In “A & P” Updike introduces us to a store clerk named Sammy who notices three girls in their bathing suits that have recently walked into the store. As Sammy describes each girl, he gives one the nickname Queenie. Sammy notices as the customers react to how the girls are dressed as they walk down the store isles. When it’s time to checkout, the store manager, Lengel, confronts the girls for breaking store dress policy. Which leads to Sammy quitting, to try and get the girls attention, unsuccessfully, leaving him not knowing what life will bring.…
“A&P” by John Updike describes the reasonable decision to quit the job by Sammy. Sammy is nineteen-year-old cashier at A&P, grocery store. He does not like his job but he was doing this job due to his parents. He quit his job on the day when three girls walked into the store wearing swimsuits. Sammy was watching the girls and observing the behavior of customers. The Lengel who was the manager at store humiliated “Queenie” about her clothes in front of everyone. Sammy quit his job on the spot in the honor of girl. I think he quit job because he does not like it and, he also wanted to prove to girls and himself that he can be independent man who does not like to take orders. By quitting his job, he also gained the sense of self which is more…
He is stuck in a dull world, with the "sheep" and the "freeloaders". His compares himself to his co-worker, Stokesie, by claiming "Stokesie 's married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that 's the only difference". (Kirszner & Mandell, 127). Stokesie 's goal is to become the manager of the store. If Sammy continued on his course at the A & P, he took would end up just like Stokesie. Sammy wants to be free spirited, he wants to break rules. When the store manager, Lengel, approaches the girls and confronts them for wearing swimsuits, Sammy begins to break free of his dull world. He wants to show the girls that he does not stand with Lengel, he stands with them. He quits quickly and without thought, saying "I quit" loud enough for the girls to hear them. He wants them to hear him, he wants them to realize that he is not one of the store workers, not one of the sheep or the…
“A&P” by John Updike features a meek cashier boy, Sammy, who has conformed to the boring lifestyle of his small town. When three girls prance into the store in swimsuits and become the most excitement the store has seen in decades, Sammy finds himself entranced by their rebellious spirit. The leader of the three girls enchants him with her beauty, confidence, and free spirit. He wants her and wants her to notice him, but he knows she won’t. When his boss, the one who subjects him to conformity, chastises the three girls, Sammy feels the need to do something for them. Sammy breaks free from his meek shell and confronts his boss by quitting on the spot. His boss tries to reel him back in with logic, but against his better judgement, Sammy carries…
In the story “A&P” by John Updike the Character Sammy seems to be heroic but in many perspectives many people can understand why he is a hero and why he’s not a hero in the story Sammy seems to be loving and caring he seems to understand the girls.while many seem to think that he only did what he did to when a girl over other all reality he seems that way because he just wants to impress these girls that comes into the store “A&P”everyday in two piece swimsuites.while others believe that he did it to take a stand to his boss Lengel. While the girls come in the store every day Sammy notice them but doesn't make any moves to let people know that he has a thing for one of the girls.…
The author, John Updike, uses characterization to expose Sammy’s true character. Sammy is baffled that the store manager, Lengel, would embarrass the girls in front of everyone. In their defense he stands up to Lengel and scolds him for rebuking the girl’s outfit choices. After the girls leave he then quits his job. When he quits the manager even warns him that “[he’ll] feel this for the rest of [his] life”, but Sammy follows through with his plan. Although he does…
The setting helps contribute to the insight, knowledge and understanding to the meaning of many stories. In the short story “A & P” by John Updike, the setting helps bring to life the conformity and dehumanization in an everyday life. It shows that breaking the norm of society is unacceptable.…
In the short story “A&P”, John Updike makes the character Sammy fail in the end unlike a typical hero to show how heroes are irrelevant in society. When Sammy announces that he quits, he hopes the girls are watching and thinks of himself as “their unsuspected hero” (4). In Sammy’s eyes, he is a hero to the girls because he is the one standing up to the dragon and saving the three princesses from his wrath. He is doing the noble thing by quitting his job and fighting the dragon so the princesses can retain their honor. He wants the princesses to watch him do it and acknowledge his heroics. However, when he goes outside to look for the girls, he finds that “they’re gone, of course” (5). Sammy is the girls’ hero but they left without him. The…
