Character can be analyzed into two types: Dynamic or Static Characters, depending on the character’s experience varying amounts of change through out the story. A static character is one that does not change in the story, remaining the same from mentioning him/her from the beginning on he story till the end. A dynamic character is the one that experience changes in the story - changes in understanding or beliefs, etc.
In the story “A&P” Updike makes a young pretty girl character and called her Queenie. Queenie is a static characters because from the moment she enters the grocery store, she doesn’t change until the end.
Queenie remains the same throughout the story in playing a role of a leader among her friends who go shopping at a grocery store where there is Sammy, a dynamic character who works as a cashier in that store. Sammy is the main character and everything about Queenie is based on his observations and thoughts. He notices every detail about Queenie as soon as she walked into the store with her friends. He describes how Queenie looks, wearing her bikini and how she walks, she
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walks into the store not looking around, and every detail he sees about her. “and the third one, that wasn’t so quite tall. she was the queen. she kind of led them, the other tow peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didn’t look around, not this queen, she just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima donna legs. She came down a little hard on her heels, as if she writhe move along to her toes as if she was testing the floor with every step, putting down her feels and then letting the little deliberate extra action into it.” (Updike 33). Queenie has some obvious features according to the story, she’s leading her friends and she is looks pretty, what makes her arrogant. She keeps her attitude and behavior without understanding the implications of her actions until that day when Lengel embarrassed her after she was messing around with her friends, “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” (Updike 35). The conflicts that Queenie brings to the story made her a very important character because of the themes she presence change the story better, but even though she is causing these conflicts and changes the story, she is a static character. Through the story the reader learns several things about Sammy, he is a dynamic character in the story who changes as a result of the conflicts experienced in the story. These conflicts were created by his constant criticizing of the store’s customers and his reaction when he quits his job. He is a nineteen year old guy, working a boring job in the grocery store A&P.
At the beginning, Sammy notices three girls walking into the store, he immediately notices Queenie. “ The one that caught my eye first was the one in the placid green two piece. She was a chinky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun nicer seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs.” After that he notices her friends said that one of them has “a chubby berry-faves, her lips all brunches together under her nose and the tall one with black hair that hadn’t quite frizzed righ, and one of these sunburns rough under the eyes and a chin that was too long you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very “striking” and “attractive” but never quite makes it, as they vert well know which why they like her so
much.” Sammy seems to change to an mature after his reflection to the way Lengel treats the three girl when he says “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” Sammy gets angry from him because he thinks that he embarrassed the girls. After that Sammy refused to rung up the purchase, he decided to stand for what he believes to be the right thing to do and he told Lengel “I quit” and he insets to not change his mind and quits his job. He apparently left his job which wasn’t a wise decision and didn't get him to what he wants. But eventually he is happy that he didn’t stand still and let nothing change what he thinks is the right thing at that situation. All these actions created conflicts that shaped the story and Sammy kept changing throughout the story. He goes from a self-centered to a person sacrifices for others and takes a stand for what he believes.
Sammy is a 19-year-old boy conveying a cocky but cute male attitude. He describes three girls entering the A & P, setting the tone of the story. "In walk these three girls in nothing but bathing suits. There was this chunky one, with the two piece-it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale...there was this one, with one of those chubby berry-faces, the lips all bunched together under her nose, this one, and a tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed righ...
At the beginning of A&P, Sammy notices that three girls have walked into the store with only there bathing suits on. At first, poor Sammy cannot see the girls because he was at register 3 with his back toward the door. When they finally get into his sight, he immediately size the girls up. "The one that caught my eye first was the one in the placid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs." He also gives a description of the other two girls. He says one has "a chubby berry-faces, her lips all bunched together under her nose and the tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes and a chin that was too long--you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" and "attractive" but never quite makes it, as they very well know, which is why they like her so much." This comments illustrate his immaturity. Sammy refers to one of the girls as queen. He calls her queen because she seems to be the leader. ...
While it's true that Sammy finds the three scantily-clad girls who enter the supermarket attractive, as would any normal nineteen-year-old male, what is most notable about his descriptions of the girls, and particularly of the "leader" of the group, is that Sammy holds them in contempt. Once we get beyond the descriptions of their bodies, we see nothing but derogatory comments directed at them, including the derisive nicknames that Sammy assigns to them. Nowhere is this more evident than in Sammy's description of the leader, "Queenie." The nickname assigned to her by Sammy points out the stereotypical snap judgment that Sammy makes about her personality and social status initially, and to which Sammy rigidly adheres despite no real evidence of its accuracy. From the description of her "prima donna" legs, to his imagining of ...
Sammy watches every step the girls take while criticizing and admiring them at the same time. His observations of the leader who he refers to as Queenie and her followers give him an insight of who they are personally. Sammy likes Queenie as she possesses confidence which sets her apart from the group. Sammy, still being a young boy likes that her bathing suit has “slipped on her a little bit” (Updike 158). Updike conveys the obvious that Sammy cannot look away from Queenie when “there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her”. Updike includes these small details and imagery to indulge the reader in the perception that Sammy at this point in his life is a clueless teenage
As the student develops his essay, Sammy begins to compare the girls to other customers in the store. From “houseslaves in pin curlers” to “an old party in baggy gray pants” (2192 ), Sammy negatively characterizes customers in contrast to the leader of the girls, Queenie. To Sammy, the girl is someone that is not from their town. She is everything that every girl envies and wants to be. In contrast to Sammy, she will spend her summer vacationing while he spends it working. It is clear to Sammy that their worlds are different, however it is also obvious that he would like to explore hers.
