Unwarranted Decisions Many people act foolishly, some based on common sense and past experience and some based on impulse and reckless idealism. In “The A&P” by John Updike, the cashier quit while acting unwarranted, he acted on intangible reasons, assumptions, while not thinking of the consequences. Many who act unwarranted end up hurting themselves and occasionally others because they do not think of the backlash that could occur based off their rash and uninformed decisions. Many awful events in history were due to unwarranted acts, the Iraq War for instance, the US decided to act militarily without tangible fact and wasted billions of dollars and killed many innocent people. Now this act is in no comparison to a war, it is just that when …show more content…
The girls did not even talk or form any meaningful relationship with him whatsoever; they were just there to buy food and leave. She even went out of her way not to look at them, Updike states; “She must have felt in the corner of her eye me and over my shoulder Stokesie in the second slot watching but she didn’t tip, not this queen” (462). Their whole relationship was him watching her throughout the store; forming a somewhat creepy and awkward one-sided relationship. That is not how a meaningful relationship starts; stalking them like animals, peaking on them like an immature boy; and ogling at them through multiple aisles of a grocery store. He hangs on every single word that the queen bee says, analyzes her speech and tone of her voice, and vividly imagines the inside of her house. They have not even met before this day and he has not even talked to her. All of these feelings that he is feeling are unwarranted, maybe it is because that she is pretty, but he acts as if though he is in love with …show more content…
There is no logical explanation for why he quit, and Sammy will not be able to give his parents one. They got him the job in the first place as Updike explains, “He’s (Lengel) been a friend of my parents for years, “Sammy you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad,” he tells me. It’s true, I don’t, but it seems to me that once you begin a gesture its fatal not to go through with it (467)”. This is where Sammy has a big decision to make, and he chooses the wrong decision. He could just forget the queen and her followers but he still thinks that they care and they clearly do not. He later realizes that he has made a monumental mistake and feels the weight of his actions crush him. His actions are unwarranted because of his lack of hindsight, that his action has an effect on his family, on him, on the store, and especially on the manager. Lengel is one who is hurt by his actions as well; he has to fill in as a cashier until they find a new one and that is no job for a stiff, aching old
In his short story "A & P" John Updike utilizes a 19-year-old adolescent to show us how a boy gets one step closer to adulthood. Sammy, an A & P checkout clerk, talks to the reader with blunt first person observations setting the tone of the story from the outset. The setting of the story shows us Sammy's position in life and where he really wants to be. Through the characterization of Sammy, Updike employs a simple heroic gesture to teach us that actions have consequences and we are responsible for our own actions.
... from previous experiences and bases future decisions on what they have experienced. When a person makes a decision that isn’t justified, they unknowingly change how they view future problems. If the decision has not been based in truth, it allows them a certain amount of unearned freedom to make wrong decisions, as opposed to when one make a proper decisions. It is crucial that every decision made is justified in order to keep their moral compass steady and to make the proper decisions when the choice is hard.
I quit! These words can be attached to so many things in life. At times in life things seem to be different then they really are, for instance the thrill and the excitement of having a summer job or even successfully getting a first job. There are certain moments in a person’s life that will always have an impact on them one could call this a definitive moment or an epiphany. In the short story A&P by John Updike the main character Sammy has an epiphany in that he realizes that a moral line has been crossed in his working environment.
John Updike’s “A&P” is a short story about a nineteen year old boy during the 1960’s that has a summer job at the local A&P grocery. The main character in the story, Sammy, realizes that life isn’t always fair and that sometimes a person makes decisions that he will regret. Sammy sees that life doesn’t always go as planned when three young girls in bathing suits walk in and his manager Lengel gives them a hard time, and he comes to term with that sometimes you make bad decisions.
we fail to see the harm that we are doing, and will continue to do if we do not
Whenever something goes wrong there is a reason for it. More often than not this comes around to the fault of a human being, and in cases where it can be hard to determine that culprit usually did the action unintentionally. Just because that person did not purposefully commit a discretion does not mean that it was not their fault. Somewhere along the road before deciding on the wrong choice the culprit could have looked over something or made a smaller wrong decision which over time escalated into a major problem. Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, reveals how everyone must take full liability for their actions, even if the results of those actions were indirect or unintentional; without this responsibility, side effects of actions would cause widespread harm.
John Updike's Rabbit books tell the story of a man whose life is in constant turmoil. Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom's downward spiral started the day his senior basketball season ended. Rabbit was a basketball jock; he knew nothing else. He married his high school sweetheart more out of convenience than love and worked in the same printing press as his father. Rabbit couldn't face the working world, couldn't face his parents, and couldn't face his wife and son. He was constantly caught somewhere in the middle ground between righteousness and sinful pleasure. Rabbit's mind was constantly wandering, searching for something he could hold on to, something that would remain constant through the thick and thin of life. He needed another basketball.
Activists; who are they? People who support or oppose a cause or issue. They are individuals who fight and defend their viewpoints - protecting and standing for what they believe is right. These advocates persuade and gather many supporters for their cause. Sometimes, they get their argument across successfully, resulting in events to go the way that they desire. Other times, however, things just do not go their way, resulting in defeat. In a way similar to activists, Sammy, the protagonist of John Updike’s short story “A & P”, stands his ground for what he thinks is moral, however, only to later face disappointment. On a hot scorching summer day, Sammy, a teenage clerk at an A & P grocery store, is working the cash register when three ladies about his age enter barefoot, dressed in nothing but bathing suits, to purchase herring snacks. Sammy allows the ladies to continue shopping, judging them based on appearance like average adolescents. However, this ends when Lengel, the elderly and strict manager of the shop, notices the three customers and feels that they are not properly dres...
he just set his eyes upon her and thinks that he loves her. He is
In the story “A&P” by John Updike, the main character Sammy, is faced with a tough decision on whether or not he should quit his job based on a bunch of girls. He is upset because one of his coworkers embarrassed a few girls for not wearing appropriate clothing in the store. Sammy’s anger is being purely driven by hormones and mental pictures of one of the girls as his girlfriend. Therefore, his decision to quit his job can not be justified.
In everyday life people of all backgrounds make decisions that can be both wrong or
because they live in two different world. He is really in love with her and he is exactly
Referencing back to the Revolutionary War, the leaders of the revolution knew that a war must be waged in the name of liberty despite the great disadvantage. The consequences of the war, specifically the loss of life and supplies without a strong ally, were massive; nevertheless, the colonists fought valiantly and defeated the British after a lingering, treacherous war. People must make difficult and complex decisions on a daily basis. Each choice has an everlasting effect on yourself and those around you. Common sense is essential in making the world a better place, and a person must always do what is right to achieve this
It is difficult to make decisions and have intellectual judgment. Decisions are at times influenced by personal experiences, information presented, emotion, amongst other numerous factors, therefore it is a lengthy process. Even when a person is trying to make the best decision it may be the “wrong” choice due to the fact that it negatively impacts other people. For instance, allowing a person to bend the rules a bit may seem innocent, but it may hinder the other people that are following the rules (such as allowing someone to use the computer longer than what their allotted time
girls. The desire in him took over and all he wanted was for those girls to acknowledge so he