A & P By John Updike Essay

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The short story "A&P", by John Updike, is narrated by the main character who is a nineteen year old boy named Sammy. Cashiering at work on a typical summer day, Sammy finds himself mooning over some attractive girls, whose immodest attire distract him from his job. When caught in an embarrassing circumstance, Sammy’s arrogance, immaturity, and disloyalty surge causing him to make a costly decision that will bear heavy consequences. Throughout the story Sammy’s judgmental arrogance is revealed through his observation and negative analysis of customers that are in the store. He notices everything around him, especially drinking in every detail of some girls’ physical appearance. Judgmentally, he labels two of the girls as chubby. Going beyond the exterior, Sammy makes observations about the mindset of other people who frequenting shop at the A&P. He believes that his town is filled with mechanical individuals whom he calls, “sheep” (29) or followers. He seems to conclude that people generally follow the same patterns in life never veering from the norm, which possibly annoys him. Sammy is young and has grown tired of his ordinary surroundings. …show more content…

Being totally distracted by three immodestly dressed girls, he accidentally double-charges an item to his current customer’s bill. Instead of responsibly admitting his error, he subconsciously insults his middle aged patron calling her “a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows” (p. #) Ultimately, Sammy’s immaturity is seen when he recklessly announces, “I quit,” (228) without any serious forethought of consequence. More immaturity is portrayed during the final dialogue with Lengel, his employer, as Sammy juvenilely responds with “Fiddle-de-doo” (228) in the middle of a serious

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