Sammy's feelings for Queenie changes when he hears her voice. Her voice is normal and he has built this romantic image of her in his mind. Hearing her voice and realizing she is a normal person, (that happens to be wealthy) slightly changes his feelings for her. It brings him back to reality a little. “Her voice kind of startled me, the way voices do when you see the people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony, too, the way it ticked over "pick up" and "snacks." All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room.” Sammy feels as if he has no chance to get noticed by her unless he does something out of the ordinary. So after she is done arguing with Lengel, Sammy decides to stand up for her and quit his job in hopes that she will notice him.
This story represents a coming-of-age for Sammy. Though it takes place over the period of a few minutes, it represents a much larger process of maturation. From the time the girls enter the grocery store, to the moment they leave, you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he sees only the physicality of the girls: how they look and what they are wearing, seem to be his only observations. As the story progresses, he notices the interactions between the girls, and he even determines the hierarchy of the small dynamic. He observes their actions and how they affect the other patrons of the business. Rather, how the other people view the girl's actions. His thought process is maturing and he starts to see things as an adult might see them.
Sammy worked a typical boring job and what seemed to be in a typical small town. The only person in the store he really related to was Stokesie, which is the foil to Sammy, because Stokesie is married, has kids and eventually wanted to be manger one day. Something Sammy did not want to stick around and see. The customers in the store were all pretty much the same, in which Sammy did not show much emotion towards except he referred to them as “the sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (Updike 261). It is easy to tell Sammy did not like his job, but it also seemed he had no other option, as if he was stuck in his small town and there was no way out. Then out of the blue he saw three girls wearing only their bathing suites walk in the store. Sammy noticed something different about them, like they were liberated from the conservative values of those times; they were part of a new generation. Especially Queenie, he referred to...
Sammy is astounded by three young girls that walk into his store in their bathing suits. He follows their every move as they peruse over the cookies and other goods. The first thing this typical nineteen boy recognizes is the one girl’s “can”. But then he goes on to say that this girl is one that other girls seems to think has potential but never really makes it with the guys. One girl though especially catches his eye. He starts to call her “Queenie” because of the way she carries herself and that she seems to be the leader of the pack. Sammy does nothing but watch her every move as they parade about the store. He even daydreams about going into her house with her rich family at a cocktail party. He notices everything about her and thinks there was nothing cuter than the way she pulls the money out of her top. His immature infatuation with this girl is one of the reasons Sammy makes the hasty decision to quit in the end.
We see this in the opening line of the story: "In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits" (Updike 1026). Even the voice of Sammy is very "familiar and colloquial" (Uphaus 373). Much of the information that Sammy relays about the three girls is sexually descriptive in a nineteen-year-old boy’s way: "and a sweet broad looking can [rear] with those two crescents of white under it, where the sun never seems to hit" (Updike 1026). It is apparent that Sammy looks at the three girls who happen to walk into the A&P only as objects of lust or possibly boyish desire. Thus, on the surface it is easy to take this story as that of a boy who would do something like quit his job to "impress" these girls.
At the beginning of the story Sammy complains about an older woman, a fifty-year-old "witch" with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, who is waiting to check out her groceries. She gets annoyed with Sammy because he is too busy drooling over the young flesh which has just walked in the door (Updike 1026). The first half-naked girl who walks into the A&P and catches Sammy’s eye is a chunky girl with a two-piece plaid bathing suit on that showed off her "sweet broad soft-looking can" (Updike l026). As if staring at this girl’s backside wasn’t enough, Sammy also noticed "those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit" (Updike 1026).
A reader can tell that Sammy likes the main girl that he gives the nickname “Queenie” to. He thinks that she is the leader of the girls and also that she is the prettiest. The way that Sammy thinks about these girls really puts the story into perspective. A person would think that a few girls going into a grocery store to grab some snacks is just a part of life, but to hear it in the words of Sammy, it seems quite fascinating. At one point a reader might think of Sammy as sexist, because in his own words, “You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)[…] (370). All in all, this is just the way that Sammy’s’ mind works; it is how he thinks about people. This is what makes it be known that he a younger man not from the current
The clients of Sammy’s workplace are described as having “Six children”(Updike 645) with “Veracious vein mapping their legs”(Updike 645) and ”haven 't seen the ocean in twenty years”(Updike 645). Through the details Sammy provides about the clients explains that Sammy is starved from the sight of a girl his age, and upon the first sight of a girl nearing his age, he is instantly attracted to her. The three girls in the store are Sammy’s rescue from the small tiresome town. The final point that proves Sammy’s heroic action are because of his lust for the girls is the theme of the whole short
These three girls were wearing bathing suites that caught the attention of everyone in the store. In this small town such apparel is unacceptable to the residents. Sammy observes their bathing suites, their hair, and their bodies as they walk through the store. He becomes lustful of the leader of the girls and gives her the nickname “Queenie”. Sammy goes into detail feeling faint describing her breast like two smooth scoops of vanilla. The girls flow through the store going against the normal traffic to get a jar of herring snacks. Queenie leading the way arrives at Sammy’s register to check
Queenie and the other two girls, are ready to check out. Sammy and Stokes work the registers (Updike 58). Stokes has someone already at his, so the girls choose Sammy's lane (Updike 58). Sammy in awe of Queenie, thinks to himself, "Still with that prim look she lifts a folded dollar bill out of the hollow at the center of her nubbled pink top. The jar went heavy in my hand. Really, I thought that was so cute" (58). Sammy is baffled by Queenie. He desires to make an impression on her. However, Queenie leaves Sammy speechless. Before he is able to say a word to Queenie, Lengel notices the girl's attire and rushes to the register. Now he is forced to take