Dynamic Character In John Updike's A & P

Sammy, the protagonist in John Updike’s “A&P,” is a dynamic character because he reveals himself as an immature, teenage boy at the beginning of the story and changes into a mature man at the end. The way Sammy describes his place of work, the customers in the store, and his ultimate choice in the end, prove his change from an immature boy to a chivalrous man. In the beginning, he is unhappy in his place of work, rude in his description of the customers and objectification of the three girls, all of which prove his immaturity. His heroic lifestyle change in the end shows how his change of heart and attitude transform him into mature young man.
The negative way that Sammy describes his place of work and some of the people that he works with

display his immaturity. When Sammy states, “the store’s pretty empty, it being Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again,” he shows his negative and lazy attitude towards his work. Though he is getting paid for his work, he feels it is alright for him to be lazy and to take advantage of the generosity of his boss. Sammy describes the attitude his boss, Lengal, has towards the store, saying that “he had been thinking all these years the ‘A&P’ was a great big dune and he was the head lifeguard.” His immaturity is showcased through his disrespect for his elders when he criticizes the way lengal cares about the store. Sammy also criticizes his co-worker and acquaintance, Stokesie, for valuing his job at “A&P.” He thinks it is lame that Stokesie, a husband and father of two, wants to work at the “A&P” for the rest of his career and insults him by saying, “he this he’s going to be manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990 when it’s called the Great Alexandrov and Petrooshki Tea Company.” Sammy’s bias view of life and lack of planning for the future is just one of the many ways he proves to be an immature character.
Sammy shows his immaturity through the way that he describes the three girls and the other customers in the store. When Sammy says, “In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits” it is only the beginning of the many paragraphs in which, through the lustful mind of a nineteen year old, Sammy describes and objectifies the three girls. The protagonist also negatively describes one customer in particular saying, “she’d been watching cash registers for fifty years and probably never seen a mistake before. By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag- she gives me a little snort in passing, if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem.” He talked horribly about the customers, showing that he did not respect the job he had. He also mentions the “old school” ways of the “A&P” customers when he states, “I bet you could set off dynamite in an ‘A&P’ and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering ‘let me see, there was a third thing, began with A, no, ah, yes, applesauce!’ or whatever it is they do mutter.” Sammy believes that the people in the small town are below him, which is yet another way Sammy proves his immaturity.
Sammy finally begins to mature when he commits his “heroic act” for the three girls in hopes of becoming an upper class citizen and be equal in status with the girls.

He criticizes his family and their background when he says, “when my parents have somebody over they get lemonade and if it’s a real racy affair, Schlitz in tall glasses with ‘They’ll do it every time’ cartoons stenciled on.” Sammy desires to move from a blue collar to a white collar family to differentiate him from his family. He shows his growing maturity when he says, “the girls who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengal quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” He wants to be noticed by the girls for his selfless act of quitting his job for them. His plan does not work though, and the girls leave him to face Lengal alone. Lengal confronts Sammy and says, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad.” Sammy ponders Lengal’s comment and thinks to himself, “It’s true, I don’t. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it.” Sammy has begun to reach maturity and now wants to make his own decisions concerning his future and how he spends

it.
Sammy, the protagonist in John Updike’s “A&P,” is a dynamic character because he reveals himself as an immature, teenage boy at the beginning of the story and changes into a chivalrous, mature man at the end. Though Sammy quits his job and loses “his girls” in the end, he proves his new found maturity by showing compassion for other people, finishing what he starts, and wanting something more for his life. Sammy does not want to spend the rest of his life working at a small town grocery store. He decides that he wants to move on to become a better, more mature person, regardless of whether it took the girls to convince him of this or not. The protagonist’s realization of the importance of living a fulfilled life is one that many people have, but not many act on.