Sammy's Attitude Toward The A & P

211 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sammy character analysis in a&p

What is Sammy’s attitude toward his job? Toward Lengel, the store manager? Toward the customers of the A&P? What words and phrases in the story lead you to your conclusions? Sammy is comfortable behind his wised-up, sarcastic attitude. Sammy is like an example of “blue-collar” class, he is unsure about neither his job nor his future, he doesn’t take his job seriously, he makes his sudden decision to quit for reasons that he does not articulate.(paragraph 25-the end/434-435). For Sammy, Lengel is flunky, who haggles over cabbages and hides behind his office door all day. (paragraph 13/433). Throughout the story, Sammy exhibits prowess in both observing others and gleaning insights from those observations, but the girls suggest to him the

Show More
Related

  • Motif of Play in John Updike's A&P

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...gives him some insight into his future. As he is walking away from the A & P he sees "Lengel in [his] place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he'd 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" (p.37). Sammy begins his transition from adolescence into adulthood here. He realizes that if he stays at the A & P he may end up like Lengel or the other sheep. He wants more out of life and his fantasy about being Queenie's "unsuspected hero" (p.36) allows him to escape. Sammy comes to the conclusion that life is not going to be easy and he is going to make decisions for himself that the people around him will not necessarily support.

    Read More

  • Conformity In John Updike's A & P

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Sammy in A&P by John Updike

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the things that caught my attention the most was Updike’s use of imagery in describing Sammy’s working environment. “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle-”(34), I thou...

    Read More

  • A&P by John Updike

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the beginning of the story, it is clear that Sammy in no way likes his job, nor is he fond of the customers and people he is surrounded by each day. To Sammy, they are nothing more than "sheep" going through the motions of life. "I bet you could set off dynamite in an A&P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering ‘Let me see, there was a third thing, began with A, asparagus, no, ah, yes, applesauce!' or whatever it was they do mutter." (Updike, 693). He view them negatively; to him they are boring and useless, living mundane and unimportant lives and it's obvious through Sammy's portrayal of them that he doesn't want to ever become one of them, nor does he want to be around them any longer.

    Read More

  • Finding Identity in John Updike´s A&P

    1366 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sammy’s decision in the end to break away from the conformity that is in the A&P to establish himself is a raw truthful decision. He has chosen to follow his heart which Updike shows is what every person should do. This story is great for readers of all ages, because Sammy could be any person in modern contemporary society who is struggling to find themselves in a world dominated by conformity, rules, and standards of norms. Updike’s story is a powerful message to seek individualism. Although sometimes the road to self-identity is not known the journey getting there is worth all the while.

    Read More

  • Rebellious to Responsible in John Updike's A&P

    2044 Words  | 5 Pages

    The story begins through Sammy, the narrator, working at the local A&P supermarket. He not...

    Read More

  • An Opinion On A & P By John Updike

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sammy starts the story seeming as an ordinary grocery cashier in a small store, but it seems as if he has a little something to say about every person he sees or talks to, although he does not say anything out loud to the customers (or his boss for that matter). When three girls walk in the store wearing

    Read More

  • John Updike Irony

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    The clients of Sammy’s workplace are described as having “Six children”(Updike 645) with “Veracious vein mapping their legs”(Updike 645) and ”haven 't seen the ocean in twenty years”(Updike 645). Through the details Sammy provides about the clients explains that Sammy is starved from the sight of a girl his age, and upon the first sight of a girl nearing his age, he is instantly attracted to her. The three girls in the store are Sammy’s rescue from the small tiresome town. The final point that proves Sammy’s heroic action are because of his lust for the girls is the theme of the whole short

    Read More

  • A & P, by John Updike

    1758 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Sammy wishes to quit, but he resists doing so because his parents would regard his decision as 'the sad part of the story'” (Thompson 215). Sammy points out that he thinks of quitting his job many times during the story, subtle as they are, he begins with the observation of quitting during the summer rather the winter and the part where he has mentioned “the sad part of the story” (Up...

    Read More

  • Sammy Quit His Job At A & P Summary

    423 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sammy quits his job at A&P after he thinks that Lengel treats the girls unfairly (209-210). Sammy is a 19 year old boy so why is his life suddenly going to be difficult? This job at A&P seems to be at the very least a summer job (210) but why does he think the world will be any different? I came up with a few theories, since this story was written in 1966 Sammy could be a black man. This would explain why the world would be so difficult when Sammy quits his job. This theory would also explain how Sammy got the job in the first place. Lengel said he had ties with Sammy’s parents; Lengel could have gotten Sammy the job as a favor to his parents because Sammy might not have been able to get a job elsewhere. However, after doing a bit of research I learned that the Lengel name is most prevalent in

    Read More

  • Social Class in A & P by John Updike

    372 Words  | 1 Pages

    The story unfolds when, “Lengel, the store’s manager” (2191) confronts the girls because they are dressed inappropriately. To Sammy, it is a moment of embarrassment and in defiance he quits his job. The student suggests that in quitting, “Sammy challenges social inequality and is a person who is trying to

    Read More

  • John Updike A & P Analysis

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    The possible reasons for Sammy quitting his job are numerous: Sammy might have just used the treatment of the girls as an excuse, or maybe Lengel did actually upset him that much. It is possible that Sammy did initially quit to impress the girls and be their hero. Susan Uphaus says, "Sammy’s quitting has been described as the reflex of the still uncommitted, of the youth still capable of the grand gesture because he has

    Read More

  • Sammy in A & P, by John Updike

    1902 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...p and you are not happy with where you are in life, and truly want a change. With Sammy he always wanted to quit but never had the guts to stand-up and go through with it, mostly cause he did not have that free thinking mentality like the girls. Even though when he finally did walk out of the store and the girls were not there, he had no idea what was next in life, but he did know that he was free to make his own decisions. Sammy no longer had to take Mr. Lengel’s nonsense, or stick around and watch Stocksie become manger. This was his time to stop being a push over and pave the path to his own future. His parents may have been upset, but this gave him an opportunity to stand up for his own actions and be confident in his choices he had made, regardless if they were for the right or for the wrong. Sammy was able to press forward and start a new chapter in his life.

    Read More

  • Sammy and the Setting in John Updike's "A&P"

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now that Sammy has chosen to become a juvenile delinquent, he realizes "how hard the world was going to be" for him in the future. He has left a life of safety and direction for one of the complete opposite, and he must be willing to accept the responsibilities of his actions, no matter the consequences.

    Read More

  • A&P

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...hose this story for the shear fact that I saw a lot of the same emotions and happenings in my life, but also a lot of unfortunate mistakes on the characters part which made me scratch my head and wonder. "How can you be so stupid and in denial of how one event leads to another, and to see how careless your actions are?" The story closes with Sammy coming to the realization of how his life will change, "My stomach fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me here-after." To one reading the story that was Sammy coming to terms with his rash actions awhile fully understanding the consequences.

    Read More

More about Sammy's Attitude Toward The A & P

Open Document