Wearing only bathing suits, three girls walk into a store, causing chaos and forever altering one
young man’s life. While the customers of the store scorn the girls’ immodesty, a cashier, Sammy,
becomes greatly affected by them, intensifying his longing for change. He admires the girls for their
open rebellion against the society. The store manager confronts these girls, telling them to have covered
shoulders upon their next entrance at the store. As Sammy observes the scene, he quits his job as a sign
of being a part of “the rebellion” and in hopes of being a hero in the girls’ eyes. Reality sinks into
Sammy when he misses the girls’ exit and regret fills him. What he thinks is noble and just becomes a
changed,
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The society at that time sought consumerism, for it was important to them. As Sammy
notices a person purchasing four cans of pineapple juice, he asks himself, “(what do these bums do
with all that pineapple juice? I’ve often asked myself)” (Updike 361). Sammy does not see the
importance of consumerism and values what the traditional society dislikes. In displaying his longing
for change, Sammy even goes as far as to make fun of the society when he jokes to himself, “I bet you
could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking
oatmeal off their lists...” (Updike 360). Consumerism was a hungry, jealous love that controlled the
traditional people of that time. The store symbolized consumerism, which was a jewel in society’s mind
of this time.
The reference to sheep is a symbol of conformity, yet another picture of the desire for change. While
Sammy observes the people in the store, he thinks to himself, “The sheep pushing their carts down the
aisle- the girls were walking against the usual traffic...” (Updike 360). As the story progresses, Sammy
keeps on referring to the shoppers as “sheep”. The “sheep” are the conformed people who do not like
change. In Sammy’s mind, these conformed people follow the traditional crowd, living the same way
they have always lived. The society had been living with these chains of conformity for so long that
change was foreign to its ears. Sheep like
First it all, Sammy decide to quit his job because of his boss, Lengel has insulted the girls inside the store. Sammy feel unsuspected hero when he defend the girls to the manager. For example,
There is a sudden change in Sammy's attitude toward the girls throughout the story. At first, Sammy and his friend's he work
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
Sammy notices how all of the customers also act like sheep, which gets on his nerves.The next paragraph shifts to the next character, Sammy's co-worker, Stokesie. Stokesie is twenty-two, married, and has two children. Even though Stokesie plays a small part in the story, I believe that Updike included this character for a reason. This story isn't only based on calling people "sheep", but also has to do with "change." Change plays an important part in our life. We were all once little kids, small and naive. As a kid, we didn't know any better but to do exactly what we were told. We become prone to following "orders" without knowing whether they are good or bad. Gradually, we become knowledgeable about the difference between "right and wrong." Through experience, we develop into a better person. With knowledge and experience, we learn to excel. However, some people are still stuck in the past because they haven't learned anything. Sammy knows what he wants to do and be. He doesn't want to work at A & P for the rest of his life. Sammy isn't the type of person who would simply follow, he has his own ideas and believes in what he stands up for. Sammy doesn't seem like the guy who would praise Stokesie, and Sammy didn't mention anything positive or negative about Stokesie. Since Stokesie is young
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,
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
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.
When the Antagonist, Lengel, the store manager, comes in, he immediately reprimands the girls in front of employees and customers; telling them, next time they must be dressed decently. Lengel’s treatment of the girls, hit a nerve in Sammy, causing some tension, friction, getting his heart rate up, wedge an obstacle between him and Lengel. Sammy rings up the girls purchase, as tension builds within himself, for what just happened. When conflict is thrust upon the protagonist, forcing them into action, you risk losing them.
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.
When they arrive at the toy store, Sylvia struggles with the "new" class consciousness that is surfacing in her by attacking the values of high-end consumerism. While Sugar, Rosie, and Big Butt are having
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 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.
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.
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.
All of the main characters in the story make a choice and must endure the consequences. Sammy, the cashier of the supermarket, makes the most obvious choice. After an embarrassing encounter with the three girls and his manager, he has the choice of moving on and pretending nothing had happened, or standing up for the girls and doing something