A & P by John Updike - Paper

When the girls disrupt the patterns of the store, the one-way patterns of Sammy's life are also disrupted, causing him to reflect on his life. As Sammy looks at the girls, he first notices the areas on them where the sun has affected their skin tone, and he becomes infatuated with these areas since he generally sees women "varicose veins" and "no eyebrows" underneath the fluorescent lights of the store. These sun kissed areas along with their bathing suits are so distracting to Sammy that he breaks normal routine and makes a mistake, an unusual occurrence, while checking out the "cash-register-watcher" as he has always done. Sammy then echoes Stokesie as Stokesie talks about the girls as if they were objects, but when Stokesie questions their disregard of policy and returns to work, Sammy continues to watch the girls, and seems to enjoy the way they flaunt their freedom to ignore the store's rules, separating himself from Stokesie. Sammy then disconnects himself from the store completely when McMahon looks at the girls just like Sammy did earlier with Stokesie. At this point Sammy is

In his short story "A & P" John Updike utilizes a 19-year-old adolescent to show us how a boy gets one step closer to adulthood. Sammy, an A & P checkout clerk, talks to the reader with blunt first person observations setting the tone of the story from the outset. The setting of the story shows us Sammy's position in life and where he really wants to be. Through the characterization of Sammy, Updike employs a simple heroic gesture to teach us that actions have consequences and we are responsible for our own actions.

Sammy, having heard enough of Lengel humiliating the girls, takes his heroic stand announcing that “he quit.” He even takes off his apron that had his name personally stitch on it and his bow tie. Another reason why Sammy quit the store probably gravitates toward Queenie and he may have wanted to talk to her, but Lengel ruined his chance by interfering. For example, Sammy said, "remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside I punched the No Sale tab.” He probably wanted to make Queenie blush by giving her compliments, but Lengel embarrassed her by making judgment due to her outfit and the situation definitely had an effect on Sammy since he punched the machine. Clearly, Sammy wanted the attention and was hoping the girls will give him some recognition for defending them, which became a lost cause and once he realized that his outburst didn’t attract the girls, his intentions changed. Sammy quit displaying that he’s becoming more independent as well as his transition to adulthood while at the same time defending the girls. It would also appear that he might’ve relied on his parents for some time. During the conversation between Sammy and Lengel before making his rash decision to quit, Lengel said, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” implying that he will disappoint his parents if they quit because his parents are a friend of Lengel’s and they pretty much got Sammy the job at A&P. This shows that his parents’ efforts to get him the job would be a waste of time on

Sammy has a job checking customers out at a small town grocery store. Sammy seems to hate his job, he

To begin with, Sammy shows a rude attitude through the story. He indicates little regard for other people’s age or knowledge. To illustrate, Sammy asserts the old aged customer, who reprimands Sammy for scanning her item two times while he is gawking at the girls, is “a witch about fifty … [who] would have burned her over in Salem” (Updike 320). Sammy’s despise toward this old lady—in fact shoppers—is perceptible. Also, when Sammy quits A&P, he talks discourteously to his manager Lengel. The readers soom comes to discover that Lengel is a friend of Sammy’s parents. Lengel attempts persude Sammy from making his rash decision, pointing out that he does not want to do to this to his

Sammy is immature because he does not take his job seriously and he is not responsible. One example in the story is when he stood there with his “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.” (Updike 1) As we can see Sammy is distracted and is not focused on his job and still gets a little frustrated because the old lady gets mad at him. He also does not enjoy working at the grocery store and admits that his boss is mean and takes his job too seriously. Another reason why he is immature is because when he uses the cash register and mentioned that “it begins to make a little song, that you hear words to, in my case "Hello (bing) there, you (gung) hap-py pee-pul (splat)"-the splat being the drawer flying out.” (Updike 21) It seems that Sammy thinks like a little childish because he uses noises and words that you can find in comic books like splat, gung etc. We also find out that Sammy is not responsible. He is still living with his parents and her mom has to iron his shirt the night before. One important phrase that the manager Lengel says is “Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad”. It seems that it is not the first time that Sammy has let his parents down. He knows is true, but does not think about it and decides to quit. The Manager is friends with Sammy’s parents and knows that Sam needs the job to prove his parents that he is responsible. Overall, Sammy is premature, he is not responsible and does not take the job seriously. He also thinks like a child and does not think about the consequences.