In John Updikes’ short story, A&P Sammy's character as described by the narrator, comes off as immature. The way Sammy is very observant and judgmental towards the three girls reveals something much deeper. It seems as if Sammy is very unhappy at his dead end job, he feels stuck. The narrator makes it seem as if Sammy wants something more from life. He obviously doesn't care about his job. He quits to impress the girls, only to be left alone in the end. I think Sammy is trying to prove something to the girls and everyone else around him. It seems he sort of envy’s the girl’s lives, especially ‘Queenie.’ When he stands up for the girls he is searching for some sort of satisfaction, to be held at the same level of the girls. When he stands…
Sammy is working at low-end job during the summer to make his parents happy and earn some extra cash. He notices that his co-worker, Stokesie, is already married with kids at the age of 22 with small plans of becoming manager some day. This job isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, and Sammy probably doesn’t have plans to work there his whole life like Stokesie, so he isn’t very enthusiastic when he describes his job. Sammy’s epiphany comes to him as he watches the girls get humiliated by a middle-aged man and just before he utters his resignation. He does not quit solely to stand up for the girls and present himself as a hero. At that moment he realizes just how ridiculous his whole situation is because he doesn’t belong there. He does not belong in a store with a 22 year old with very little ambitions, or with a manager who teaches sunday school, and thinks that girls in bathing suits should go to hell instead of enter his store. He even refers to himself as an “unsuspected hero” and says, “and my stomach kind of fell as i felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.” He’s finally free and understands the struggles that will come from not living his life…
In the story “A&P” by John Updike, Sammy makes a decision to quit his job while standing up against Mr. Lengel’s unacceptable attitude toward the girls’ summer apparel. Meanwhile, talking to Mr. Lengel, Sammy remembers what his father says to him “once you begin a gesture, it’s fatal not to go through with it” (618). This remains a difficult choice because if he did not follow through with the choice, then no one would take him seriously when he has the inclination to quit. Once Sammy makes his choice, then he realizes “my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (619). As well as life will get much harder without a job, especially in a small town, Sammy is not sure what to do after he quits but knows the store is not the place for him.…
Sammy stood up for the three girls that Lengel threw out of the A+P. After Lengel told the girls to leave, Sammy could have sat down and kept his mouth shut, but he said "You didn't have to embarrass them," (Updike). This then escalated into an argument between Sammy and Lengel which caused Sammy to quit his job because Lengel disrespected the girls. Now answer me this, why would Sammy quit his job if he wasn't standing up for the girls and being heroic? Sammy is considered heroic not only because he stood up for the girls, but also because he stood up against Lengel.…
The main character, Sammy of “The A&P,” struggles with choosing between the decision to stand up for what he deems morally appropriate, or the option to ignore the mistreatment of three strangers. Unsure of the consequences, this supermarket hero risks his job for the trio of young ladies whom he had never come in contact with before. His irksome attitude toward the customers displays the true feelings he holds for his grocery store career. “I pull the bow at the back of my apron and start shrugging it off my shoulders. A couple customers that had been heading for my slot begin to knock…
Cited: Bentley, Greg W.. "Sammy 's Erotic Experience: Subjectivity and Sexual Difference in John Updike 's 'A & P '." Journal of the Short Story In English 43 (2004): 121-141. Gale Group. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.…
In the story A and P Sammy quits his job to rebel against what is expected of him from his parents and his boss. Sammy quits showing he has power to make his own decisions and it’s an attempt to impress a girl who walked into the store. Sammy is unconsciously rebelling against society as a whole because he was promoting the Queenie showing off her body in the store. The enemy in this story is Sammy’s manager who embarrasses the girls by telling them the way they are dressed is inappropriate for the store. Queenie is the one in this story who is being oppressed because she isn’t being allowed to do what she wants, Sammy is not only standing up for the girl, he is also standing up for how he feels about the stores rules.…