Elimir Salcedo
English 102
October 9, 2011

Sammy: From the story A & P by John Updike, is a cashier at the A & P super market. The story starts off with 3 girls who walk in the super market with nothing but bathing suits, and no shoes on there feet. The three young girls catch Sammy’s eyes because of the fact that they are only wearing bathing suits. Sammy seems to observe the girls very closely, he describes exactly how they look including which order they were in “and then the third one, that wasn't quite so tall. She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round.” Sammy referred to the lead girl as “the Queen”, which was also the one who caught his attention the most. Sammy described her as ”striking” but the kind of girl “who never made it”.
The girls in just their bathing suits caught all the employees attention, especially the manager who later questions them. The girls finally come up to Sammy's register with Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream, as they stood at the register the A & P manager who was also a Sunday school teacher started to interrogate them saying “girls, this isn't a beach”, which was actually very ironic considering the fact that the beach was not too far away. The girls, especially “Queenie” showed immediate embarrassment as her face turned red. She responded by saying that she just had to come in very quickly to buy a jar of herrings for her mom, but the manager was not having it. He repeated once again “this is not a beach” and stated that it was policy in the super market. Sammy was so intrigued by “Queenie” that he must have felt how embarrassed Lengel, the manager made these girls feel and a thought triggered in his head leading him to quit in front of everyone.

Sammy's motives when he did this was to get him noticed by the girls as he says "I quit to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” But they rushed out of the A & P from how humiliated Lengel made them feel. In this case, Sammy made it seem as if all he wanted to do was get the girls attention most of all “Queenie's” Although Sammy didn't agree with the fact that Lengel confronted those girls the way he did, it was not a heroic act. From some readers' point of view it might seem that way seeing that he stood up for what the girls would have thought was right in their defense, but Sammy only did this what some would call “heroic” act to show off for the most part. His act was more of a fool's act.
If the girls were 3 boys in bathing suit shorts, or even the girls without “Queenie” in the group his reaction would not be the same. In the story he says himself that he did this in hopes that the girls would notice and somehow look up to him, and consider him their hero. Lengel the manager, is friends with Sammy's parents and was the one who personally got him the job. “I don't think you know what you're saying” Lengel said, in other words saying he has a second chance to take back what he said about quitting and think twice, but Sammy refused. It is very contradicting to say that Sammy was also in a way being a hero, but it makes sense to title him as an 'arrogant hero'.
Sammy's decision to quit was very stupid, and even Lengel says “I don't think you know what your saying” Sammy tries to catch up to the girls but all that is left is him in an empty parking lot and the shame of quitting his job and wondering about his parents. After his action of braveness he realized what he had done wrong, “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” he thought to himself. Sammy's action was a sign of wanting to be noticed by “Queenie” and probably hoping to get the chance to be thanked, remembered, or even the chance to speak to her again. The reason why this act was as arrogant as it was heroic is because he only did it for the attention of a pretty girl, rather than for the reason that Lengel did indeed humiliate the girls in a uncalled for way.

At the end of the day instead of Sammy's action getting him the girls, it left him jobless and regretful. Sammy's decision was a mistake because it caused him more than he had thought, and even though it was a heroic act it isn't known whether these girls he's never even met before would have done the same for him, for his attention. If Sammy was actually sincere about standing up for them for the right reasons he would have personally spoken to Leger about why it was not right instead of acting out the way he did. In conclusion, Sammy should have not gone out of his way for these girls who he did not have any relation too because it made him a fool.