...John Updike “A & P” We were asked in class to write a short paper after being asked the question, “What is the most intriguing or interesting piece we have read, and why?” My response to this question was John Updike’s “A & P”. “A & P” was not the best or even the most interesting piece that I have read. However, out of all of the stories that I have read for this class, “A & P” left me with the most questions. Some of the questions that I asked myself after reading this story were, “What did Updike want me to get from this story?” The second question I asked myself was, “Was there any symbolism or foreshadowing in the extreme amount of detail that Updike used in this story?” The last question that I wanted to answer was, “Is that it?” Did John Updike really write a story about dress code of a supermarket? Or, did he write this story about the moral dilemma a young clerk faces when he believes his boss was rude to three underdressed girls? John Updike’s “A & P” was first published in 1962. This story took place in a small grocery store. The main character, Sammy, is a young clerk. He is ringing up a lady whom he describes as a “witch”, when three young ladies enter the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Updike uses great detail in describing the three girls. The first one that he noticed was described as “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…”...
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...Sammy, the 19-year-old main protagonist, and narrator of "A&P," is a cashier in an A&P grocery store in Massachusetts. The author, John Updike characterizes Sammy as an upcoming young adult, who is figuring out his own life style, while being tamed to a cliched society. Sammy is an impulsive teenager who perceives every small detail that revolves around him. Correspondingly, Sammy becomes annoyed from the social-norm at the A&P grocery store. Sammy further accuses everyone as a “Sheep” and a “houseslave” (Updike). Sammy continues to denounce that everyone looks and acts the same. Moreover, Sammy is a prime example of the vast majority of every young adult, who is hungry to breakaway from the banal culture they live in. While in “A&P” Sammy scornfully accuses his co-worker, Stokesie as a wishy washy twenty-two year old with two babies, and married (Updike). In the light of hope, Sammy gawks at a beautiful girl, wearing dirty pink bathing suit with a little nubble bathing suit (Updike), who he carefully sculpts an image of a beautiful girl he calls, Queenie. In essence, Queen evolves into a character who becomes an escape route from the hackneyed universe for Sammy....
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...John Updike’s descriptive excerpt, A&P illustrates the effect on, how three girls dressed in bathing suits catches the attention and affects customers and works in a small-town grocery store. Three girls walk in A&P capturing everyone’s attention especially the men’s. This excerpt illustrates the strong effect women can have on men, how the effect can be broken and how this effect can change one’s view on life. Updike demonstrates how women have a strong effect on men, by having Sammy describe how his male co-workers gawking over the girls. As soon as the girls entered A&P they had the everyone’s full attention. Well at least every guy. Sammy describes how the girls caught his eye, “The one caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece.” He continues to describe her as well as the other girl’s bathing suits, figures, skin tones and a few other features. As you notice the first attribute that caught his eye about the girls were the fact that they were in bathing suits. He explains how all the other guys are gawking including his co-worker Stokesie. “Oh Daddy,” Stokesie said beside me. “I feel so faint.” Sammy doesn’t forget to mention how another worker sized the girls up after their encounter with him. The girls have a powerful effect on the men in the store causing them...
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...Sammy, a nineteen-year-old teenager employed at A&P grocery store determines his employment based upon irrational judgment. Sammy is considered as a narrow point of view character based upon, the author John Updike’s description. Sammy is surrounded by his own imagination that forces into to criticize others. Stokesie, a fellow co-worker and a few year older than Sammy is clear example of Sammy’s behavior. According to Sammy, Stockesie is “going to be a manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990 when it’s called the Great Alexandrov and Petrooshki Tea Company or something” (Updike 28). In reality, Sammy has no intentions of serving A&P for rest of his life. To Sammy, Stockesie is a married man, with two children but it’s proven to be untrue. Secondly,...
