A&P In his short story “A&P,” John Updike introduces readers to Sammy, a nineteen year-old grocery clerk working what seems to be a dead-end job at the eponymous grocery store. On an average summer afternoon, three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bikinis. While seeing them only as objects of desire at first, the girls being kicked out of the A&P over regulations of decency challenges Sammy to think about the trite, bland life he leads. It is through his choices such as the setting of “A&P,” as well as the personalities and actions of the characters, that the author hopes readers will see the shortcomings of the banal middle-class lifestyle that the A&P represents. Firstly, Updike uses an A&P in a seaside town north of Boston, …show more content…
Massachussets as his setting. What is significant about this is that, while it is a seaside town, “with a big summer colony out on the Point” (qtd. in “Req. Readings” 61), where the store is located is far from glamorous. In fact, as Sammy narrates, the A&P is near “two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store and three real estate offices” (qtd. in “Req. Readings” 61). The middle of town, where the store is, has none of the allure nor charisma that one might expect of a small town by the sea. The banks and real estate offices represent the pursuit of money and material wealth that middle-class aspirants do, while the newspaper store and church represent the repression and conformity that one must undertake in order to fit into the comfortable middle-class status quo. The store itself, M. Gilbert Porter writes, is “the common denominator of middle-class suburbia, an appropriate symbol for the mass ethic of a consumer-conditioned society” (1155). The proximity to both Boston and the Cape Cod seaside also hints that while the town itself is not horrible in any way shape or form, it is still far enough away from anything exciting such as a major city or a tourist destination. Sammy disdainfully even points out that “there’s people in this town haven’t seen the ocean for twenty years” (qtd. in “Req. Readings 61), suggesting that he thinks of those kind of people as depraved of freedom that the sights, sounds, and smells of the ocean brings. Secondly, the author uses the other employees of the A&P, as well as the townsfolk, as examples of the pitfalls of the conformist, mundane middle-class.
There is Lengel, the stern, upright manager; Stokesie, Sammy’s fellow cashier who is only three years his senior; and the various shoppers of the A&P. Lengel, as we are told by Sammy, also teaches Sunday school, and that he’s pretty dreary (“Req. Readings” 61). Furthermore, Sammy chooses to describe Lengel as scuttling into the manager’s office, to “hide all day” (qtd. in “Req. Readings” 61). This suggests that Sammy sees Lengel as some sort of antisocial bottom-feeder or sewer rat, worried only about rules and regulations and routine—and therefore, repression, which could also be taken from his involvement in Sunday school, should one view religion as repressive. Indeed, one gets the impression that Lengel is not the type to smile or be anything but stone-faced. Stokesie, meanwhile, is more of a glimpse of the near-future for young Sammy. At just twenty-two, Stokesie is already married with two kids, and despite his ogling and objectification of Queenie and her friends being equal to that of Sammy’s, he is still a “responsible, married man” (qtd. in “Req. Readings” 61). Sammy goes on to say that Stokesie thinks he will be manager of his own A&P someday, essentially taking Lengel’s place, and providing the younger man a glimpse of his own life, should he conform to the staid status quo. As for the townspeople milling about …show more content…
the store, Sammy repeatedly calls them some kind of herd animal or something else disdainful: “sheep,” “witches,” “house slaves in pin curlers,” “bums,” and “pigs in a chute,” to name a few examples (“Req. Readings” 60-62). While it may sound harsh, it seems Updike, through Sammy’s inelegant yet insightful worldview, emphasizes the shoppers’ complacency for their vapid existence—an explosion could go off inside the store and not one of them would bat an eyelid (“Req. Readings” 60). Finally, to contrast all of that, Updike introduces readers to Queenie and her gang.
Clad only in bikinis, Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony-Goony part the sea of sheep and pigs and house slaves, earning stares and double-takes from the other shoppers (and some of the staff). Sammy, while initally seeing them only as objects, begins to see them as something more: the girls become symbols of excitement, adventure, sophistication, and a chance to escape from the clutches of his humdrum life. He takes note of the girls’ sole purchase (Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream), and slips into a sort of daydream imagining how the girls’ lives were like: “Her father and other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big glass plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them. 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 stencilled on” (qtd. in “Req. Readings”
61). Here, we see Sammy’s sense of aspiration, however naïve, that Updike seems to say is what separates him from the rest of the staff and the shoppers. It is this idealized yearning that keeps Sammy from being dreary like Lengel, tied down like Stokesie, and complacent like the townspeople, and ultimately, pushes him to quit. One may argue that Sammy’s abrupt resignation was impulsive and rash, but arguing that just seems to enforce the message of stifling pragmatism prevalent in the middle-class. Quitting is a way for Sammy to escape the A&P and its “misplaced values” (Porter, 1157). Despite this sense of idealism and impulsiveness, he realizes how difficult the world was going to be thereafter (“Req. Readings” 62), but, as Porter puts it, “That not to follow the voice of conscience is to be false to one’s integrity and therefore to live a lie” (1158).
