Idealism In John Updike's A & P

Why Sammy does what he does at the end of the story becomes a turning point in his life which is never revealed, and has left many readers wondering “Why did Sammy quit his job?” John Updike’s short story “A&P” takes place in the 1960’s, in a town located somewhere North of Boston and it talks about a 19-year old adolescent boy named Sammy, who works as a check-out clerk at a supermarket called A&P. The setting of the story uses foreshadowing in many ways to show how Sammy dislikes his job and yearns for freedom. For instance, he mentions that when you go through the punches and after doing it so often, it begins to make a little song that you hear words to. In Sammy’s case, he hears “Hello (bing) there, you (gung) hap-py pee-pul (splat),”¬¬¬

The short story “A&P” written by John Updike, is about three girls who change Sammy’s life. The three girls came from the beach and are not dressed properly to enter a grocery store called A&P. Sammy, the main character, is a check out clerk, and observes every detail about the girls. Sam even gives each of the girls a name. His favorite is “Queenie.” Sammy is obviously the type of guy who doesn’t get a lot of girls. Sam has a conflict of person vs. society. Because of his dead end job, obsession with Queenie, and his noble act to save the girls from embarrassment, Sammy has a conflict between himself and society.

The short story, “A&P”, by John Updike, gives readers a glance at the life of a teenage boy, Sammy, who makes a rash decision after encountering three girls at the local grocery store. The theme of “A&P” is that desire for a new life can be dangerous when it provokes irrational action. Updike effortlessly conveys this theme through his use of setting, characterization, and symbolism throughout the short story.

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.

The setting of the short story, “A&P” by John Updike is a key factor in understanding why Sammy decides to quit his job as a cashier. Sammy know’s that this will only make his life harder, but he continues to reject the A&P in this story. In the story, there are also things that symbolize Sammy and the store. This story also has a dramatic end. In John Updike’s short story, “A&P,” he uses the setting, symbolism, and dramatic irony to support the theme that there are consequences to a person’s actions.

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

The short story “A & P” by John Updike is about a young man’s decision to stand up for others or, in the other characters’ opinions, make a foolish decision by abandoning his responsibility. At first he believes his decision is the right thing, quitting his job for how the girls were being treated. Then when he gets outside of the store, he realizes the world he just left behind, regrets his decision, and begins to question his actions. He starts to overthink what the world has to offer him, making his worldview change from underrating to overrating. His “unsure of the world’s dangers” worldview in the beginning changes to overrating the dangers of the future ahead at the end of the story causing Sammy to change throughout “A & P”.

John Updike’s ‘A&P’, is about a young man’s struggle with morality, authority, and freedom. Through a series of events Sammy witnessed injustice in his workplace leading him to quit his job. When Sammy quit his job he was taking a stand against authority because he longed for freedom from the A&P and his manager. Sammy made the leap from an adolescent, knowing little about life, into a man facing the consequences from his actions. John Updike’s use of language and actions reveal the internal struggles and relationships of a young man growing into adulthood.

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.

A society consists of a community of people living together and sharing customs and traditions. Once immersed in this society, one can begin to see certain standards woven into the social fabric of the community. These standards, ranging from not walking into public areas scantily clad to not embarrassing people in front of others, are usually unspoken and sometimes cause strife. Young adults often find these standards to be extremely restricting and favor freedom of action over the collective control. Commonly known as individualism, this social theory is very alive in the hearts and actions of young adults and never quite leaves a human as he or she grows older and “matures.” In middle class, Protestant America individualism is subverted

Sammy a young man working working at A&P grocery store in a small new England town. Three young girls approaching in to the grocery store from the beach with only wearing bathing suits. By the time the three girls reach to Sammy’s checkout line, Sammy speculates their motivation and their personalities for entering the store dressed the way they are. Sammy is mostly interested to attractive girls, so he had a crush with the leader of the three girls. To get the three girls attention, Sammy starts joking around with his coworker but it seemed like not working. Soon later, the three girls finished

John Updike's "A&P" is reflective and introspective retelling of a young man's encounter with taboo behavior in a conservative era. The point of view of this story is centered through the thoughts and perceptions of Sammy, a cashier at the grocery store A&P. The tone of this piece is analytical yet curious, as Sammy observes the actions and reactions of the unanticipated circumstance molded by three young girls who come into the store. The characters of this story keep the ball rolling with conflict and resolution and exemplify contrast in their personalities and dispositions. Updike's stylistic use of informal, descriptive sentences and harsh, brief speech, keeps the reader engaged to the developments

    John Updike’s story “A&P” is about a teenage boy named Sammy who is a check out boy at the store A&P. He chooses to quit his job after his manager, Lengel, embarrassed a group of girls who came into the store with just swim suits on, but only to get the girls attention. During the lecture Lengel was giving the three girls, Sammy felt the need to be heroic, so he says, ‘"I quit" to Lengel loud enough for the girls to hear him (Updike).  After he quit, Sammy regretted the decision right away because the girls never waited for him, Sammy’s “…stomach kind of fell as [he] felt how hard the world was going to be to [him] hereafter” (Updike). He felt this way after quitting because he knows it was selfish and his parents are going to be upset with him. Sammy made a choice to do something for himself, and being selfish ended up making his life a little harder.

In the short story “A&P” by John Updike, Sammy a nineteen year-old boy who works at the A&P he observes the people he works with, and his customers, as well as three girls in bathing suits, and then goes on to categorize and analyze these people, followed shortly by Sammy quitting his job for a small injustice done to these three girls. On one hand the ways he views them at first are that of any typical teenage boy or young man when faced with a young attractive female, and on the other he goes into a great deal of depth and detail into how he sees them and who he thinks they are. He shows a bit of impulsive behavior and problem with injustice done to those around him and an impressive amount of observational skill, showing some great intelligence. John Updike writes this story about Sammy a young adult working for a family friend, Sammy who sees three girls humiliated and refuses to do nothing, Updike symbolizes different paths for Sammy through his own actions and through characters like Lengel, and Sammy quits his job, he may have a future problem with authority.

John Updike’s A and P, tells the story of narrator, nineteen year old Sammy who works at the local And P grocery store. Tired, and bored of repetitiveness in his boring New England town, he is shocked to see three girls come into the store in bathing suits. Everyone in the store, especially Sammy cannot help but be amused by them. Sammy proves to be a typical teenage boy with his sarcastic humor, rebellious behavior, and his gullibility for the opposite sex.