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...Written in the early 1960’s, a time period of rebellion and social revolution, A&P demonstrates teen Americans need to stride away from the 1960’s version of the ‘american dream’. John Updike’s use of symbolism, to illustrate Sammy's rebellion, leads readers into realizing the importance of sceding away from societal conformity and pressure. According to Sammy, the customers symbolize the “sheep” of society as they blindly go down the aisles as if they are a worthless herd of tongue-tied people. Sammy’s attitude toward the herd shows that he depicts people who uncritically follow societal norms, indirectly emphasizing the importance of individualism. The connotation of ‘Sheep’ leaves a positive impression in the reader's mind at first considering how the people acted normal for the time period. However; soon readers realize that being a mindless follower is deplorable as today's generation teaches individuals to become an inventive leader rather than a mere follower. Updike uses the girls to represent as a threat to values, customs and social guidelines upon the ‘herd of sheep’. Their actions clearly display deliberate provocation as they show up in bathing suits at a local grocery store, 20...
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...The narrator in John Updike’s “A&P”, Sammy, primary quits his job due to him being tired of working at a grocery store and dealing with all types of customers. The first customer Sammy describes is when he accidently rings up a box of Hi Ho crackers twice. Sammy categories her as “cash-register-watchers” and “probably never seen a mistake before” (Updike 141). He is tired of customers who would get made for no good reason as if they were as perfect as can be. Sammy called some customers “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (142). He basically thinks some customers are in their own little world and did not care if anyone is breaking the rules as long as they continue shopping. Sammy describes the day he quits “the sad part of the story” at least to his family it is (143). Sammy does not think it is the sad part because he wanted to get out of there. Sammy does not like his job or the people he has to deal with so he uses the scandal that Lengel performs in...
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...In modern day society, going out of the social norm of acting and dressing like others is a conflict that collides with a person’s individuality to act on what they feel is the right thing to do. In John Updike’s “A&P”, he sheds light on how societal norms are inflexible and how Sammy, the main character, seeks to not conform to what everyone else in his town are doing and finds validation to pursue his individuality through the nonconformity of the three girls who enter the A&P store. However, while Updike write about Sammy’s ordinary life and brings the three girls in the story to represent freedom, they have an affect on Sammy and helps him realize that there is more to his life other than working in A&P everyday. The author advances his...
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...In the short story “A and P” written by John Updike, an attractive teenage girl nicknamed “Queenie” is a major character and a pivotal part of the story. The portrayal of her character is solely based on Sammy’s, the A and P cashier boy, perspective. A flat character is easily summarized, possesses one or two dominant traits, and is only memorable through speech or appearance. Based on this definition, it is evident that Queenie is considered as a flat character. Moreover, as soon as Queenie steps foot into the A and P store with her “ white prima donna legs”, her sexually provocative aura captures the attention of the “sheep” or “house slaves” and in particular, the extremely observant employee, Sammy. Queenie’s alluring beauty as well as her audacious attire caught Sammy’s eye, and he can’t find the self-restraint to avert his gaze from the undaunted youth. Queenie’s manner of speaking, her posture, and just about every action she has performed that were witnessed by Sammy seemed to provide him with details or an insight of the world she lives in. Furthermore, it is imperative that the...
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...In the short story “A&P” by John Updike, the protagonist, Sammy, is a young 19 year-old boy, who works at the local A&P supermarket. Sammy lives in a small town populated with conservative individuals who do not appreciate when rules are broken. Along with Sammy working as a checker at the A&P, he is continuously observing and making mental comments and assertions with regards to the on-goings of the store. In many ways, Sammy is a typical immature teenage boy; however, through the course of the story, it is evident that he is in the process of learning to make moral and mature choices. When three girls walk into A&P wearing “nothing but bathing suits” (155) the reader is able to determine that Sammy is a typical teenage boy who thinks in an immature manner. He begins to describe one of the girls as “…a chunky kid, with a good...
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...they change just to show off, or achieve something? In John Updike’s short story “A&P”, readers see how much the main character, Sammy, changes to impress a girl he’s never even talked to. From when this girl walks into the store where Sammy works, wearing only a bikini with her two friends, Sammy goes from being an average guy, thinking sexist thoughts, and quietly watching them, to being actively involved and being willing to help them. This change in opinion and character leads to Sammy making some questionable decisions. “A&P” starts with three girls walking into the A&P supermarket, where Sammy works, wearing nothing but bikinis while being miles from the beach. As readers watch the story unfold from Sammy’s perspective, Sammy’s character begins to reveal. Sammy thinks the girls are odd for wearing only bikinis, since it isn’t something he sees every day. He watches them and has a few demeaning thoughts about them, based off what they were wearing and the fact they were girls, “You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think there’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)” (Sammy.16). As Sammy continues to watch them go through the store looking for what they needed to buy, he...
