John Updike's A & P

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

      A more likely explanation for Sammy's abrupt resignation from his job is his complete boredom with it. This dissatisfaction with his work situation is plainly seen in his regard for a group that Sammy holds in even more contempt than the girls: the regular, paying customers. His references to them as "sheep," "houseslaves" and "pigs" reveals his attitude toward the group that keeps his employer in business--and Sammy in a job that he hates. His diatribe in the story's beginning directed at the "witch" who points out to him that he rang up the same purchase twice shows the unreasonable nature of this contempt for the customers: the mistake was quite clearly Sammy's fault, yet he lashes out at a customer who simply did what any

After the manager makes the girls leave, Sammy says “I quit” (875). Sammy likes them so much he will quit his job after they get asked to leave the store. Once he quit his job, he wanted to go outside and see them still there; however, when he went outside, they were gone. He wanted them to wait for him because he defended

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),”¬¬¬

Next, Sammy’s reaction towards the girls reveals that he is a dynamic character. At the check-out, he notices that three girls walk in the store “in nothing but bathing suits” (18). As the girls head for the aisle, Sammy observes that they are not wearing shoes (19). He begins to check them out and discovers that Queenie has on a bathing suit with the straps down by her arms exposing her “clean bare…chest” (19). As they continue walking, he details how the girls look, from their “chubby berry-faces” to how their hair was not “fizzed right” (19).  Sammy makes these vivid observations about the girls to show the reader how they stand out from the normal. The girls represent Sammy’s thoughts and views on how he wishes to escape from the ordinary. By the end of the story, Lengel comes up to the girls and confronts them about the way they are dressed. Queenie starts to blush and feel powerless when she realizes where her place is (22). At that point, Sammy stands up for the girls and quits. The reader can tell that Sammy is going out of his way to defend the girls and for what he believes in. Throughout the story, he wishes to escape and standing up to Lengel was a way. Sammy’s descriptions and bravery reveal that he is changing into someone different than the normal.

This story happens in 1961, when society changes dramatically. Sammy, the narrator in this story, is a typical nineteen-year old teenager: egocentric, pursuing

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."

"So I say 'I quit' to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me." When Sammy quits his job, it is obvious he is doing out of envy for these girls. He mentions that he was hoping for the girls to stop and watch him but after he quits and walks out of the A&P grocery store, the girls are gone. "I look around for my girls, but they are gone, of course." Sammy's jealousy towards the girls has grown from their good looks to their parents parties to his quitting his job just so they notice him, which they

John Updike, the author of A&P, uses the first person to narrate a short story that happened in the supermarket A&P. Sammy, a young supermarket worker, was attracted by three girls in bathing-suit. He quit his job because his manager, Lengel, criticized the girls who were wearing in indecent in public. His intention was grabbing girls' attention; however, these ladies ignored him and left quickly. Sammy lost his job, and felt his life will be difficult.

In the middle of the story, Sammy seems to grow up somewhat due to the way Lengel treats the girls. His words and actions appear to cooperate this statement. Sammy refers to this part of the story as sad. The first thing Lengel says to the girls is "Girls, this isn't

In the short story A&P by John Updike, the story is told in a first person narrative of a teenage boy working as a cashier in an A&P grocery store on a hot summer day. The story begins with the teenage boy named Sammy becoming preoccupied by a group of three teenage girls that walk into the grocery store wearing bathing suits. Sammy admires the girl's beauty as most nineteen year old adolescent boys would, in a slightly lewd and immature nature. His grammar is flawed and he is clearly not of an upper-class family, his

At the beginning of the story, Sammy is very observant of his surroundings. He notices three girls walking into the store with only bathing suits on. Sammy observes, “in walk these

As the girls continue their journey throughout the store, Sammy can’t help but to notice anything and everything that they did. As they proceed, they grab fancy herring snacks and walk into Sammy’s checkout isle. Because they decided to go into Sammy’s lane might not have had anything to do with Sammy at all, however he took it as if he was chosen specifically because Queenie had some sort of attraction to him. Sammy instantly becomes emotionally attached to Queenie as he rings her up, even going so far that he fantasizes about the life he could have with her, and how much better his life would be with her in it. In the midst of Sammy’s daze, his boss, Lengel, emerges from his office to reprimand the group of girls for their attire. Lengel makes a scene, and publicly embarrasses the girls. As the girls scurry away to Queenie’s mother’s car, Sammy makes a desperate final attempt to impress Queenie by quitting his job and standing up for them. Lengel seemingly realizes what Sammy is trying to do, and offers him an out. Because of Lengel’s good relationship with Sammy’s parents, Lengel says, “Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad.” Although Sammy is given the opportunity to take back his foolish act, Sammy tells us, “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture, it’s fatal not to go through with it.” This points to Sammy’s immaturity, his only

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

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