A&P by John Updike is a short story about three girls and the voyeur cashier Sammy at A&P market. The story is told from Sammy's perspective as he watches the girls enter the store and peruses the aisles. Sammy speculates about what the girls are thinking about, what their personalities might be like, and even why they are shopping in bathing suits. A&P gives us a view into the societal norms of that time. A&P is narrated by Sammy, a nineteen-year-old cashier at the third checkout. It is his voice that is heard throughout the story. His language is very descriptive, but laidback. He uses what is considered casual language using terms such as "kind of", "You know", and "Really" in his sentences. Sammy, as a nineteen-year-old is easily distracted …show more content…
In A&P the three girls enter A&P wearing nothing but bathing suits, this is in stark contrast to the clothing the other customers are wearing. "The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two piece." and "She had on a kind of dirty pink…beige maybe, I don't know-bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down." Illustrates the provocative nature of the girls dress especially considering they are in a grocery store in the middle of a town, miles from the nearest beach. Sammy makes reference to how "women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street. And anyway these are usually women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs", which is a much more conservative and drab lifestyle. The three girls are intentionally trying to catch the eye of people around them, and in true 1960's youth style is going against the expected norms of society. This is very appealing to Sammy who is stuck wearing a uniform of a bowtie and apron with a "white shirt that my mother ironed the night before". Sammy looks at the girls as a way to break away from the conformity that has taken over his life. The bathing suits become a symbol in the story of the girl's disregard for the social mores of …show more content…
Sammy as a cashier would be considered a blue-collar worker with a lower socio-economic status than the girl vacationing in the town in Massachusetts. Updike indicated Sammy's lower-class status and his thoughts of Queenie as upper class through a variety of statements throughout the story. First, he mentions "She was the queen", and then how she "walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima donna legs". These are just some of his initial impressions of Queenie and the difference he sees between himself and her. The most obvious differences comes when Sammy is talking about the party she must have been buying the Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream for. "All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room. 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 plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them." in stark contrast to what he envisioned a party with his parents "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 is dreaming of being that backstreet guy, much like Billy Joel looking for his own uptown girl to take him away to new and exciting
Sammy tells us he is nineteen years old. He is a check-out clerk in the local A&P, where the boss, Lengel, is a friend of Sammy's parents. Sammy does not seem to like his job very much. He calls one of his customers a "witch" and says the other customers are "houseslaves" and "sheep." He himself comes from a middle-class family. When they have a party, he says, they serve "lemonade and if it's a real racy affair Schlitz in tall glasses with 'They'll Do It Every Time' cartoons stencilled on" (15). In addition, Sammy is sexist. He gives long, loving descriptions of the girls who cause all the trouble, and he thinks at first that girls may not even have minds, asking, "do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?" (13) However, he does change as the plot goes on.
Sammy's feelings for Queenie changes when he hears her voice. Her voice is normal and he has built this romantic image of her in his mind. Hearing her voice and realizing she is a normal person, (that happens to be wealthy) slightly changes his feelings for her. It brings him back to reality a little. “Her voice kind of startled me, the way voices do when you see the people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony, too, the way it ticked over "pick up" and "snacks." All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room.” Sammy feels as if he has no chance to get noticed by her unless he does something out of the ordinary. So after she is done arguing with Lengel, Sammy decides to stand up for her and quit his job in hopes that she will notice him.
Sammy was obviously near the bottom of the class ladder, a place where he was extremely unhappy. His dead-end job at the grocery store, where lower class citizens are the prime patrons, was not a place he felt he belonged. He wanted to be a member of the family where the "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). Sammy realizes that Queenie comes from this sort of background, a very different one from his. When Queenie is being harassed by Lengel, Sammy sees that "she remembers her place, a place from which the crowd that runs the A & P must look pretty crummy" (Updike 1028). Queenie’s family was in the class that he envied, that he admired, that he wanted to become a part of.
This story represents a coming-of-age for Sammy. Though it takes place over the period of a few minutes, it represents a much larger process of maturation. From the time the girls enter the grocery store, to the moment they leave, you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he sees only the physicality of the girls: how they look and what they are wearing, seem to be his only observations. As the story progresses, he notices the interactions between the girls, and he even determines the hierarchy of the small dynamic. He observes their actions and how they affect the other patrons of the business. Rather, how the other people view the girl's actions. His thought process is maturing and he starts to see things as an adult might see them.
John Updike’s “A&P”, is a short story that relates an episode in the life of a teenage (male) grocery store employee, circa 1961. Many critics suggest that this story is told through the eyes of the main character Sammy, and not through those of the author, John Updike. The label placed upon teenage males in modern society is often that of an über sexist that views the female entity in only sexual lights. This assessment is supported in Updike’s story by means of diction and paragraph structure. In addition Sammy’s rash reaction to his manager’s chastising of three girls in the store is a result of his longing for the young women, rather than in his own best interest. Throughout the short story “A&P”, Sammy exhibits the stereotypical role of the modern teenage male, however this should not be looked upon as abnormal or unacceptable behavior, but should be regarded as human nature.
In his short story "A & P" John Updike utilizes a 19-year-old adolescent to show us how a boy gets one step closer to adulthood. Sammy, an A & P checkout clerk, talks to the reader with blunt first person observations setting the tone of the story from the outset. The setting of the story shows us Sammy's position in life and where he really wants to be. Through the characterization of Sammy, Updike employs a simple heroic gesture to teach us that actions have consequences and we are responsible for our own actions.
The beginning of “A & P” starts with the main character, Sammy, at work when three girls in nothing but bathing suits walks in. According to Lawrence Dessner, the A & P check out counter showed Sammy a sample of insult and indignity of ordinary people (317). He may not have liked the people that shopped there, but he received insight of the real world. A woman that was currently at Sammy's counter was middle aged and brought Sammy no sympathy to the shoppers; he sometimes mention them as sheep. His names of the shoppers also include insight of Sammy's view of the ordinary shoppers; Sammy did not care much for others.
At the beginning of A&P, Sammy notices that three girls have walked into the store with only there bathing suits on. At first, poor Sammy cannot see the girls because he was at register 3 with his back toward the door. When they finally get into his sight, he immediately size the girls up. "The one that caught my eye first was the one in the placid green two-piece. 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, at the top of the backs of her legs." He also gives a description of the other two girls. He says one has "a chubby berry-faces, her lips all bunched together under her nose and the tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes and a chin that was too long--you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" and "attractive" but never quite makes it, as they very well know, which is why they like her so much." This comments illustrate his immaturity. Sammy refers to one of the girls as queen. He calls her queen because she seems to be the leader. ...
John Updike’s “A & P” (1961) explores the life of a nineteen-year-old boy Sammy who works at a small-town supermarket. The story is told in a first-person narrative by Sammy, taking place approximately between the late 1950’s and 60’s. The focus of the story is on the attitude and observations that the young teen Sammy has during his work shift. Sammy is from a middle-class family who is bored with his job at the grocery store. After observing his customers and referring to them as dehumanizing characters, he experiences seeing a young woman he names Queenie and her friends, which come inside the grocery store dress inappropriately in only their bathing suits. Sammy admires the leader of the group Queenie in the interest of
Sammy is generous in his descriptions of their bodies, and assigns value to their presence in his store. They are a representation of rebellion, of the casual disregard for social norms that Sammy is not familiar with. However, the girls did not walk into the grocery store with bathing suits and bare feet to show Sammy there is more to life than the green and white tile of the A&P, they are there to accomplish a task. Possibly, the girls could have been aware of how their attire might be received, but they “just came in for the one thing” (Updike 17). A task so unimportant to them that they did not bother to throw on shirts or shorts, because they knew they would be in and out of the store in less time than grabbing clothes would take. The girls didn’t exist to become Sammy’s revelation; they existed in the moment to buy herring snacks and resume their
Updike chose to have Sammy speak with colloquial language. By having Sammy speak in this manner it expresses to the reader his age and allow them to connect with him. For example in the beginning of the story Sammy describes one of the girls, “There was this chunky one, with the two-piece -- it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp…” Sammy’s description of the girl as “chunky” reveals his age to the reader and how much he progresses later on in the story. Furthermore, Sammy’s informal speech provides the reader with the understanding that he is an average teenager, thus,
Sammy is astounded by three young girls that walk into his store in their bathing suits. He follows their every move as they peruse over the cookies and other goods. The first thing this typical nineteen boy recognizes is the one girl’s “can”. But then he goes on to say that this girl is one that other girls seems to think has potential but never really makes it with the guys. One girl though especially catches his eye. He starts to call her “Queenie” because of the way she carries herself and that she seems to be the leader of the pack. Sammy does nothing but watch her every move as they parade about the store. He even daydreams about going into her house with her rich family at a cocktail party. He notices everything about her and thinks there was nothing cuter than the way she pulls the money out of her top. His immature infatuation with this girl is one of the reasons Sammy makes the hasty decision to quit in the end.