In, “A&P,” Updike depicts an unusual day for Sammy working in the A&P store. Sammy’s days are usually mundane but his day is changed when a group of scantily dressed girls walk into the store and they leave an everlasting influence on his life. Updike’s demonstrates these events through colloquial language and symbolism, allowing the reader to connect with Sammy and see his growth as a character.
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.
“A&P” tells a story about a young cashier who starts out being prejudice and bias, but then realizes he is just like the others he had been judging all day, and decides to prove he is different and gets caught up underneath everyone. In John Updikes “A&P”, the young cashier who is the main character, becomes the victim of his own opinionated statements. Sammy, a young cashier at a local market shows his very biased opinions when he describes the three girls walking around the store, when he talks about his fellow co-worker, Stokesies life, and when his manager, Lengal, comes into the scene to kick the girls out of the store.
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.
Before the girls enter the store, Sammy is unaware that the setting he is so judgmental of reflects his own life. Sammy feels that he is better than the rest of people at the A&P, referring to them as "sheep" and "house-slaves" because they never break from their daily routines. He also condescendingly talks about "whatever it is they[the customers]...mutter." Reinforcing his superiority above the people in the store, Sammy sees himself as a person that can seldom be "trip[ped]...up." Although he sees himself being superior to the store, the reality is that the store closely reflects Sammy's life. He seems to have a long-term commitment to the store since his apron has his name stitched on it, and he has been working at the store long enough to have memorized the entire contents of the "cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks-crackers-and-cookies." His day is also filled with the routine of working at the register, a routine that is so familiar that he has created a cash register song. Sammy also identifies with his co-worker Stokesie, "the responsible married man," and therefore wishes to someday be the manager of the store, like Lengel. Even the "checkerboard" floor represents a game of checkers, a simple one-directional game that closely models Sammy's life. Although Sammy is nineteen ...
Sammy’s point of view of conformity changes from passive to active which shows the growth of his character. Updike chooses a 19-year-old teenager as the first narrator. As a teenager, Sammy’s personal value is still developing and he is not fully shaped by the conformity, which suggests his quitting later in the story. Although Sammy’s perspective is unreliable since his thoughts are limited by his age, he gives readers a naiver perspective of the society. He simply considers the customers as “sheep” or followers when he works in A&P, such as: “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (748). However, before he saw the girls, he was part of the conformity. He silently mocks the people being conservative, but does not show any rebuke against
At first read, John Updike's 'A & P' contrasts old and new; the old manager in his settled life conflicting with the new age of girls wearing bathing suits in buildings. All the while, the narrator stuck in the middle, finally deciding to join the side of new, or youth. Instead of old vs. new, an observation closer to the heart of the story is conflict between the worlds of the rich and the middle class. ?A & P? is the setting for one man to decide in which way he will seek to follow his life, standing on his own two feet and treating everyone as equals, or bowing before the wealthy, and searching for his own riches above all else.
Lengel, the manager of the store, spots the girls and gives them a hard time about their dress in the store. He tells them, “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” He says that they are not dressed appropriately to come into this grocery store. Lengel’s words cause Queenie to get embarrassed and start to blush. Sammy cannot believe this and gets frustrated at his boss. He doesn’t believe that it is right to prosecute these innocent girls for the way they are dressed. He also states at this point that the sheep are piling up over in Stokesie line trying to avoid all the commotion the scene has caused. I believe Sammy takes this as the last straw in a long string of aggravations.
He even makes this comment about Stokesie: "I forgot to say he thinks he’s going to be manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990" (Updike 1027). His disenchantment with the job of manager only suggests Sammy’s ideas of real life existing outside of his work at A&P. The most obvious display of Sammy’s maturity is his sympathy for the girls after they are harshly reprimanded by Lengel. His established sympathy is shown in "the contrast between the girls and the typical cash register watcher" (Greiner 389).