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...Reader-Response to John Updike’s “A&P” “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” he tells me. 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 (323). This statement made by Sammy after quitting his job, was made towards the end of John Updike’s story “A&P”. Sammy had quit his job, a job that his parents helped him to get. Sammy opened up a whole new world; a world that I don’t think Sammy was ready for. He made a quick and irrational decision, rather if it affected his life or not we would never know. One could make the assumption that yes he was affected, because he possibly brought shame to his parents. With it being a small town word gets around fast a there is a chance that Sammy wouldn’t be able to find a job any other place because of how he had quit he job prior. Sammy labeled the people whom were in the store as “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (321), as in how people were expected to act in society, being constrained, unable to be yourself. Sammy was different; he was an adolescent male who was just trying to find his way through life. A life where he wasn’t familiar with, he was socially inept and lacked a good education as you can tell from the language he used. Life was just about to change for Sammy. John Updike’s story teaches us that we don’t always have to have good reasons for the choices we make. Some of the choices we make are strictly based on our feelings and beliefs...
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...Critical Essay Jason Williams May 15, 2010 Eng 2510: Contemporary Literature Conflict and Change in John Updike’s “A&P” All of the events in John Updike’s short story “A&P” take place in a small town grocery store north of Boston, where Sammy, the main character, works as cashier. Sammy is nineteen, a late adolescent boy on the verge of adulthood. His fellow cashier, Stokesie, is twenty-two, married, with two young children. The store is managed by a much older man named Lengel, a friend of Sammy’s parents. The other characters include a customer at Sammy’s checkout slot and three teenage girls in bathing suits. It is an altercation in the aisles of the store between Lengel, the manager, and the three girls that forces Sammy to face his inner conflict and make a life changing decision. Updike implies rather than spells out Sammy’s conflict. Sammy is nineteen, almost a man, but as yet without a man’s responsibilities. If Sammy stays in town, we can easily imagine he will soon be in the same situation as Stokesie, who has wife and two children to take care of. Sammy and Stokesie have good jobs, probably among the best the small town has to offer. If Stokesie were to quit his job, he would be abdicating his responsibilities and letting his family down. In the view of the town, such an action would probably be considered madness. For him, the chance to make a radical change in his life’s course has probably passed. Sammy, on the other hand, has a window...
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...John Updike in “A&P” introduces us to Sammy, an opinionated nineteen-year-old grocery store cashier, whose life is about to change. As three girls walk in only wearing bathing suits, everyone seemed to stop in their tracks to watch them. The store manager not accepting their attire admonishes them, and in their defense Sammy quits. Sammy’s decision to quit may seem irrational and impulsive, but it is representing Sammy’s break from conformity. The story shows that there is a time in a person’s life when their path in life must be chosen. Throughout the story the general conflict is whether Sammy should conform to the status quo or go his own way. As Sammy starts describing the store and the customers as “sheep” and “house slaves,” we are able...
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...What is you topic and your tentative thesis? My main topic or main focus is psychoanalysis which involves the readers to question the actions of either the author or the characters in the story. In this case I decided to explore the actions of the characters in the story and their motivations. I have to question the characters actions and evaluate what might had been going through their minds that lead them to their final decision. I have research Freud and Erickson to back up my arguements. My thesis statement still needs work but here it is: One can argue with the help of psychoanalysis the reader can find an explanation for the characters motivations, actions, and emotions presented in these stories "A&P" by John Updike and "The Rocking...
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...The narrator and main character of A&P, by John Updike, is Sammy. He is 19 years old and works as a cashier in an A&P grocery store. The story Sammy discusses is quite uncommon and takes place on a summer afternoon in Massachusetts. Sammy is a very observing character and seems to enjoy unordinary things. Sammy is an typical cashier working at a typical store in the beginning of the story. He begins to change when the three girls in bathing suits walk into A&P. The others in the store are not pleased with the three girls’ attires. Sammy, however, is amused and enjoyed watching the others react to the girls’ attire. Trying to make a statement, Sammy quits his job. He sees most people in his area as “sheep” and “scared little pigs in a chute”...
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