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Character development introduction
Character development essay examples
Character development introduction
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Sammy, the protagonist in John Updike’s “A&P,” is a dynamic character because he reveals himself as an immature, teenage boy at the beginning of the story and changes into a mature man at the end. The way Sammy describes his place of work, the customers in the store, and his ultimate choice in the end, prove his change from an immature boy to a chivalrous man. In the beginning, he is unhappy in his place of work, rude in his description of the customers and objectification of the three girls, all of which prove his immaturity. His heroic lifestyle change in the end shows how his change of heart and attitude transform him into mature young man. The negative way that Sammy describes his place of work and some of the people that he works with …show more content…
He criticizes his family and their background when he says, “when my parents have somebody over they get lemonade and if it’s a real racy affair, Schlitz in tall glasses with ‘They’ll do it every time’ cartoons stenciled on.” Sammy desires to move from a blue collar to a white collar family to differentiate him from his family. He shows his growing maturity when he says, “the girls who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengal quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” He wants to be noticed by the girls for his selfless act of quitting his job for them. His plan does not work though, and the girls leave him to face Lengal alone. Lengal confronts Sammy and says, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad.” Sammy ponders Lengal’s comment and thinks to himself, “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.” Sammy has begun to reach maturity and now wants to make his own decisions concerning his future and how he spends
Sammy observes their movements and gestures, up until the time of checkout. At which point, they are confronted by the store manager and chastised for their unacceptable appearance. He believes their attire is indecent. Sammy, feeling that the managerial display was unnecessary and unduly embarrassing for the girls, decides to quit his position as checker. Though he knows that his decision may be hasty, he knows that he has to follow through and he can never go back.
A&P written in 1961 by John Updike is a coming of age story based on a teenage boy named Sammy who’s the narrator of the story, and three girls who walked into the store wearing bathing suits. Sammy makes an immature choice, in which he believes is a grown up thing to do, unfortunately for Sammy is violent act is unnoticed by the girls, and he is left to confront the actions of whimsical activities. Updike’s “A&P” illustrates Sammy’s lack of maturity through his actions and attitude.
In "A&P" Sammy changes from an immature teenager to a person who takes a stand for what he believes is wrong which is reflected in Sammy's words and actions. This paper is composed of three paragraphs. The first paragraph deals with the immature Sammy, the second concentrates on Sammy's beginning his maturing process, and the last focuses on his decision to take a stand no matter what the consequences are.
The main protagonist, Sammy, created by Updike, is portrayed as a casually polite yet poetic and witty nineteen year old who however lacks a certain degree of maturity and respect as he is
In “A&P,” Sammy is the typical teenager who believes to be distinct from the rest of his co-workers. Sammy works at the cash register noticing everything and everyone around him. For example, he enjoys every detail of the three girls’ physical appearance, “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” (1). His sense of superiority is destroyed when he sees that in the eye of the rich, Queenie, he is just another working- class man. He finds Queenie to be the most attractive out of the three girls, his interest physical and mental interest grows as she gets closer to him, “she lofts as folded dollar bill out of the hollow at the center
Saldivar approaches Updike’s “A & P” as an ambiguous story that requires quite a bit of interpretation from the reader. Saldivar argues that only a reader with “considerable literary and cultural knowledge” (Saldivar 1) would be able to truly appreciate the contradiction and significance of the story. The analysis Saldivar gives of Sammy’s character focuses specifically on his motivation and breaks his reasoning into three parts. The first and strongest incentive for Sammy to act is the beauty of the girls who enter the store. Regardless of his morals and principles, the fact remains that Sammy is still a nineteen-year-old boy, and the basis for his reaction lies in his physical attraction to the girls. The second motive for Sammy’s actions is his ability to “respond sympathetically and
Sammy in “A&P” really turned me off as I was reading the short story. I really hated his negative attitude towards woman. He starts off by comparing a woman to a witch and thinking “if she'd been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem”. He also continues his disdain for females by commenting wondering if there is anything in a girl’s mind or “just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?”. I don’t know if Sammy was raised this way or because he is just a boy with ego issues that feels the need to look down upon woman. This sexist attitude is shown once again, when he feels the girls “owe him” after he heroically quits his job for them. This is a sense of entitlement that he thinks he deserves compensation from the girls
In the short story “A&P” by John Updike, the author portrays Sammy as a store cashier who faces challenges of growing up and standing up for what he thinks is right. When three scantily clad girls enter the A&P, the vernal clerk gives an account of their interactions within the store. By the end of the story, Sammy makes a decision that forces him to feel “how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (Updike 22).
