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Analysis of "A&P" by John Updike
Analysis of "A&P" by John Updike
Critiques on a & p by John Updike
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Recommended: Analysis of "A&P" by John Updike
There is two main types of people in the story "A&P by John Updike". The types are conformity vs rebellion. Sammy in the story is a rebel.
Sammy is a rebel because he quits just because he wanted to stand up for the girl. He said,"I quit". The girls in the story are rebels also, they go around the store in their bikinis not having a care in the world what people think.
Lengel is a conformative type of person he makes up a rule just to make the girls leave the store. He says,"that's policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want." The old woman is a conformative person for wanting Sammy to need the register up.
The two different types of people is what makes up the story. The people judge the girls for wearing bikinis
In chapter one we are introduced to our narrator, Ponyboy. Ponyboy is raised by his two older brothers Darry and Soda. They’re all apart of a gang called the “greasers” which is joined by Dally, Johnny, Two-bit, and Steve. There is another group called “ socs” which stands for socials, and everyone in that group is very wealthy. One day Ponyboy got jumped by a socs group, but luckily Darry was there to help before anything too serious happened. The first element of literature is characterization. Ponyboy is a keen observer, trying to make sense of the complexities of those around him. At the beginning of the story, he stops and spends several pages giving us brief character description on Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny. This is also known as direct characterization. He tells us that Steve is "cocky and smart" ( Hinton 9). Two-Bit can 't stop joking around and goes to school for "kicks" (Hinton 10) rather than to learn. Dallas, he says, is "tougher, colder, meaner" ( Hinton 10) than the rest of them.
"Girls, this isn’t the beach," is the first thing Lengel says to the girls when he sees them (Updike 1028). Queenie explains that her mother sent her to pick up some herring snacks, implying that since her mother sent her it is perfectly fine for her to be in the store with only a bathing suit on. While Lengel and Queenie are arguing, Sammy visualizes himself at Queenie’s house during a party. In his imagination he sees, "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 all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them" (Updike 1028).
Adults always stress that it is important to make a good first impression. That is what Sammy was trying to accomplish in John Updike’s "A & P." Although some people believe that Sammy is a hero for standing up for his beliefs when he quit, there is conclusive evidence that he quit in an attempt to impress a girl he was obviously attracted to, Queenie.
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
Sammy's immaturity and lack of experience were largely to blame for his wrestling with conflicting roles in his transition from child to adult. Updike's protagonist was at the same time an imaginative, observant young man who stood by his convictions, defending the girls to the end. Sammy was perhaps more intelligent and more gutsy than one would like to give him credit for, however. He knew what he did not want out of life. On that Thursday afternoon in the A & P, his name game caught up with him. Quitting his job was to be a turning point for him, a time for him to confront his own issues of sexuality, social class, stereotyping, responsibility, and, on a deeper leve, authority.
The Sammy opens the first paragraph after the break in the story by saying, “Now here comes the sad part of the story, at least my family says it’s sad, but I don’t think it’s so sad myself.” (Updike, 150). He then goes on to say things such as, “Then everybody’s luck begins to run out” (Updike, 151). These quotes from the text lead up to the confrontation between Mr. Lengel and the girls. They stress the idea that there is tension leading up to that point and suggest to the reader that the relaxation and friendliness in the store from the beginning have now shifted into tension and hostility. This shows the reader that Sammy is still human, and that his emotions can be affected by things around him.
...s that Sammy is taking a stand and that Lengel cannot change his mind about quitting. When Sammy left the store, the girls where long gone. "His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he's just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter." This quote illustrates that Sammy knows that his parents will not like the fact that he quit, but he realizes that he has to take charge with his life, and make his own chooses without being afraid of what his parents would think. He is very happy that he had taken a stand, and he let no one change it.
Sammy is quickly inattentive to his duties and watches customers who come in his store. While working, Sammy gives his attention to girls that walk into the store, scatter brain he’s forgotten if he had ring up his customers’ items and decide to ring up her items twice. The customer is quickly irritable by his blooper. Recognizing his customer frustrations, he is unapologetic and refers to her as a “witch” while later stating “if she had been born…” around the Salem era “…they would have burned her…” (18). Sammy continues later on that day referring to the customers in the line as a herd of animals. Sammy states, “All this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know, sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunched up on Stokesie…” (20). Further as Sammy leaves the store he then states, “Looking back in the big windows…, I could see Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through” (21). He also insults another customer that purchasing four cans of pineapple juice by referring him as a bum stating, “What do these bums do with all that pineapple juice? I’ve often ask myself” (20). Sammy’s attitude for his customer is somewhat
Although, Sarty and Sammy have a lot in common they also have a lot of differences, such as, the time period that the stories take place in. Another very noticeable similarity is that both men are very dissatisfied with what their authority figures are doing so they must break free to become the kind of person that they want to
In John Updike's short story, "A & P," the main character, Sammy, is a cashier at a small grocery store. He is seen by many to be a sexist pig, describing in detail how he sees the three girls that walk in to the store. Sammy is in fact a sexist pig by what he says about them. With evidence and quotes from the story, Sammy can be determined to be a sexist pig. He describes the first girl he sees walking in the store as "a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it..." (421). Although the comment was kept to himself, in mind it is a sexist comment. Though the girl was in a bathing suit and there was no beach around, she probably wasn't trying to get the attention of young guys. She was just there to "pick up a jar of herring snacks" (423). Describing the girl's "can" (421), meaning her backside, gives Sammy some credit of being a sexist pig. Sammy slowly begins to see the other two girls follow the first. He notices not only what they're wearing, but what the little clothing that they have on covers up. "This clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light" (421). With this quote, he is describing how the bathing suit was slipping off the girl, but in a more demeaning manner. "With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and top of her head except just her..." (421). Sammy describes that he just sees the girl, a one-nighter type. He doesn't see that she's a human, but just a plaything. One other quote/thought that Sammy has while these girls (whom remain nameless throughout the story), is when the one he calls Queeny takes her money from "the hollow at the center of her nubbled pink top" (423). He begins to get excited as he uncreases the bill as "it just having come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla [he] had ever known there were" (424). Sammy seems to be more of a sexist pig, as the reader proceeds through the story.
