Exploring The Mind Of A 1960s Teenage Boy

In "A&P," Sammy is initially drawn to three girls, Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony Goony, perusing the grocery store and while he is drawn to the leader of the group, Queenie, he soon begins to note how they are a contrast of what middle-class suburbanites consider to be acceptable. Sammy notes,

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

This story could make one wonder, how far would you go to get the person of your dreams. Three young ladies walk into the A&P store wearing nothing but bathing suits. The girls catch the attention of Sammy who is the cashier. Sammy watches the girls walk around the store while making mental notes about each one of the girls. When Mr. Lengel the store manager sees the girls, he lets them know that the store policy is to have your shoulders covered and to dress appropriately when you enter the store. This conversation upsets Sammy, so in the moment Sammy spontaneously quits his job in hopes of being the girl’s hero. After Sammy takes off his apron and walks out the door he looks around, but the girls have already gone. Within John Updike’s short story “A&P” the author uses foreshadowing, a dynamic character, and symbolism to show us how life can be unpredictable at times.

Transition -- In fact, Supporting point 2 -- when he contemplates what Queenie might be thinking Quote -- he wonders if her head is empty or “a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar” (824). Explain/relate quote to point -- In his mind she and the other girls are objects, not human beings. Transition -- Even the nicknames he makes up show the sexist attitude of an immature teenage boy. Supporting point 3/Quote -- Referring to the one he likes as “Queenie,” to her tall friend as “Big Tall Goony Goony” or other female shoppers as “houselaves” indicates that women in his view have no place or identity beyond themselves(825). Explain/relate quote to point -- indicates that women in his view have no place or identity beyond themselves Transition – further Supporting Point 4 -- His false-chivalric gesture at the end reveals his immaturity. Quote -- He assumes that the girls need an “unsuspected hero” to save them Explain/relate to point --, that they cannot take care of themselves or handle a little embarrassment (827). Concluding sentence -- Clearly, Sammy has much to learn about heroism, chivalry, and

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 takes place, Sammy is caught off guard when a cluster of girls walk into the store wearing just their bathing suits. This caught Sammy's attention because the nearest beach is five miles away and he could not figure out why they would still be in their suits. Sammy continues to overlook the girls in the store throughout their endeavor to pick up some item's that they were sent in for. While they are wandering around the store Sammy watches the reactions of other customers, is yelled at

Everybody nowadays wear what they like to wear in public. They do not care about how other people think of their dress. Besides, it is people’s rights to dress themselves freely. However, in the story A&P, written by John Updike, people tend to be more conservative about dressing. The story happens in 1961 in a small town of northern Boston. At that time, people value conformity as their social norm. Main character Sammy works in A&P, and he despises people who act the same. One day, three girls come to the store, and they get insulted by manager Lengel because they just wear bathing suits. Sammy quits the job in A&P because he tries to defend for the girls. In fact, he is motivated by the girls to go against the social norm. After he witnesses

John Updike, one of the most forward-thinking and socially provocative writers of the 50s and 60s, is known for his “incisive presentation of the quandaries of contemporary personal and social life.” (Lawn 529) Updike graduated from Harvard University and wrote for one of the more cutting edge publications like The New Yorker- both are notoriously ahead of their time and harbor controversial ideas. In his short story “A&P”, Updike reveals a young man named Sammy in a society on the brink of a social revolution- one in which a group of girls and an innocent cashier will unknowingly lead. Updike, through symbolism and syntax, shows how the girls are leading the revolution, how Sammy is feeling the wrath of this revolution, and

In the story “A+P”, Sammy is immediately interested in the three females that enter the grocery store. His interest possibly provoked by the natural tendency of being a young teenage boy and they being three girls dressed in bathing suites alone. Once the three girls make their way through the grocery store, Sammy immediately begins making his own judgment of their character based on the way they walk and the way they look. Sammy while observing the three girls, names the middle girl, “Queenie” simply based on her appearance and the way she walks. He describes Queenie in a condescending way, “She didn’t look around, not this queen, and she just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima-donna legs. She came down a little harder on her heels…” (Updike 259) After watching the girls walk through the grocery store to find their item he insults their intelligence without having spoken to them, “…(do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz

Sylvia and Sammy are products of their environments. Being in an unpleasant environment would definitely put any individual on edge. Because both characters are unhappy with their surroundings, both are quite cynical. Aside from comparing one customer to a witch, Sammy also refers to others as “sheep” and points out “house-slaves in pin curlers” (Updike 3). Sylvia is also cynical in the way she talks of Miss Moore. At a point, Sylvia states that she is a “nappy-head[ed] bitch”, which in no means is a proper way for anyone, let alone a child, to speak (Bambara 1). Despite being so cynical, the reader finds that both characters have another side as well. When faced with desire, Sylvia’s and Sammy’s mannerism changes. The reader sees Sylvia in a whole new way when she sets eyes on the fiberglass sailboat. In fact, Sylvia’s entire persona changes. Not only is she dumbfounded by the price of the sailboat, but she is awestruck by its greatness. She grows quite mad about the price; nonetheless, this is the beginning of the change of her character and train of thought. This is where she realizes the economic imbalance of the world. Similarly to how Sylvia was taken by the sailboat, Sammy is captivated by the girls’ physical appearance, especially Queenie. This is made evident by the imagery of the text from his physical description of them. Bambara and Updike

The intense interaction between Lengel and Queenie escalates into a small argument, resulting in Queenies embarrassment “Queenies blush is no sunburn now” (194). Lengel decides to end their interaction by restating policy, and communicating with Sammy that it is time to ring up their purchases. The opportunity for Sammy to act on his feelings has now arrived, the intense conversation, coupled with the numerous external cues regarding Queenie, has bombarded his thought process, and he has aggregated ever clear his intention to draw closer to her, and ultimately derives the motivation for the next two words he speaks, “I quit” (195). Sammy hopes that these brazen words will capture the attention and kinship of the girls, to form his ever so desired connection, “hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected

Throughout Updike’s A&P, it stands clear that we are always being influenced by fundamental human desires. A&P is told from the perspective of Sammy, a teenage cashier at A&P. In the beginning of the story, three teenage girls enter the store dressed lightly in only their bathing suits, catching his eye. “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can

Additionally, Sammy spoke of his friend and coworker Stokesie, who was only three years older than him, as if he was just wasting away because he was already married with two kids. He even assumes that Stokesie will conform to working there for the rest of his life and become manager several decades later, in 1990. English professor at Hawaii State University, Catherine Sustana, wrote a literary analysis that explains Sammy’s reaction to Queenie as, “Sammy obviously finds the girls physically alluring, but he's also attracted by their rebellion. He doesn't want to be like the "sheep" he makes such fun of, the customers who are befuddled when the girls enter the store” (Sustana). Later, Sammy decides to stick up for the girls after his boss, Lengel, comes down a little hard on them for making a scene at the store. Sammy ends up quitting his job on the spot for two reasons; he wanted to make a heroic gesture in favor of the girls and he did not want to be like the sheep. Even though he made such a huge leap to not be a conformist and follow the sheep, he seems to have some amount of understanding because he expresses that he is apologetic to his family and that this would end up making his life harder.

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

John Updike’s A&P is a short story filled with numerous themes and messages that are left ambiguous. An obvious theme that is demonstrated in the text is the focus on the expectations that are set for the male and female gender roles in the small town society that are defied. The three female characters are very symbolic in the message Updike attempts to portray in the text. Sammy, the narrator and protagonist, works at the A&P grocery store when three young ladies walk in. He starts to give copious details on all of them and even starts to think about them sexually. The ladies are the center of attention throughout the story, but are only seen as objects to the employees of the A&P. Even though this story revolves around these three women, it’s easy to see a misogynistic view when the women are only seen as sexual objects to the men,

Although A & P was located in a seemingly conservative town, three girls in bikinis came waltzing into the store. Sammy described each of the girls, he named one of the girls (the leader of the group) Queenie. According to Sammy, “She held her head so high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders, looked kind of stretched, but I didn’t