      A more likely explanation for Sammy's abrupt resignation from his job is his complete boredom with it. This dissatisfaction with his work situation is plainly seen in his regard for a group that Sammy holds in even more contempt than the girls: the regular, paying customers. His references to them as "sheep," "houseslaves" and "pigs" reveals his attitude toward the group that keeps his employer in business--and Sammy in a job that he hates. His diatribe in the story's beginning directed at the "witch" who points out to him that he rang up the same purchase twice shows the unreasonable nature of this contempt for the customers: the mistake was quite clearly Sammy's fault, yet he lashes out at a customer who simply did what any

Status is the social or professional standing of a person, and it is often a unifying factor which John Updike uses to show comparisons of several different characters. Through Sammy’s point of view, several comparisons are shown between the employees of the A&P, even though their ages are different. Firstly, Lengel and Sammy assume the girls are ignorant and incompetent. Sammy’s demeaning view is viewed when he says, “Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it.” In Sammy’s mind he saw the girls as helpless prey that had walked into a trap he needed to save them from. The manager saw the way they were dressed and proceeded to scold them the way a principal in a school scolds disruptive students. Another parallel between the two men is they both objectify the girls. Lengel is shown to look the girls up and down before he passes his judgement. Sammy’s defense of the girls, while it seems honorable, has ulterior motives. His hope is the girls hear him quit his job so that he can impress them; this action further objectifies the girls making them passive objects of passion. In the A&P there is another comparison between some of the repressed customers; the group of women he calls houseslaves and the trio of girls. Houseslaves are women whose only job was to cook, clean, and care for children. When the trio passed by these women there is a moment of shock from the girl’s appearance, but they look a second time possibly out of envy for the freedom they lack. The women in this story seem to all lack a voice and in the 1960s that was not uncommon; men in this time were still seen as the ultimate providers for the households. Queenie, like

Sammy’s inability to conform to Lengel’s power and the future A&P had in store for him was also well portrayed through the description and diction in the story. The author made it known that achieving a promotion in the A&P was not so simple. “I forgot to say he thinks he’s going to be manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990 when it’s called the Great Alexandro and Petrooshki Tea Company or something.” Internally Sammy felt that if he had remained in this job he would have been helplessly waiting for a promotion some day. Sammy’s doubtfulness is seen in the words “thinks” and sarcasm from the words “maybe in 1990..”

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).

This imagery shows the kind of scandalous clothing that they were wearing giving them the power to bring attention and desire to Sammy and his coworkers. They stood no chance to these appealing looks that the girls had with the help of the bathing suits and the environment that they were in as Sammy describes “You know, it’s one thing in to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checker-board green-and-cream rubber-tile floor.” (Updike 165). This also shows that Sammy can not control himself once he unleashes his descriptive imagination when thinking about Queenie and her friends walking through the store.

Sammy philosophical differences first show in his feeling sorry for the girls at the way McMahon, the butcher had leered at them, even though Sammy himself was guilty of the same lewd conduct. I believe Sammy thought it acceptable for him to leer at the girls, but not for old McMahon because of the difference in age between Sammy and McMahon. Sammy's philosophical differences culminate with him quitting his job because of the way his boss, Lengel, treated the girls. Even though Lengel states its the store policy and it applies to everyone, Sammy views this as unfair treatment of the girls and uses this to take a stand for his beliefs and quits. Sammy realizes the magnitude of his philosophical decision when he walks out and finds the girls are gone and nothing has changed. Sammy realizes he has made a choice and he must stick to that choice even though nothing has changed. The decision he made was his choice based on his personal belief of right and wrong, even if Mr. Lengel and his parents couldn't understand that.

In the short stories “A&P” by John Updike and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, both authors tell of story of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Sammy, from Updike’s story, is a nineteen year old boy whose parents got him a job as a cashier at the local A&P. Connie, from Oates’ story, is a pretty, blonde, fifteen year old girl who has an almost narcissistic attitude as she has a habit of constantly checking herself and comparing herself to others. Both of these teenagers are in the similar position of growing up, however, they are doing so in very different ways.

Even though Sammy’s mindset is childlike, he still tries to portray himself in an adult manner. The reader can observe throughout the story the way in which Sammy thinks to be immature and quick to judge. Having his concentration only on the girls, he made a mistake while ringing up a customer. Because he is so focused on how the girls are dressed and what they are up to, he has full descriptions of each girl and thinks he has them all figured out. He points out the leader and even names her “Queenie” while not giving the other two as much attention. The reader can see how Sammy sort of mocks some of the customers when he sees Lengel “checking the sheep through” (Updike 435). Sammy’s priority, which should only be ringing up customers, but happens to be seeing what the girls are up

Written in 1961, A&P is a short story by the American author John Updike representing the life of a young adult from then. Set in the same time period as when it is written, A&P depicts the changing of values that happened in those years as well the consequences of these new ways.