Unwarranted Decisions Many people act foolishly, some based on common sense and past experience and some based on impulse and reckless idealism. In “The A&P” by John Updike, the cashier quit while acting unwarranted, he acted on intangible reasons, assumptions, while not thinking of the consequences. Many who act unwarranted end up hurting themselves and occasionally others because they do not think of the backlash that could occur based off their rash and uninformed decisions. Many awful events in history were due to unwarranted acts, the Iraq War for instance, the US decided to act militarily without tangible fact and wasted billions of dollars and killed many innocent people. Now this act is in no comparison to a war, it is just that when …show more content…
The girls did not even talk or form any meaningful relationship with him whatsoever; they were just there to buy food and leave. She even went out of her way not to look at them, Updike states; “She must have felt in the corner of her eye me and over my shoulder Stokesie in the second slot watching but she didn’t tip, not this queen” (462). Their whole relationship was him watching her throughout the store; forming a somewhat creepy and awkward one-sided relationship. That is not how a meaningful relationship starts; stalking them like animals, peaking on them like an immature boy; and ogling at them through multiple aisles of a grocery store. He hangs on every single word that the queen bee says, analyzes her speech and tone of her voice, and vividly imagines the inside of her house. They have not even met before this day and he has not even talked to her. All of these feelings that he is feeling are unwarranted, maybe it is because that she is pretty, but he acts as if though he is in love with …show more content…
There is no logical explanation for why he quit, and Sammy will not be able to give his parents one. They got him the job in the first place as Updike explains, “He’s (Lengel) been a friend of my parents for years, “Sammy you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad,” he tells me. It’s true, I don’t, but it seems to me that once you begin a gesture its fatal not to go through with it (467)”. This is where Sammy has a big decision to make, and he chooses the wrong decision. He could just forget the queen and her followers but he still thinks that they care and they clearly do not. He later realizes that he has made a monumental mistake and feels the weight of his actions crush him. His actions are unwarranted because of his lack of hindsight, that his action has an effect on his family, on him, on the store, and especially on the manager. Lengel is one who is hurt by his actions as well; he has to fill in as a cashier until they find a new one and that is no job for a stiff, aching old
... from previous experiences and bases future decisions on what they have experienced. When a person makes a decision that isn’t justified, they unknowingly change how they view future problems. If the decision has not been based in truth, it allows them a certain amount of unearned freedom to make wrong decisions, as opposed to when one make a proper decisions. It is crucial that every decision made is justified in order to keep their moral compass steady and to make the proper decisions when the choice is hard.
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.
...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.
Whenever something goes wrong there is a reason for it. More often than not this comes around to the fault of a human being, and in cases where it can be hard to determine that culprit usually did the action unintentionally. Just because that person did not purposefully commit a discretion does not mean that it was not their fault. Somewhere along the road before deciding on the wrong choice the culprit could have looked over something or made a smaller wrong decision which over time escalated into a major problem. Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, reveals how everyone must take full liability for their actions, even if the results of those actions were indirect or unintentional; without this responsibility, side effects of actions would cause widespread harm.
John Updike's Rabbit books tell the story of a man whose life is in constant turmoil. Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom's downward spiral started the day his senior basketball season ended. Rabbit was a basketball jock; he knew nothing else. He married his high school sweetheart more out of convenience than love and worked in the same printing press as his father. Rabbit couldn't face the working world, couldn't face his parents, and couldn't face his wife and son. He was constantly caught somewhere in the middle ground between righteousness and sinful pleasure. Rabbit's mind was constantly wandering, searching for something he could hold on to, something that would remain constant through the thick and thin of life. He needed another basketball.
he just set his eyes upon her and thinks that he loves her. He is
In the story “A&P” by John Updike, the main character Sammy, is faced with a tough decision on whether or not he should quit his job based on a bunch of girls. He is upset because one of his coworkers embarrassed a few girls for not wearing appropriate clothing in the store. Sammy’s anger is being purely driven by hormones and mental pictures of one of the girls as his girlfriend. Therefore, his decision to quit his job can not be justified.
Literally minutes after he quit he knew it was a dumb idea. When he quits, he try’s and say it loud enough so that the girls will hear him. After he quits he looks around and the girls have already left the store. He goes outside looking for them, “I look around for my girls, but they 're gone, of course. There wasn 't anybody but some young married screaming with her children about some candy they didn 't get by the door of a powder-blue Falcon station wagon.”(Updike) After this moment, even Sammy knew that the decision he made was absurd. He thought he was going to be the girls’ hero, instead they didn’t even acknowledge what he did in the least bit. His escapade was very short lived. The text even states how he knew the ‘world’ would be harder after this point, “Looking back in the big windows, over the bags of peat moss and aluminum lawn furniture stacked on the pavement, I could see Lengel in my 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.”(Updike) He knew that he had made a mistake and there was really nothing he could do to take it
we fail to see the harm that we are doing, and will continue to do if we do not
In everyday life people of all backgrounds make decisions that can be both wrong or
Activists; who are they? People who support or oppose a cause or issue. They are individuals who fight and defend their viewpoints - protecting and standing for what they believe is right. These advocates persuade and gather many supporters for their cause. Sometimes, they get their argument across successfully, resulting in events to go the way that they desire. Other times, however, things just do not go their way, resulting in defeat. In a way similar to activists, Sammy, the protagonist of John Updike’s short story “A & P”, stands his ground for what he thinks is moral, however, only to later face disappointment. On a hot scorching summer day, Sammy, a teenage clerk at an A & P grocery store, is working the cash register when three ladies about his age enter barefoot, dressed in nothing but bathing suits, to purchase herring snacks. Sammy allows the ladies to continue shopping, judging them based on appearance like average adolescents. However, this ends when Lengel, the elderly and strict manager of the shop, notices the three customers and feels that they are not properly dres...
because they live in two different world. He is really in love with her and he is exactly
Referencing back to the Revolutionary War, the leaders of the revolution knew that a war must be waged in the name of liberty despite the great disadvantage. The consequences of the war, specifically the loss of life and supplies without a strong ally, were massive; nevertheless, the colonists fought valiantly and defeated the British after a lingering, treacherous war. People must make difficult and complex decisions on a daily basis. Each choice has an everlasting effect on yourself and those around you. Common sense is essential in making the world a better place, and a person must always do what is right to achieve this
It is difficult to make decisions and have intellectual judgment. Decisions are at times influenced by personal experiences, information presented, emotion, amongst other numerous factors, therefore it is a lengthy process. Even when a person is trying to make the best decision it may be the “wrong” choice due to the fact that it negatively impacts other people. For instance, allowing a person to bend the rules a bit may seem innocent, but it may hinder the other people that are following the rules (such as allowing someone to use the computer longer than what their allotted time
girls. The desire in him took over and all he wanted was for those girls to acknowledge so he