Analysis Of A & P By John Updike

Sammy begins the story by describing the three girls in bathing suits who have walked into the A & P grocery store. The girl who catches his attention is a chunky girl in a plaid green two-piece swimsuit. As Sammy continues to observe the girls, his interest seems to focus only on the girl who leads the other two into the store. Sammy refers to the girl he likes as "Queenie",someone showing poise and leadership, while the other girls

Sammy’s obsession with Queenie shows how Sammy doesn’t get much action. He is about a twenty year old guy who is obsessing over a 16 or 17-year-old girl. Sammy gives every single detail about Queenie; for example, he says, “She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didn’t look around, not this Queen, she just walked on slowly, on these white prima-donna legs.” About 80% of the story is dedicated to the description of Queenie.

The story "A&P" by John Updike, deals with Sammy facing a test in his young manhood. Dealing with being accepted by society as opposed to making mature decisions in society. Sammy sees three girls walk in the store with bikini's on and his lust takes over, yet one out of the three named Queenie he loves the most. During this era of the story setting women's rights were very strict in regards to sexism, culture, and imprisonment. Updike's writing is very transparent for readers to see behind the veil on what is really going on in society. My sociological critical theory is "A&P" shows innovative ways of Updike exposing sexism, culture, and imprisonment and how it still affects the world today.

Sammy, deemed to be the protagonist of the story, is nothing short of the typical nineteen year old, full of insecurity and self doubt, working an average job at a local supermarket. He’s desperate to break out of hometown, desperate to leave behind the people like Stokesie and Lengel, who he perceives to be just some “scared pigs in a chute”, but struggles to find an escape route. That is, until he encounters Queenie, a girl who lives a life Sammy can only dream of. Queenie resembles everything Sammy wants to be. She is a natural leader, hence the nickname “Queenie” awarded to her by Sammy. She’s also proud, and confident. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her and loves herself without apology. So when Queenie offers Sammy the opportunity to transform himself into the person he only dreamed of being; a rebellious, confident and fearless spirit with little regard for anyone else, Sammy jumps at it. As a result, Sammy makes a rash decision to quit, in hopes of following Queenie to her sophisticated world outside of the A&P supermarket. Sammy’s rash decision to quit was an attempt to escape, live a new and exciting life, but falls short when the girls leave him behind and reality slaps him in the

Sammy is the only character in this story who asserts his individuality. Two of the girls are simply following their leader, and Queenie is easily embarrassed and capitulates to Lengel. The other shoppers

He portrays them as sheep with the inability to stray from their monotonous routines. “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisles-“, “I bet you could set off dynamite in the A&P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists.” [386]. He views each day as predictable with nothing to look forward to. That is why when these girls entered the store it was a sight to behold. It was the abrupt change in the daily conformity that Sammy so desperately wanted. “The store’s pretty empty, it being a Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again.” [387]. He changed that day, from a teenage boy with immature daydreams about girls, to an adult. It was because of the insight he depicted from these girls. When the manager, Lengel, embarrasses the girls for their lack of clothing, it upsets Sammy. He then chooses to quit. He reasons it is the right choice, concluding it is the adult thing to do. To stand-up for what is right, and to voice his disagreement with Lengel at his attempt in humiliating the girls. “-but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunch inside I punch the No Sale tab and the machine whirls “pee-pul” and the drawer splats out.” [388]. He concedes that the conformity of these people and the “day to day” routine is unacceptable, especially when it makes you feel superior,

Sammy is obviously intelligent and is able to describe his thoughts so eloquently; it’s as if the reader is looking through a peephole in his mind. The first time Queenie speaks, he offers up an inner thought, “Her voice kind of startled me, the way voices do when you see the people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony, too, the way it ticked over “pick up” and “snacks.” All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room”. (18) This brilliant passage is not a random thought of a normal grocery store clerk with no education or ambition. It is the voice of a scholar who hasn’t yet found his true calling.

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.

Within the first few paragraphs of this story Sammy describes Queenie in great detail, outlining everything about her from her “dirty pink- beige maybe”(1290) bathing suit to the way she walks “straight on”(1290) and as if “ she was testing the floor with every step.”(1290) Her “white prima- donna legs”(1290) alludes, rather openly, to his internal objectification of women. The use of the word “dirty pink” to describe

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

In “A&P”, John Updike uses compelling diction, language, and description to enhance the perspective of Sammy within the story and his final decision to quit his job. The use of imagery within the supermarket develops the environment Sammy worked in to a greater extent and painted diverse pictures of the customers. The derogatory descriptions of Lengel and some customers was also significant in terms of revealing Sammy’s emotions about his job at A&P. The nature of the situation with the girls and descriptive language of the customers and environment were also significant factors.A spontaneous effort to portray Sammy’s power and independence was a significant aspect Updike made more interesting by implementing dialogue, diction, and theme.

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).

Essay 1: “A&P” Have you ever seen people just talk about the “point of view” as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person? Well the point of view is more important than you might think, the point of view sets the whole story together because without the point of view we wouldn’t be able to know who is talking or how the main character feels. “A & P” is a great example of “point of view”. (Thesis statement)- In this short/Humorous story, “A & P”, John Updike includes lots of details on how the viewer's perspective of the situation matters since the situation mostly surrounds the speaker throughout the story and main details happen because of them and involves them.

Queenie is important to the story's conflict and theme because she creates them. Queenie causes the main conflict when she walks into the A & P. The manager of the A & P yells at the young girls about their attire when the are being rung up by the Sammy. At the end of the story, Sammy stands up for himself by exclaiming he quits as the girls are walking out of the door. He does this because he hopes the girls will see him as a hero. As a result he loses his job and never gets the

I want to live the American Dream. I have the wife, but I also want the two children with the house that has a white picket fence. To do so, I have to work. Since entering the workforce at 16, I’ve held many jobs working in food and beverage, fast food, and investment industries. Working in these industries has provided me with opportunities to work with different managers. All of the managers I’ve worked with had different personalities and management. The purpose of this paper is to identify the management styles I encountered, the type of bosses they were, and the leadership styles they demonstrated.