Preview

John Updike's A & P

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
157 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
John Updike's A & P
Summary: In the short story of “A&P” by John Updike, he takes us back through a flashback of his younger days when he was working at a grocery store. He had always followed all the rules and regulations regarding his work place, until one day a group of three girls came walking through with only their bathing suits on came into the store. On this day Sammy’s whole perspective changed.
Analysis: In the short story of “A&P” by John Updike, he used the event of the girl’s coming into Sammy’s store to portray that people aren’t always as they seem. Sammy thought that by standing up for these girls, he would become a hero and they would recognize him for what he had done. Until the moment he walked outside, “I look around for my girls, but they


You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    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.…

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    As Sammie explain, “it’s one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A&P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor.” (A&P 1) These girls used their looks to lure men in, and persuade certain situations. Not only were the bathing suits and bodily features a form of power, but they represented where they stood on the social ladder. The girls came to the A&P store for one reason which was to pick up Herring Snack for Queenie’s mother.…

    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, Sammy's discussion with the reader about the typical shopper develops into social commentary when he describes customers' behavior that reflects conformity of society- Also, when he talks about Stoksie's life and goals/dreams...When Sammy notices that the three girls walk the opposite direction down the aisles, he realizes that they stand out as nonconformists in a sea of "sheep," the narrative changes as Sammy becomes aware of his part in the conformity and the the reader sees that he does not like it. When the manager speaks rudely to the girls about their lack of clothing, Sammy notices that Lengel punishes them for their nonconformity. In what looks like a typical macho behavior and possible attempt to attract the girls' attention, Sammy quits. However, he has decided not to participate in the conformity of society when he tells Lengel "-----."…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story, “A & P” John Updike uses characterization and irony to portray Sammy, the main character, as a young individual who struggles with morality and lust. Women dressed in inappropriate clothing causes Sammy’s morals to shift and ultimately leads him to quit his job.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A&P by John Updike is told as an old memory from 19-year old Sammy’s perspective as he works his cashier job at an A&P grocery store. He recalls a day when he was working his job and three girls walked in wearing only bathing suits. From the very moment the girls walked in, his job slips his mind and they are the only thing holding Sammy’s attention, costing him his job and future.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Updikes A&P

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    You can never expect something to enter your life and completely change the way you look at yourself and those around you. At any given moment we are completely susceptible to having our entire outlook on life rewritten. John Updike’s short story A&P shows how this is true through the perspective of cashier Sammy. Sammy and his coworker Stokesie witness three girls enter the A&P wearing nothing but swimsuits and after wandering the store are warned to dress more appropriately by Sammy’s boss, Lengel. As the girls are leaving the store Sammy quits in an attempt to impress them and then realizes the consequences his actions will have on the rest of his life. Sammy shows signs of development and possibly ambitions beyond working at the A&P through this experience. His true self is shown through his relationship with others, the way in which he acts, and how he thinks.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This story, in all honesty, did not entertain me or stimulate intriguing thoughts. I felt like the author gave a lot of his time to describe the scene and the appearance of characters that there was nothing really going on. I spent most of my time while reading trying to figure out or thinking what certain things looked like rather than anticipating what may be happening next. Overall this story did not engage me nor hold my interest. I did on the other hand find the way Sammy’s attitude to toward the girls rather baffling because here are these three girls, two of which he mentions are overweight and not on the attractive side, and then “Queenie” whom he points out is too pale but yet in a sense “eye candy”. It was strange how he felt a pull towards them as soon as he noticed them and felt the need to quit his job and become their self proclaimed hero. Was he just as strange or just someone who really needs the attention?…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ewww! Three girls walking through a public store half dressed is very inappropriate in the story John Updike. Lengel, the boss, agreed that the girls were inappropriate, and he wasn’t going to put up with their foolishness. Unlike Sammy, he Enjoyed what had flashed before his eyes. Never enter a public store half naked!…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A & P John Updike

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As three girls walk into the convenient store in only bathing suits, all attention of the male employees are geared toward them. Sammie, in particular, charged a woman twice for an item…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story is set in a small New England town, and it is an average day. Three young girls enter the store where Sammy, a young cashier, works. He watches and analyzes their every move, and tries to guess their personalities based on body language. Sammy identifies the leader girl as “Queenie,” and takes most interest in her. The girls are only dressed in bathing suits, and gain the attention of the other men working in the store as well. This causes tension between the male characters, and causes Sammy to wonder about his own future in comparison to his male peers. Sammy does not like seeing the girls being objectified. The manager kicks the girls out based on their inappropriate attire. In an unexpected response and strange attempt to honor the girls, Sammy quits the job, and leaves the store, but immediately is overwhelmed by the uncertain consequences his actions will bring.…

    • 2050 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A & P vs. Greasy Lake

    • 879 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “A & P,” Sammy is this non-wealthy, normal guy who works in a grocery store. During this time, in 1961 there was a change occurring that involved ethics and morality. Also, money was something that became a luxury, and it became something you had to have in order to be approved in society when it came to different classes: upper-middle class and high class. One day when Sammy was working, a set of girls came into the store dressed in bikinis. One of the girls had her nose turned up, and that gave an automatic reaction to those around her as to how her attitude was. After being in the store for a while, the girls start to get harassed because of how they were dressed. Sammy did not like it that much because he thought the girls deserved a lot more respect than what they were receiving. The more aggravated he got, the more he…

    • 879 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Updikes short story, A & P is about a 19-year-old boy, Sammy, and his short but decisive transformation from a carefree teenager to a grown man with the consequences of his actions weighing heavy on him in the end. On an otherwise ordinary day, the course of Sammys life is changed by an out of the ordinary experience which challenges him and compels him to make a rash decision that is based on what he knows in his heart is right for him.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story “A&P” exemplifies the way humans observe the female body. In this piece three girls come to shop at a grocery store wearing nothing but bathing suits. The narrator illustrates an image of each the girls, portraying everything from the bone structure in their faces, to their skin tone, tan lines, and the way they walk. Additionally, the narrator describes the older women in the store; denoting their varicose veins, and rugged faces. The human body attracts a lot of attention, consequently, not all of that attention is presented as praise. As a matter of fact, I feel that the narrator was criticizing the girls bodies rather than approving them. In the end of the story, the manager of the store refuses to serve the…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays