Sammy's Memoirs Of A Grocery Boy

In John Updike's J and P, Sammy a hard working young man takes an easy decision that not only makes him lose his job, but change his life forever. Sammy who’s works as a cashier at a local grocery store. Is put in a situation where “three girls in nothing but bathing suits,”(Updike), walk in the store and aren't following the dress code. Unfortunately everyone was staring at them with disrespect; everyone but Sammy, who believes what Queenie and her friends were making a statement that shouldn't be overlooked. He wanted to stand up for the girls, but Sammy began to look at both sides of what

Sammy creates an extremely vivid image of the girls as a way to show how only their appearances are important to him: “Now her hands are empty, not a ring or a bracelet, bare as God made them, and I wonder where the money’s coming from” (Updike 34). First of all, Sammy is widely inappropriate. Women do not want to be seen as pieces of meat. Sammy looks at these girls and all he can think about is their bodies. He would not feel this way if he was being ostracized and made uncomfortable by every woman he meets. Sammy only cares about the girls’ physical appearances. The world views women as those who are subordinate to men. So if that’s the reasoning, then women should look the part and be physically attractive. The irony in this is that Sammy must not be as good-looking as he thinks, or the girls would even acknowledge his existence. The only reason why they walked up to his cash register is because the other one was busy. But because he is a man, he doesn’t need to be good-looking, the girls do. The way he treats these girls is unfair, he idolizes the leader of the pack for her beauty, but he only likes the other girls for their assets: “…and the plump one in plaid, that I liked better from behind—a really sweet can…” (Updike 35). Sammy is just a typical teenage boy. He only likes the girls because he feels that they can please him sexually. The plump girl may have been the nicest girl in the group, but the reader will never know because Sammy only cares about the size of her buttocks. Why should that matter in a woman? Why must her rear-end be aesthetically appealing to make her attractive? Most of all, why must it be known that she is or is not attractive? It does not make the world stop spinning on its axis if a woman in literary work is not noted for being beautiful. He does not only critique the plump girl’s appearance, he refers to the leader of group’s bosoms as “the

Sammy just doesn't judge them on their appearance, but also in their personalities. Sammy was checking out items and sees one of the girls coming towards him, the one he

Readers that interpret Sammy’s tone as that of a simply refreshed individual view him as an innocent teenager; he sees these three girls that don’t fit into the grocery store setting and simply tries to stereotype them based on what he sees and what he knows as a force of habit. Updike uses a lot of detail to emphasize how closely Sammy observes the girls. After all, people use many stereotypes in order to decide whether to trust a person or befriend them; it’s a safety measure at times. However, readers that interpret Sammy’s tone as conceited see him as a budding sexist; to them, he objectifies the girls based on their outward behavior and looks, he arrogantly judges what their individual reputations are, and he is so sure of himself that it is annoying to

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

      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

Originally when the girls come into the store Sammy thought the three girls were ignorant and foolish. This is seen from his lack of understanding of women “You never know for sure how girls’ minds work” (Updike 1) When Sammy says this he reveals what he really thinks of women. This not only shows he does not understand women but also how he assumes without previous knowledge that these three girls were ignorant. Sammy assumes they are ignorant because they do not see things the same way or do not see eye to eye. Sammy shows more of this when he says “Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t help it” (Updike 2). Sammy assumes that just because they are girls that they lack intelligence that men possess. He thinks that the girls should be afraid or fearful for trying to stand up for their cause. Sammy also does not view the girls as beings but rather objects. As in the story Sammy says “It is alright for those young girls to walk around in their bathing suits, but other women with six children and varicose veins, should put on some clothes.” (Updike 3) Based on this we can conclude that Sammy is not as interested in the

The opening sentence “ In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits” (par.1) sets up the colloquial tone; it’s as if Sammy was talking to a friend. As the story goes on, the tone shifts from being informal to a little comical. He refers to the people in the checkout lane as “sheep” and “scared pigs in a chute.” However, by the end the tone shifts yet again and becomes heroic. The act of quitting a job (climax) in defiance of Lengel’s (manager and antagonist) unfair treatment of the girls is a strong indication of change in character. Sammy hoped the girls would notice his act of heroism. Ironically, the girls do not hear him. Instead, they head out forever disappearing from his life.

