Language Used In A & P

The language used in “A & P” has a very laid back conversational tone to it that helps give insight into Sammy’s character. Updike rids of the verbosity many writers rely on and in result presents a more cohesive piece of work that holds readers' attention for a longer duration of time. It is realistic and is an accurate representation of how someone thinks and communicates a story. Sammy’s language reflects that of a typical young man—a teenager. What I picked up on is that he may be sort of a floater, not in the aspect that he isn’t contributing to society but that he may not know his purpose and is lacking a sense of self-assurance. That may have played a role in him being able to quit his job with such little thought and blatant reasoning. It appears he didn’t have much to lose; he’s a nineteen-year-old boy who has yet to
His mother still irons his clothes and he may have even gotten his position at the A & P due to his parent's ties with the manager, Lengel.

The more I thought about the last eight paragraphs of the short story, the more my view of Sammy was shifted about and altered. Sammy has more substance than a low-life teen who objectifies every pretty girl he sees. He practically uses the three bikini clad girls as a scapegoat to jolt out of the sleep walk like trance he has been trapped in from working at the A & P. I had initially thought that Sammy only wanted “Queenie” to notice him and for his presence not to fall into oblivion. He wanted to be deemed the three girls’ “…unsuspected hero,” (Updike 786) with hopes that they would stop and watch him. That possibly he quit not because he despised it, but from of a hormone driven impulsion that maybe if he performed the act of quitting in front of the three girls then they would see him as some valiant knight in shining armor. However, that is not entirely the case. While Sammy was drawn to the girls and from an onlooker’s perspective he quit because