John Updike writes “Oh Daddy,” Stokesie said beside me. “I feel so faint.” (432), at that moment Stokesie began to play around whit Sammy. Sammy responded “Darling,” I said. “Hold me tight.”(Updike, Pg.432), Stokesie and Sammy began to act foolish while being at work supports the fact that Sammy is still immature. Moreover, Updike reveals “The stores pretty empty, it being Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again” (433). The narrator is bored and has nothing to do, but wait for the girls to come back around. This is a perfect example of Sammy’s immatureness, for the reason that he could of have done something proactive while waiting on the next costumer. Another example that John Updike provides to demonstrate the narrator immatureness is when Sammy is checking out the three girls’ item. Updike writes “Still with that prim look she lifts a folded dollar bill out of the hollow at the center of her nubbled pink top. The jar went heavy in my hand. Really, I thought that was so cute” (433). The narrator shows his immatureness, by going into details over the location of the dollar bill. Also, by the fact that the narrator comments that he thought it was so cute, may symbolize that he has never been in a relationship before. Finally, Sammy shows his immatureness when he decides to quit his job, in order to catch the girls attention. Updike writes “so I say “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (434). The narrator ignorance caused him to quit his job, in order to impress the girls. However, his attempt was a total failure the three girls disregard Sammy heroic
As the student develops his essay, Sammy begins to compare the girls to other customers in the store. From “houseslaves in pin curlers” to “an old party in baggy gray pants” (2192 ), Sammy negatively characterizes customers in contrast to the leader of the girls, Queenie. To Sammy, the girl is someone that is not from their town. She is everything that every girl envies and wants to be. In contrast to Sammy, she will spend her summer vacationing while he spends it working. It is clear to Sammy that their worlds are different, however it is also obvious that he would like to explore hers.
Before the girls enter the store, Sammy is unaware that the setting he is so judgmental of reflects his own life. Sammy feels that he is better than the rest of people at the A&P, referring to them as "sheep" and "house-slaves" because they never break from their daily routines. He also condescendingly talks about "whatever it is they[the customers]...mutter." Reinforcing his superiority above the people in the store, Sammy sees himself as a person that can seldom be "trip[ped]...up." Although he sees himself being superior to the store, the reality is that the store closely reflects Sammy's life. He seems to have a long-term commitment to the store since his apron has his name stitched on it, and he has been working at the store long enough to have memorized the entire contents of the "cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks-crackers-and-cookies." His day is also filled with the routine of working at the register, a routine that is so familiar that he has created a cash register song. Sammy also identifies with his co-worker Stokesie, "the responsible married man," and therefore wishes to someday be the manager of the store, like Lengel. Even the "checkerboard" floor represents a game of checkers, a simple one-directional game that closely models Sammy's life. Although Sammy is nineteen ...