees what he believes to be an unfair act to three teenage girls in bikini in the grocery store. He makes an immature decision and quits in front of his manager that decided to address the girls about their clothing choice in front of the entire grocery store, instead of talking to them in private. Unfortunately, the teenage girls do not notice Sammy’s heroic act, and he is left alone in the parking lot to face the repercussions of his childish actions. John Updike chooses to write in first-person, so the reader gets to know the narrator’s real character. In his short story “A&P,” John Updike demonstrates that Sammy is an immature character immaturity from his disrespectful personality, judgmental attitude, and misogynist beliefs.

In the short story called "A & P" by John Updike, our main character Sammy is described as being a checkout clerk at the local grocery store. Sammy quits his job for many reasons. Sammy does not want to be referred as a "sheep", someone that follows, instead he wishes to do things on his own.

As people age, maturity and wisdom is gained through every experiences. From the time a child turns eighteen and becomes an adult, they are required to deal with the realities of the real world and learn how to handle its responsibilities. In John Updike's short story, "A&P", the narrator Sammy, a young boy of nineteen, makes a major change to his life fueled by nothing more than his immaturity and desire to do what he wants and because of that, he has do deal with the consequences.

Sammy's play continues as he his eyes follow the three girls around the store, and he notes the way that the one he has named "Queenie" is definitely the leader. She would "buzz to the other two, who kind of huddled against her for relief" (28). Sammy sees this as a game of follow-the-leader as well as a game of hide-and-seek, because, as Queenie "led them, the other two [would] peek around and make their shoulders round" (27).

In a continuing attempt to reveal this societal conflict, Updike introduces the character of Lengel, the manager. He accosts the girls and starts to make a scene accusing them of being indecent: “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.’ He turns his back. That’s policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want. What others want is juvenile delinquency” (Updike, 600). When the store manager confronts three girls in swimsuits because of their indecency (lack of proper clothes), they are forced to leave humiliated. At this moment Sammy makes the choice to quit his job in protest of the manager’s handling of the situation. In his mind, and arguably in John Updike’s mind, the standards of walking into a grocery store in a bathing suit and humiliating someone in front of other people are both unacceptable. This part of the story is pivotal for one main reason: a voice in the business community is speaking. As a manager at A & P, Lengel is the voice of The Establishment and guards the community ethics (Porter, 321). Queenie’s (the ringleader of the girls) blush is what moves Sammy to action. Here are three girls who came in from the beach to purchase only one thing, and this kingpin is embarrassing them in order to maintain an aura of morality, decency,

Sammy fellow coworkers also feel the relentless temptations that the girls have on the male workers in A&P. Sammy observes some of his coworker’s reactions to towards the girl’s appearance and how the can not resist acting prudish as they gaze and make lewd remarks to one another as their comments seemed to be derived from hormones. McMahon the worker who works in the meat department as a butcher who is an older gentleman, well maybe not gentlemen, but more of a cad that comes in contact with these three girls and is described to be “patting his mouth and looking after them sizing up their joints.” (Updike

Sammy faces the decision of staying at his job or leaving. His parents are friends with the manager of the store, Lengel. One day three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Seeing it is a slow day, Sammy observes the girls as they go through the store and to his luck come to his check out station. Lengel then sees them at checkout and confronts the girls to tell them about the store’s policy that they should be dressed decently upon entering the store, “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy’” (Updike). This is where Sammy has his transitioning experience. Upon hearing this conversation, Sammy tries be a hero for the girls by making the decision to quit his job, “The girls, and who’d blame, them are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear,

The girls are buying a jar of Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks as Lengel, thc store manager and Sunday school teacher, criticizes their dress, "Girls this isn't the beach." The queen answers, "My mother asked me to pick up

On a regular day, three girls in bathing suits walk inside a grocery store called A&P. The three girls in bathing suits brought a lot of attention with them. At a grocery store, it is very uncommon to enter a store with a bathing suit which stirs some controversy revealing a lot of skin. One could say they did the job of getting that attention from the employees. The story is told from sammys perspective, which he talks about each girls looks. “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs” (627). The description sammy gave about the girl demonstrates the attention they are receiving. Beside sammy, Stokesie can not keep his eyes off the girls. Even though he is a married man, he could not maintain his etiquette at work. It may seem like the group of girls hold a power that men seek. They play it off pretty good with the help of their leader queenie who catches the attention of Sammy.

Outside impacts on youth are a contributing element by they way they interface in day by day life. Sammy does not care for his occupation. The misery is further created by his judgmental stereotyping of everybody connected with the store