First Person Reliability In A & P By John Updike

Although Sammy’s narration of the story is really Updike’s narration written in the point of view, or “voice” of Sammy, one cannot be displeased in the way the story is depicted form this particular day at the A & P. There is no better way to narrate the story than though the eyes and thoughts of a teenage boy in is prime.

In the writing of the story, A&P, John Updike gave beauty to the peculiarity of adolescence revealed in a peculiar story set in a convenience store. Updike equipped the story with a first-person narrator, dramatic irony, and an interesting setting. Those devices served to realistically portray the naive tone of a lost, soon-to-be adult.

The story is centered around Sammy, a 19 year old clerk at an A & P grocery store in coastal Massachusetts. It is based upon the scenario of 3 teenage girls walking into the grocery store in nothing but bathing suits. This makes for a rather interesting story, with Sammy becoming fixated with the girls, and even though the story takes place over the period of about 20 mins, it has a very complex theme. The theme is told mostly through symbolism, which is why Updike uses realism, causing reader to make an inference about the symbols he uses. For example, when Sammy is ringing up a purchase, a seemingly boring task, Updike gives the reader insight to Sammy`s mind:

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.

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

John Updike presents significant items to represent certain points in the story like the girls bathing suits, the herring snacks, and the sheep. When the girls walk into the A&P, they caused a disruption mainly because of what they were wearing, bathing suits. During that time, women were expected to be fully clothed when entering a store or else they drew attention to their sexuality, which Sammy noticed quickly. As everyone reacted to their bathing suits it later represented a kind of freedom to Sammy. After Lengal body shames them saying, “Girls, I don't want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It's our policy” (Updike 20), it crushed Sammy’s freedom feeling, so he reacted. Sammy also feels the contrast between the girls and the sheep as they try to purchase

In John Updike’s “A&P”, the revolution of the young people of the current age against authority is explored and explained. “A&P” reveals the shift from conservative and deferential to avant-garde and disrespectful. Through the observation of the behavior of the characters in the story, one can receive a clear picture of the evolution of the sexual revolution that has come in this age. Sammy is the first character that is introduced, he is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Stoksie and Lengel are next, Stoksie is a fellow store clerk with Sammy as well as a good friend and Lengel is the manager of the store. Finally, Queenie is introduced. “A&P” begins with Sammy noticing these three girls that come into the store in nothing but

The girls, despite their obvious fashion faux-pas, carry themselves with a certain confidence and individuality that is rare in this society. Updike has Sammy refer to the other customers as sheep, pigs, house slaves, and even as having a fuselage- revealing how ‘empty’ these citizens are. The references to sheep are clear symbols for the conformity of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The trend (or revolution) towards non-conformity is quickly approaching as the three girls are leaders of this new movement.

Breaking away from the traditional is a struggle that contains several sacrifices and consequences. In John Updike’s “A&P,” Sammy is a young teenager who transforms his wishes into reality. At first glance, he seems like a normal teenage boy, but instead he is an observational character who is trying to find a way to stand up for himself. Throughout the story, he undergoes changes to reveal a different outlook for his future. Sammy demonstrates that he is a dynamic character through his views on the regular customers, his reaction to the girls, and in his decision to quit his job.

In John Updikes A&P, choices and consequences are portrayed as a fundamental and recurring theme throughout the story. Many can understand the idea of repercussions for specific decisions and actions, which makes this story very relatable to most audiences. The story encompasses numerous ideologies paramount to human development and philosophy. Dismantling the story can help depict underlain meanings and asses the ambiguous nature of humanity. The construct of A&P portrays Sammy’s journey through the societal establishment of rules and order, ultimately exposing the chain reaction repercussion of making difficult choices. Though many characters make choices throughout the story, Sammy is obliged to make

John Updike's short story "A & P" reveals nineteen-year old Sammy, the central character, as a complex person. Although Sammy appears, on the surface, as carefree and driven by male hormones, he has a lengthy agenda to settle. Through depersonalization, Sammy reveals his ideas about sexuality, social class, stereotypes, responsibility, and authority. Updike's technique, his motif, is repeated again and again through the active teenage mind of the narrator Sammy.

The critical essay by Lawrence Jay Dessner explains the importance of the themes of irony and innocence in John Updike’s short story “A&P.” The essay begins with a short summary of the story, and introduces the character of Sammy. Dessner argues that the story depends on irony. The reader expects a certain action and reaction from Sammy, but instead he does the opposite. This irony provides an innocent air of humor due to Sammy’s lack of world knowledge and youthful outlook on life. The remainder of this literary criticism analyzes Sammy’s interactions with the other

On the surface, the hero of John Updike's much-anthologized short story "A&P" does not seem like a hero on the level of an Odysseus or a Hercules. Sammy is a cashier at a local grocery store. However, when three girls wearing bathing suits enter the A&P, Sammy begins to experience a call to action. For the first time in his life, he takes a stand when he feels as if the pretty girls are being treated with a lack of respect. Sammy feels the first stirrings of rebellion within him, as he chafes against the constraints of his life. Campbell divides the three parts of the hero's quest into a circular journey of departure, initiation, and return. Over the course of "A&P" Sammy makes his 'departure' into the world of the hero.

Sammy is stuck in that difficult transition between childhood and adulthood. He is a nineteen-year-old cashier at an A&P, the protagonist in a story with the same name. John Updike, the author of "A&P," writes from Sammy's point of view, making him not only the main character but also the first person narrator. The tone of the story is set by Sammy's attitude, which is nonchalant but frank--he calls things as he sees them. There is a hint of sarcasm in Sammy's thoughts, for he tends to make crude references to everything he observes. Updike uses this motif to develop the character of Sammy, as many of these references relate to the idea of "play."

In John Updike’s story “A & P”, depicts a middle-class town. This short story focuses on the feelings of loneliness and isolation that lead the common man to seek some form of higher truth or ultimate meaning. The story relates to a teenaged boy 's sudden awareness of the split between his inner feelings and society 's values. I could kind of relate and get gist of what the narrator was feeling throughout the story. In this story, Sammy was an unreliable narrator, and the point of view was first person. It was told from Sammy’s point of view. This was most interesting and beneficial to me, because I like the thought of having an unreliable narrator because it is not thought on to be used mostly. An examination of critical styles represented in John Updike’s provides numerous perspectives for critical interpretation. His descriptive metaphors and underlying sexual tones are just the tip of the iceberg. With the use of his descriptive metaphors, it gave me some ideas on how descriptive that I needed to be in order to achieve the sense of imagery that I needed. The economic and social differences are evident through Sammy’s storytelling techniques and even further open up a biographical look at Updike’s own view’s and opinions. This story is all about the setting. If the story had not took place in a grocery store the story could not have happened the way it did. I feel like the setting was one of the most important part of the story to make the story what it was. John