Sammy's Plats Out Character Analysis

Sammy has many traits that describe him very well. Many of Sammy's traits are expectations that are put onto him and other teenage boys by the society he lives in. Sammy is a misogynist (to hate women) he does not directly show or even say that he hates women, but it can still be seen through his actions and his thoughts throughout the story. He sees women in a way that is not at all respectful. But during the sixties, it was actually normal for women to be seen and treated as inferior to men, and it was normal for them to get treated disrespectfully by them. Sammy fits perfectly in this society , because we all have seen through the ways he had ‘checked out’ the girls in the supermarket. His examination leads him to sexualizing

and judging the girl's appearances. Sammy begins the story describing in detail, how the girls looked, as stated, “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid 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.”(Updike 1) This is what he thinks as he watches the girl closely examining every inch of her. Similar descriptions occur often throughout the story, when Sammy compares many of the girl's physical features to objects: “soft-looking can” (Updike 1) “shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light”. (Updike 1) “it just having come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known were there.”(Updike 4)
Another point where Sammy’s misogynistic thoughts are shown is through the quote, “so I say "I quit" to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” (Updike 4) Sammy mentions himself, he says “I quit” fast enough for the girls to hear him before they leave the store. This would ensure that he fits the role of the male figure which society encourages men to obtain. Sammy as well automates the girls, or just unconsciously objectifies them. He first compares their minds to a bee’s jar. He does not look at the female mind as insightful like most human brains. Rather, he compares it with the bee jar, something empty and quiet. Also, Sammy also refers to a few women in the store as house-slaves, “A few house-slaves in pin curlers…” (Updike 2) Which disrespects the job of those women who stay at home and work, making it seem they are slaves to their own homes. Many of Sammy’s comments about the three girls, and females in general, imply his subconsciously condescending view on females, ingrained into him through the societal norms by which he is surrounded. Through first person narration, we get to see the thoughts that go through Sammy’s head. Within his detailed descriptions of the girls, and the little details he notices about the store, the customers, and the workers, we can assume that Sammy is observant. For example, when he says, “You know, it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor.” (2) Sammy’s observance of the settings and the way the girls looked effectively communicates the contrast of the store to the beach, and why the girls’ dress might come as a shock.
His observance as well leads him to a better understanding of the patriarchal nature of his society, which he saw from the way Lengel spoke to the girls.

As written, “but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside I punch the No Sale tab and the machine whirs "pee-pul" and the drawer splats out.” (5) Sammy refers back to the blush he had seen on Queenie’s face, as described, “Queenie’s blush is no sunburn now.” (3) that he notices due to his keen observance. This further motivates him to quit his job because of the embarrassment Queenie experienced due to Lengel's blatant confrontation. Lengel's confrontation comes from his dominant role given to him by society because of his being a grown man. Sammy is concerned and confused about transcending adolescence and moving into adulthood. Throughout the story, he refers to the middle aged customers as “sheep” because he sees them all as the same, boring, people. His descriptions of the customers or grownups in general are typically negative, and aren’t worded in a way which makes you think that adulthood is within his desires. For example, “There wasn't anybody but some young married screaming with her children about some…”(5). In that quote, he describes the scene of a mother screaming at her children, making it seem that to be in her position is yet another reason to avoid adulthood. He also describes an older customer as unsightly and has her come off as irritating and grouchy, as stated, “She's one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it made her day to trip me up. She'd been watching cash registers forty years and probably never seen a mistake before." As well, he emphasized her role as an elder by saying that 'she'd been watching cash registers forty years." The portrayal of adults throughout the whole of the story is bland, negative, and makes the general idea of reaching adulthood seem uninviting to

Sammy.