The Character Of Lengle In John Updike's A & P

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Society is defined as a group of people living together in an ordered community and therefore, the community has rules to follow. In “A&P” by John Updike, Sammy, a teenage grocery store clerk, believes that societal rules do not apply to him. Sammy’s family is not wealthy and he is forced to work a summer job while his peers are enjoying their time off..After three girls are reprimanded for failing to follow the A&P’s dress code, Sammy impulsively quits his job to stand up for the girls. His gesture goes unnoticed, and he puts the burden on his family financially. Sammy’s immaturity and hubris prevents him from advancing in society due to his judgemental views on people, his lack of respect, and his absence of self awareness. On key aspect …show more content…

According to Sammy, the only difference between he and Stokesie, his superior, is that “Stokesie’s married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage” (262). Instead of using his older, presumably wiser coworker as a mentor, Sammy decides to dismiss everything Stokesie says. Sammy also holds no regard for his boss, Lengle. The language in which Sammy uses to introduce Lengle to the reader prove this to be so. Sammy prefaces Lengle’s entrance by saying, “Everybody’s luck begins to run out” (263). After reading this, the reader gets the impression that Lengle is an unreasonable manager, but by continuing, the reader realizes that all of Lengle’s requests are practical. Sammy does not see his elders as authority figures, which in turn proves that Sammy does not know his role in society. Sammy also has a lack of awareness that impedes him. He is a hypocrite, and he does not even know it. He takes pity on the girls when McMahon, the butcher, was “sizing up their joints” (263). In other words, he was staring at the girls. The idea McMahon looking at the girls in a sexual way is disgusting to Sammy, but he is doing the same thing. Sammy “rank(s) them in their appeal” which is more abhorrent than anything McMahon has done (Saldívar). Sammy condemns his co-worker, but he fails to see the same mistake in

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