John Updike uses a balance between round characters, Sammy and Queenie, with flat characters, Lengel and Stokesie, it's the pull between what we can connect to: Sammy and his need to grow and expand, Queenie with her independence, leadership and confidence and Lengel and Stokesie's routine and adaptation to what is, creating a realistic balance to the world Updike has created. It's through character description that we are also given a better sense of what Sammy is feeling, as he refers to the people in his town and the store as 'sheep'. Everything is portrayed as routine, the people are categorized as together, like herds of sheep. John Updike makes it clear that Sammy's character isn't associating himself for those within the store or the town but also that he is unaware of how to be anything more. It's the three girl's characters, especially that of Queenie, that fully develop Sammy's wants and needs, showing him that more exist that what he has ever known. Quitting his job at the A&P, doubting it, wanting to take it back: "But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it" (23)., begin afraid of what is to come, is the break in the cycle and the true development that he can be more than what is. As readers, we hold us breathe in the concluding moments, unease and yet relieved that Sammy is more than just a
Sammy is the cashier at the store, he has been for quite some time now, long enough where he has a memorized “the punches, 4, 9, GROC, TOT” ( 602 ) and has created a song for himself “"Hello (bing) there, you (gung) hap-py pee-pul (splat)"” ( 602 ). Showing his contempt for conformity and consumerism to the everyday life of the store Sammy joins the shoppers or as he calls them the “sheep” ( 600 ) of the store who can never be out of the spell of their daily routines. The location and the layout of the store is also tediously described by Sammy when he is describing the surroundings to the readers where he is located “between the checkouts and the Special bins” ( 599 ). He also does this when he describes the girls going up and down the isles of items “the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft-drinks-crackers-and-cookies aisle” ( 600 ). With all of these tedious descriptions of details of Sammy’s surrounding we slowly start to see him getting more and more frustrated and appalled at the conformity of the society that he lives in, and the difficulty of breaking the social formalities that he must deal with on a daily basis.
A society consists of a community of people living together and sharing customs and traditions. Once immersed in this society, one can begin to see certain standards woven into the social fabric of the community. These standards, ranging from not walking into public areas scantily clad to not embarrassing people in front of others, are usually unspoken and sometimes cause strife. Young adults often find these standards to be extremely restricting and favor freedom of action over the collective control. Commonly known as individualism, this social theory is very alive in the hearts and actions of young adults and never quite leaves a human as he or she grows older and “matures.” In middle class, Protestant America individualism is subverted in favor of traditional societal standards and customs. Protestant America happens to be the setting of three stories written by author John Updike. An examination of these short stories reveals that John Updike incorporates the struggles young adults experience as they attempt to hold on to their individualism and to protest as well as to question the fact that society's standards are out of focus.
Updike describes this time during the “early Kennedy years” a time where it was acceptable to conform and compares Sammy’s character to celebrities such as James Dean and Elvis who were the symbols of rebellion against conformity. Sammy quitting his job was practically him saying “I’m not going to be one of you sheep” according to Updike in an interview. Sammy knows of the consequences of quitting as he calls it “the sad part of the story” (Updike 150) but he does not show any regret to his decision when he says “it’s not so sad [himself]” (Updike 150). His manager, Mr. Lengel, pursues him to rethink his decision by bringing up his parents and stating that “[he’ll] feel this for the rest of [his] life” (Updike 152) in which Sammy agrees with him in his mind. But even though Mr. Lengel is his higher authority, Sammy does not seem to respect him as of his boss. He calls Mr. Lengel “dreary” and describes him to be part of such conformity in the town since he “teaches Sunday school and the rest” (Updike 151) and seems to insult his physical appearance from years of working at the supermarket by saying he looked “old and gray” (Updike 152). Sammy thinks decisively and continues on with his decision, knowing the consequences of disappointing his parents and not knowing what will happen next. But he walks out and sees the “sheep” from the outside, realizing the decision he made and how “hard the world was going to be to [him] hereafter” (Updike
The three girls were very disrespectful or impertinent towards the manager, Lengel(Updike). First, “ they walked into a public store half dressed.” Second, they got smart with manager of the store.”We want you decently dressed when you come in here,” said Mr. Lengel. “We Are Decent,” they responded back very rudely. This describes how young minded the girl's are because of how unwell mannered they were. Not only