Sammy is shallow and sexist in the way he has named these young women according to his first impression of their bodies and behaviors. Patrick W. Shaw notes that "Sammy knows what is on each aisle in the store and constantly thinks of what is inside bottles, cans, and jars; but he has no idea what is inside the girls, no sensitivity to their psychology or sexual subtlety. His awareness stops with their sweet cans and ice-cream breasts" (322). Sammy further demonstrates his childishness and chauvinism by commenting on the mental abilities of the girls: "You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)" (27).

In a continuing attempt to reveal this societal conflict, Updike introduces the character of Lengel, the manager. He accosts the girls and starts to make a scene accusing them of being indecent: “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.’ He turns his back. That’s policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want. What others want is juvenile delinquency” (Updike, 600). When the store manager confronts three girls in swimsuits because of their indecency (lack of proper clothes), they are forced to leave humiliated. At this moment Sammy makes the choice to quit his job in protest of the manager’s handling of the situation. In his mind, and arguably in John Updike’s mind, the standards of walking into a grocery store in a bathing suit and humiliating someone in front of other people are both unacceptable. This part of the story is pivotal for one main reason: a voice in the business community is speaking. As a manager at A & P, Lengel is the voice of The Establishment and guards the community ethics (Porter, 321). Queenie’s (the ringleader of the girls) blush is what moves Sammy to action. Here are three girls who came in from the beach to purchase only one thing, and this kingpin is embarrassing them in order to maintain an aura of morality, decency,

Sammy faces the decision of staying at his job or leaving. His parents are friends with the manager of the store, Lengel. One day three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Seeing it is a slow day, Sammy observes the girls as they go through the store and to his luck come to his check out station. Lengel then sees them at checkout and confronts the girls to tell them about the store’s policy that they should be dressed decently upon entering the store, “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy’” (Updike). This is where Sammy has his transitioning experience. Upon hearing this conversation, Sammy tries be a hero for the girls by making the decision to quit his job, “The girls, and who’d blame, them are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear,

Through Sammy’s actions and words, this makes him a highly immature person. When the three girls first walk into the store, Sammy points out the girl in the green two-piece. Sammy states that

At the beginning of the story, Sammy notices three girls in a bathing suit walking into the store, which really catches his eyes. Bathing suits are defined as improper dressing in public places except for the beach in his town. In his perspective, he does not consider that it is an inappropriate dressing in a local store. On the contrary, he thinks the girls are attracted to him, so he keeps on observing them. However, that’s not the only reason Sammy is interested in them. He thinks these girls are different because what they were wearing undoubtedly go against the norm of the society in their time. Sammy describes that: “the girls were walking against the usual traffic” (748). For Sammy, the girls in bathing suits were actually using their own method to protest conservative rules. They violate the dressing rule in the town which strikes Sammy’s mindset. He realizes the bathing suits symbolized personal freedom which is the value he aspires to have in his life. Therefore, when Lengel condemns the girls for their indecent dressing. Sammy stands up to support the girls. When Sammy quits, he removes his work uniform to symbolize he is no longer a conformer in A&P. “By leaving with the white shirt his mother ironed the night before” (750). The white shirt represents the moment Sammy has finally find his own brief that he should insist on what he

There once was a puppy named Sammy. Sammy lived in a pet shop with his brothers and sisters. All of his siblings had fur as yellow as the sun. Sammy was different. He was white with brown spots.

Sammy continues to be fascinated with the girls but it is a dual situation. The girls are trying to impress Sammy as well. By appearing in the store clad only in bathing suits, they vie for attention. “I wonder where the money is coming from, still with that prim look she lifts a folded dollar bill out of the hollow at the center of her nubbed pink top. The jar went heavy in my hand. Really, I thought that was so cute.” (86) It’s not Sammy that wants the girls to know that he likes them, it’s the girls that want Sammy to know they like him. Girls occasionally want all the attention they can get, while not being honest about their true intentions.