Sammy: A Follower or a Leader Essay example

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

Sex appeal holds the boys’ attention as the girls walk around the store; however, it is this sexuality framed against the context of capitalism that stirs Sammy to quit his job.

There is a sudden change in Sammy's attitude toward the girls throughout the story. At first, Sammy and his friend's he work

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

Status is the social or professional standing of a person, and it is often a unifying factor which John Updike uses to show comparisons of several different characters. Through Sammy’s point of view, several comparisons are shown between the employees of the A&P, even though their ages are different. Firstly, Lengel and Sammy assume the girls are ignorant and incompetent. Sammy’s demeaning view is viewed when he says, “Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it.” In Sammy’s mind he saw the girls as helpless prey that had walked into a trap he needed to save them from. The manager saw the way they were dressed and proceeded to scold them the way a principal in a school scolds disruptive students. Another parallel between the two men is they both objectify the girls. Lengel is shown to look the girls up and down before he passes his judgement. Sammy’s defense of the girls, while it seems honorable, has ulterior motives. His hope is the girls hear him quit his job so that he can impress them; this action further objectifies the girls making them passive objects of passion. In the A&P there is another comparison between some of the repressed customers; the group of women he calls houseslaves and the trio of girls. Houseslaves are women whose only job was to cook, clean, and care for children. When the trio passed by these women there is a moment of shock from the girl’s appearance, but they look a second time possibly out of envy for the freedom they lack. The women in this story seem to all lack a voice and in the 1960s that was not uncommon; men in this time were still seen as the ultimate providers for the households. Queenie, like

Love, disillusion, religion… every story has its own theme and its author leads the readers all the way to its understanding. The short story “A&P” is not an exception of this. Written by John Updike and published in the New Yorker in 1961, it tells the story of Sammy, a 19 years old cashier in an A&P grocery store who is amazed by the journey of three girls that enter the store dressed only in bikinis. The story is narrated by Sammy himself; therefore, the readers can almost palpate the narrator’s innermost thoughts. Since the girls were improperly dressed, Lengel, the manager of the store, rebuked them. Sammy decided to defend the girls and quit his job to catch their attention. But this immature act will have a long-term consequence for this boy. The theme of A&P is led by the significance of its setting, the use of symbolism, and the characteristics of its main character.

Updike presents the story through the point of view of Sammy, a nineteen year old working at an A&P dealing with the “sheeple” of everyday life. Updike keeps Sammy’s language informal, and puts in several pauses to keep him sounding more natural, such as when he describes seeing Queenie’s bathing suit: “She had on a kind of dirty-pink - beige maybe, I don’t know - bathing suit….what got me, the straps were down.” (Approaching Literature 553) Because of Sammy’s first person perspective, it presents to the reader Sammy as his own independent character, separate from Updike.

John Updike tells a coming of age tale in his short story “A&P”. Even though on the surface it may seem like a simple story about a boy lusting over a few girls that walk into his workplace, there are actually many lessons to be learned from it. There are metaphors and symbols within the story that add detail and depth; however, the reader might not catch them the first time he or she reads this. In “A&P”, the themes of standing up for what is right and never looking back are apparent throughout the whole story.

For one, this source of human connection arises from the fact that Sammy resembles the average young adult, whose undecided about their future endeavors and works at a local store to cover any additional bills unpaid by his parents. He even has an apron with the name “Sammy stitched in red on the pocket…” (Updike, 232), similar to many work uniforms and name tags worn by readers in their personal workplaces. Another parallel between readers and Sammy results from congruent decisions about possible love interests. For example, when “Queenie” (Updike, 230) catches the eye of Sammy and he sees the disrespect she endures from his manager, he chooses to voice his opinion about it. For instance, Sammy states “you didn’t have to embarrass them” (Updike, 232). After that, Sammy quits the A&P due to personal morals and hopes of a possible romance, despite the financial consequences. Overall, Sammy is the epitome of the young working class, whose trying to find their way in the world which a multitude of readers relates

At first glance, John Updike's short story A & P seems to be another coming of age piece. But with taking a deeper look, in many ways you see how the A & P grocery store could be viewed as microcosm of North American society in the 1960's - and it's not a very positive portrait. The general bleakness of the people, the accepted coldness of the store itself, and the theme of class consciousness throughout the entire story causes you to really see how this story parallels society and many peoples, especially young peoples, views in North America during this turbulent time of policy, rules, conservatism, and some of the actions taken against them.

Sammy is a young boy only 19 years old, he works in an A&P supermarket. He is the main protagonist, who starts as a regular teen boy, a bit judgemental of these girls who come in the store. The three girls are wearing beach attire, one is smaller and a bit more chubby than the other two, one is tall with a skinny body and long face, and for the last girl, he says that she looks as though she is the queen of the group. He eventually changes his judgement of the girls and tries to be sympathetic of them. He watches them as they make their way through the supermarket to get what they were looking for. He eventually starts to feel like he should be sympathetic for these girls because they were out of the norm of the supermarket society. His boss

In John Updike’s “A&P,” Sammy is the main character. The whole story happens through his eyes. Sammy like all the other men in this story is mystified by the three girls who walked into the grocery store. The story follows the girls around the store until they leave. It carefully describes what the girls pass in the grocery store while Sammy is trying to figure out their story.

John Updike’s short story, A&P, takes place on a summer afternoon in a grocery store. It tells the story of three girls shopping while employee, Sammy, observes them and comes to conclusions about the shoppers and his own life. Throughout the story Sammy is arrogant, apathetic and seems to be passive, which shows the reader that a person may be their own worst enemy when they choose not to be active and live life.

The conflict in Updike’s story for the character is internal conflict, for Sammy to boost his self-confidence and get noticed by the teenage girls. For Sammy Internally the issue is a result that he doesn't like the way the manager is treating the girls and wants to stand up against his manager. To Sammy by quitting his job is the right thing to do at the moment. Due to Sammy’s age, his background, and his immaturity, he doesn’t know how to handle the situation but to quit. Even in the middle of the situation he knows he's handled it wrong but has to follow through with his choice. As the story comes to end Sammy knows he shouldn't have acted this way this will not only affect his future but the attention from the girls was unnoticed. With

He had are given a description of her back side: which he liked the most, stating “a sweet broad soft-looking can” (163). Sammy describes the second girl as the ugly friend that the girls think is “striking” and are friends with her because she is the least attractive of the three. He saves the short one for last, he see her as the leader or the “queen”. Sammy makes the statement, “you never know for sure how girls think”(164) He thinks she deliberately came into the store with the girls to “show them how to do it”(164). Trying to get the attention of the males in the store to show their dominance. Sammy was infatuated with the “queen”, maybe because of her top being slightly off. He may have gotten a sexual satisfaction by just looking at