An Analysis Of John Updike's A & P

“A&P” is a short story about Sammy a supermarket clerk who begins to notice the behavior and lack of human interaction between the customers at A&P. When the conflict arises in the story Sammy’s decision changes his life as well as the way he feels about society as a whole. Sammy the narrator is very observative when he explains the things that happen around him which causes the environment of A&P to feel very realistic. A&P is a representation of the state of society in the supermarket. The story depicts the hivemind behavior at a supermarket by having the narrator Sammy name the customers “sheep” and “house slaves”. A&P begins with Sammy working a dull and an uneventful day when observes the three teenage girls who enter the store not knowing they will be part of a major change his
Noticing the boring environment and people at his workplace.When the girls enter the store Sammy is instantly sexually attracted due to their bikinis. The narrator begins to observe the girls watching and analyzing every physical detail of each girl. When Stokesie a slightly older married man with two kids begins to joke immaturely about the nature of the girls Sammy's younger self goes along but a part of him begins to notice that Stokesie does not aspire to anything more than becoming the manager one day going along with the drabness of A&P’s environment and citizens. When Lengel, Sammy’s manager criticizes the girls Sammy quits because he wants to separate himself from the repetitive and dull lifestyle Stokesie and Lengel are consumed in.
Sammy’s true intentions are revealed when he realizes the girls are not watching him when he is “defending their name”. The girls in the story are a complete opposite of the lifestyle at A&P with their breaking of the store policies as well as the way they carry themselves. Sammy wants to be apart of the Queenie because he wants her and what she