Analyzing Sammy's Short Stories

Readers that interpret Sammy’s tone as that of a simply refreshed individual view him as an innocent teenager; he sees these three girls that don’t fit into the grocery store setting and simply tries to stereotype them based on what he sees and what he knows as a force of habit. Updike uses a lot of detail to emphasize how closely Sammy observes the girls. After all, people use many stereotypes in order to decide whether to trust a person or befriend them; it’s a safety measure at times. However, readers that interpret Sammy’s tone as conceited see him as a budding sexist; to them, he objectifies the girls based on their outward behavior and looks, he arrogantly judges what their individual reputations are, and he is so sure of himself that it is annoying to

We learn about Sammy's station in life through the setting of the story. He is not a big time war hero or superstar but a checker at a small town A & P, not moving up in his job or down, simply stagnant. The town is located north of Boston, five miles from a beach, with a summer colony on the Point. Sammy is ready to make a change. He wants to be part of the girls' world. Sammy's thoughts give us some insight in his feeling that the girls, just like the wealthy summer colony they came from, are out of his reach. "All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room. Her father and all the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties...When my parents have somebody over they get lemonade and if it's a real racy affair Schlitz in tall glasses with 'They'll Do It Every time' cartoons stenciled on."

In “A&P” John Updike develops a theme of maturation. 2-3 sentences introducing premise of story and character- The story is essentially a coming of age story where the protagonist Sammy makes an immature decision that he believes is an adult thing to do. Unfortunately for Sammy, his chivalrous act

His tone, descriptions, and actions all make him a more reliable. The tone in “A&P” is much more humorous and the subject is more light compared to “The Cask of Amontillado”, which makes Sammy’s actions have less weight to them and thus less reason to contort his own view. The story being less about what he’s doing and more about what he’s seeing allows Sammy to describe the world around him (albeit in a typical teenager way) in a more distant way. He puts a lot of focus on the three girls, describing their flaws, such as calling one “chunky” and the other that had “a chin that was too long” (pg.123), he even mentions the over stretched neck that Queenie has. It shows how reliable a storyteller he is because he is able to put their flaws on display even when infatuated. When Sammy quit he was originally confident in his decision even though the girls left before he could find them, but when he looked back at the store he “felt how hard the world was going to be to [him] hereafter” (pg.127), which shows that he became aware of his actions and consequences that come after. Sammy being able to show that he might have been wrong is a strong indicator of a reliable

John Updike's story "A&P" talks about a 19-year old lad, Sammy, who has a job at the local grocery store, the A&P. Sammy works at the register in the store and is always observing the people who walk in and out each day. On this particular day that the story

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

When Sammy sees the store manager, Lengel, embarrass the girls, not only does Sammy see the ability to look heroic in front of his three mystery girls, like an "unsuspected hero" (Updike 618), he also sees the ability to get out of his boring nine to five job. Partially, because he is only nineteen and very immature in the way he views the world, he may have thought the girls would find him heroic. However, as soon as he quits his job

The Truth about Sammy in A & P    At first glance, Sammy, the first-person narrator of John Updike's "A & P," would seem to present us with a simple and plausible explanation as to why he quits his job at the grocery store mentioned

Jalen Johnson Ms. Mahaffey Eng 102 10/15/17 Feminism in A&P In the story “A&P” by John Updike he tries to portray the conventional lifestyle and tendency of his community. The story “A&P” proves how feminism was a large part of the conservative lifestyle and is still present today. A&P helps you visualize how sexism could

To Dessner ,critic of Updike's “A & P,” Sammy is naive to an outrageous extent but also ambitious in morals while also believing that Sammy has no care for the circumstances of his actions (315, 316). To some extent Dessner is correct about Sammy having ambitious morals, on page 413 in the Norton Intro to Literature shows how Sammy's morals are about treating people right even if they break the unwritten rules of a public place, yet his

Though this may seem like a very simple and inconsequential part of the story, it actually is. It leads the reader to understand that Sammy is bored with his job. The song shows how he is uninterested with what he does, as anybody would be being a store clerk. However, knowing he’s 19, we can understand that he is not just bored, but wants a better life. This is in part, influenced by his obsession with the girls. When the girls are checking out he fantasizes of their life:

Before the girls enter the store, Sammy is unaware that the setting he is so judgmental of reflects his own life. Sammy feels that he is better than the rest of people at the A&P, referring to them as "sheep" and "house-slaves" because they never break from their daily routines. He also condescendingly talks about "whatever it is they[the

Sammy is shallow and sexist in the way he has named these young women according to his first impression of their bodies and behaviors. Patrick W. Shaw notes that "Sammy knows what is on each aisle in the store and constantly thinks of what is inside bottles, cans, and jars; but he has no idea what is inside the girls, no sensitivity to their psychology or sexual subtlety. His awareness stops with their sweet cans and ice-cream breasts" (322). Sammy further demonstrates his childishness and chauvinism by commenting on the mental abilities of the girls: "You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)" (27).

When I was a child, I used to believe that the only thing I knew was what my parents told me, and that they couldn’t be wrong. However growing up I found out that not everything was true and that what they were doing was protecting me from harmful things

To Start, Sammy first displays crudeness throughout the story is he demonstrates little respect for experience and age. On one instance, he claims the fifty-year old woman, who yells at him for ringing her crackers up twice. While he is gauging at the girls, is a “witch ... [who] if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem.” He should have some respect for her, not only because of the principle that she is a elder but she is also a women. Sammy claims that the only charastics between him and Stokesie , is that Stokesie has “two babies chalked up on his fuselage.” His rude reference to Stokesie’s manliness and his failure to acknowledge his life experience displays Sammy’s complete immaturity. When Sammy makes the impulsive choice to quits his job, and speaks rudely to his boss Lengel. It is only after Sammy has quit and openly deny Lengel that