In John Updike’s “A&P”, the revolution of the young people of the current age against authority is explored and explained. “A&P” reveals the shift from conservative and deferential to avant-garde and disrespectful. Through the observation of the behavior of the characters in the story, one can receive a clear picture of the evolution of the sexual revolution that has come in this age. Sammy is the first character that is introduced, he is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Stoksie and Lengel are next, Stoksie is a fellow store clerk with Sammy as well as a good friend and Lengel is the manager of the store. Finally, Queenie is introduced. “A&P” begins with Sammy noticing these three girls that come into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. Sammy then proceeds to analyze each of the girls bodies, finally coming to rest on the leader of the group, his favorite, who he affectionately names to himself, “Queenie”. Although Sammy and Stoksie joke back and forth about the girls sexiness, he is privately revolted by the butchers bluntly ogling the girls as they search for whatever they wish to purchase. Throughout this recounting of the experience, one begins to wonder, when did girls become pieces of meat to be observed and handled by men? They used to be cherished and protected as they should be. The sexual revolution of the past and current decades have changed all of that.
In John Updike’s short story, A&P the writer takes you on a youths memory that involves the choices and consequences that life can deal to anyone who has not had time to test a rash decision. The narrator is an immature nineteen-year-old cashier who is about to make a giant leap from adolescence to manhood. Sammy narrates with opinions of not only his life, but also the people in the town. Sammy opposes with the way these people live their lives, and is determined to set a different course for his future. The author uses characterization, symbolism, and setting to explain Sammy's life issues such as decision-making, result of action, and responsibility. The story illustrates that part of growing up is about making choices and a willingness to accept consequences of one’s own choices.
In the short story A&P by John Updike, the story is told in a first person narrative of a teenage boy working as a cashier in an A&P grocery store on a hot summer day. The story begins with the teenage boy named Sammy becoming preoccupied by a group of three teenage girls that walk into the grocery store wearing bathing suits. Sammy admires the girl's beauty as most nineteen year old adolescent boys would, in a slightly lewd and immature nature. His grammar is flawed and he is clearly not of an upper-class family, his job appears to be a necessity for a son of a family that is not well off. The name he gives the girl who seems to be the object of his desire, Queenie, portrays a social difference from himself. Sammy further imagines the differences in class and living style when he describes Queenie's voice as "kind of tony, the way it ticked over 'picked up' and 'snacks'." He imagines her with aristocratic home life in describing “her father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big glass plate and they were holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them."Sammy compares his own parents occasions, where they serve their guests "lemonade and if it's a real racy affair Schlitz in tall glasses with 'They'll Do It Every Time' cartoons stenciled on."
The beginning of “A & P” starts with the main character, Sammy, at work when three girls in nothing but bathing suits walks in. According to Lawrence Dessner, the A & P check out counter showed Sammy a sample of insult and indignity of ordinary people (317). He may not have liked the people that shopped there, but he received insight of the real world. A woman that was currently at Sammy's counter was middle aged and brought Sammy no sympathy to the shoppers; he sometimes mention them as sheep. His names of the shoppers also include insight of Sammy's view of the ordinary shoppers; Sammy did not care much for others.
In struts three boys, decked in nothing but bathing suits. They are nothing but an off-beat in the progression of time. Life continues, goods are bought, and they fade from the consciousness of all witnesses. In the short story A&P by John Updike, readers are introduced to Sammy, a young burnout cashier stuck in a cycle unrelenting until his death. The story jumps into action when three girls walk into the store, clad only in their swimsuits. The monotony of the A&P, combined with nonlinear happenings and Sammy's internal monologue, display the ideals of the decade in glaring detail. His sentiment of the girls and the reactions of people in the A&P are embedded into the story, but when reading, the difference between acceptable behavior at the time the story was written and today is glaring. The story A&P gives insight to the evolved sexism and rape culture of today’s society.
...up on Stokesie like sheep, Engel explains that policy insists that shoulders must be covered. Policy is what the kingpins want. What others want is juvenile delinquency. Like a champ Sammy throws in the towel. He watched as 3 girls bucked the norm and alternately was confident enough to quit altogether. They get away from him and his feet are carrying him to the place of his residence rather than a car, reserved for higher classes. He ends with the thought how hard the world was to be to me hereafter. Sammy?s variety of verbal simulations and creations for the reader reveal the social and economic classes of basic society. The adults like animals, the attractive women- analyzed on a pedestal in full description and personification, employees get harped on too. Stoksie was a little to ambitious for a bagger, and management was regarded like the rest of the animals.