Sammy does not enjoy a bit about his job right at the beginning. Like many people at the time, he stays because he is afraid of changing. Making a big move requires courage, which at the beginning he does not seem to have. To get rid of the boredom or perhaps to suppress his impotence, he makes fun of other people. He calls some of the customers “witch” and most of the regular customers “sheep” and “house slaves.” He even makes excessive statements about girls. He explains his incapability-of-understanding-girls is either because girls have no mind or their minds are “just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar.”
Sammy shouted, “…I quit to Lengal quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (466). Sammy found the courage to tell Lengal he quit. Sammy thought that by quitting his job for the girls would impress at least one of them, but his plan failed. Sammy immediately knew he had made a terrible mistake. Updike states, “His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he’s just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (467). Sammy automatically knew that it was going to be hard to find another job and able to find such a boss as Lengal, for his parents were able to get him the job at
Do you think a person can develop so much within a short period of time, that they have different values and views on the world? In this short story A&P, John Updike writes a compelling story about Sammy who works at the checkout line at a grocery store named A&P. The story follows the sequence of exposition to complication, conflict, climax and resolution. In addition, Sammy had to develop from a young man with conventional, middle-class views and values to a wiser and more sympathetic individual.
But after Sammy sees the way that Lengel treats the girls, he performs, what Updike described in an interview as, “an act of feminist protest” (PBS 153). By quitting his job Sammy is showing that he understands that woman should have the right to dress the way they want and should still be treated with respect. Sammy’s “gesture is a show of his affirmation towards the woman, and, more importantly, all women” (Porter 1157). Had Sammy done nothing and just let his boss walk all over the girls, then the girls stance would have been shortly forgotten. But because of his actions Lengel says the event will be felt, “for the rest of your life” (Updike 444). The three girls also perform a similar feminist protest by wearing their scandalous two piece bathing suits into a public store. Them standing up for their rights is what causes Sammy to change his mind about women.Their demonstration was the turning point in Sammy’s life that caused him to rebel against the establishment and stand up for something greater then himself. Had the three girls not shown up to the A&P that day, perhaps Sammy would have kept his outdated stance on what a woman could be or
In John Updike’s fictional story A & P, the main character and protagonist of the story, 19 year old Sammy, is in a state of boredom during his developmental growth during his time at his dead-end job, The A & P, Such state of mind can be seen in three different main points within the story: judging the customers of the A & P through internal dialogue, Sammy’s observations of the young female customers, and Sammy ultimately leaving his job.
Many young adults now would not know how different conformity was back in the day or how strong of a desire people have for independence that they start to rebel. Maybe they did because that is how coming-of-age is all about from the past and in the present. In John Updikes “A & P”, we meet a young boy name Sammy who grows a desire of change from the conformity of his town and a need for independence upon seeing a sexually attractive and independent young girl he nicknamed “Queenie”. The themes represented in the story centers around conformity and desires of independence driven by sexual attraction which creates an act of rebellion for Sammy when he quits his job at a small town supermarket.
John Updike’s “A&P” is a short story, taking place in 1961. Throughout the story, Sammy, the protagonist, is a nine-teen year old boy working as a store clerk at a grocery store named A&P. Sammy constantly throughout analyzes how the adults and the young people go among their daily lives. His viewpoint magnifies the diversity between the two generations. His perspective on the situation and negative attitude towards how the manager handled the three young ladies clearly shows his immaturity and ignorance. This negative perspective gives the impression that growing up is a very undesirable aspect of life in Sammy’s eyes.