Sammy, a Follower or a Leader John Updike, an excellent author of a short story presents us in A & P, a part of teenager’s life, easy to relate with everyone’s life. The picture, in which John Updike introduce his character, Sammy, as a responsible and mature young man which is working at A & P at the age of nineteen, conflicts with his rebellious actions and a behavior of typical American adolescent who is trying to overcome the growing pain of adolescence in search of individuality in a society in which following standards is mandatory and where talking or showing sexuality is a taboo. Starting from the beginning, John Updike shows us Sammy’s simple life in a small town and a future that is not very promising , with a job in the only supermarket from region in a quiet day when is “nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again. The whole store was like a pinball machine” (Updike 19), that is not offering many opportunities instead of him going to college as many of his fellow friends did. John Updike's setting Sammy gives a dull and everyday same kind of thing illustration of the people in the checkout, which he refers to them as “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle -- the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) -- were pretty hilarious” (Updike 19) and “scared pigs in a chute.” (Updike 21), for which unusual was not a part of life and deviating from a pattern to be different irritates. Their irritation is accentuated by the presence of the three bare feet girls wearing just swimsuits in a grocery store that is “is five miles from a beach, with a big summer colony out on the Point, but we're right in the middle of town.”(Updike 1... ... middle of paper ... ...ho at the end brings only disappointment. Following his actions he has to face the consequences in a doubtful future for him, has to confront his parents about his conflict with Lengel, and be responsible for his action. Sammy shows us through his action that it is important to act as individual, fight for what we believe in, and express hour feelings even though the result is not how we aspect. Only through fight, ambition and desire for a better us we can step the future’s ladder. We are the future generation and we have to change, build and live in a world comfortable for us, but in the same time have to be responsible and take failure as a push up for more work through goals. Work Cited Updike, John. "A & P." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. By X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. Boston: -Pearson, 2013. 17-21. Print
But life is not a fairytale. Standing there lonely, having no job is our Sammy. This is when Sam realizes his path, the true way to become mature. The moment when “Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient:” Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad” (Updike) hold him back a little bit, we can feel the regret in his heart. But he cannot go back anymore, decision has been made. He gives up his last chance; from now on, he’s on his own. Sammy finally understands that it is responsible behavior but not playing “adult-like” game that will make him a true
This Story takes place in 1961, in a small New England town's A&P grocery store. Sammy, the narrator, is introduced as a grocery checker and an observer of the store's patrons. He finds himself fascinated by a particular group of girls. Just in from the beach and still in their bathing suits, they are a stark contrast, to the otherwise plain store interior. As they go about their errands, Sammy observes the reactions, of the other customers, to this trio of young women. He uses the word "Sheep" to describe the store regulars, as they seem to follow one and other, in their actions and reactions. The girls, however, appear to be unique in all aspects of their beings: walking, down the isles, against the grain: going barefoot and in swim suits, amongst the properly attired clientele. They are different and this is what catches and holds Sammy's attention. He sees them in such detail, that he can even see the queen of the bunch. Sammy observes their movements and gestures, up until the time of their checkout. At which point, they are confronted by the store manager and chastised for their unacceptable appearance. He believes their attire to be indecent. Sammy, feeling that the managerial display was unnecessary and unduly embarrassing for the girls, decides to quit his position as checker. Thought he knows that his decision may be hasty, he knows that he has to follow through and he can never go back. He leaves, with a clean conscious, but the burden of not knowing what the future has in store.
John Updike's short story “A&P,” centers on a young immature and morally ambitious teenager who faces down the generation gap and, rather than bending to the dictates of the elders, rebels against them, securing his rather insecure place as a young, unproven man. Sammy, the main character, describes the entrance of a group of young attractive girls into the supermarket, “In walk these three girls in nothing but bathing suits…They didn’t even have shoes on”.(864) Sammy is mesmerized by their presence that he cannot do his job. The supermarket manager, Lengel, scolds the visitors by exclaiming “Girls, this isn’t the beach”.(867) Within the few moments after Sammy dramatically quits his job in protest of the quite impolite treatment by Lengel he says to himself “…and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter”.(869) Because of his youth, and certainly because of the extremes of behavior that the young are prone to demonstrate, Sammy perceives that his life will forever be damaged by his actions. Though we certainly understand that this is not the case, that no one’s life is inexorably ‘ruined’ by the decision to do something momentous, it is certainly quite charming to transport ourselves into a time in our lives when such passions ruled us. This image awakens in us the expect...
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.
Lust makes people do crazy things. John Updike’s short story “A&P” provides a perfect example of how lust made a boy quit his job. In this short story, a boy, named Sammy, catches a glimpse of three under-dressed, attractive girls as they enter his workplace. The manager asks the three girls to leave. As a result, Sammy is outraged by the mistreatment of the girls and quits his job in protest. Sammy’s stand against the mistreatment of the girls makes him feel like a hero. Updike’s use of descriptive words and dramatic irony in “A&P” leads the reader to believe that Sammy’s heroic acts were not actions with rebellious intentions, but actions due to his lust for the three under-dressed girls.
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 character in John Updike's short story “A&P” is Sammy. The story's first-person context gives the reader a unique insight toward the main character's own feelings and choices, as well as the reasons for the choices. The reader is allowed to closely observe Sammy's observations and first impressions of the three girls who come to the grocery store on a summer afternoon in the early 1960s. In order to understand this short story, one must first recognize the social climate of the era, the age of the main character, and the temptation this individual faces.
John Updike’s “A&P” is a short story about a nineteen year old boy during the 1960’s that has a summer job at the local A&P grocery. The main character in the story, Sammy, realizes that life isn’t always fair and that sometimes a person makes decisions that he will regret. Sammy sees that life doesn’t always go as planned when three young girls in bathing suits walk in and his manager Lengel gives them a hard time, and he comes to term with that sometimes you make bad decisions.
For an author, word choice is the most important factor in conveying tone. In John Updike’s short story “A&P”, there are many variations of word choice that convey different tones towards the girls, towards himself, and towards authority. In the end there is also a major shift in tone that helps bring together this “coming of age” story. Because of the use of casual language, slang, and contractions, the overall tone of this story is informal and conversational and changes based on whom the narrator, Sammy, is talking about.
Sammy is stuck in that difficult transition between childhood and adulthood. He is a nineteen-year-old cashier at an A&P, the protagonist in a story with the same name. John Updike, the author of "A&P," writes from Sammy's point of view, making him not only the main character but also the first person narrator. The tone of the story is set by Sammy's attitude, which is nonchalant but frank--he calls things as he sees them. There is a hint of sarcasm in Sammy's thoughts, for he tends to make crude references to everything he observes. Updike uses this motif to develop the character of Sammy, as many of these references relate to the idea of "play."
In John Updike’s short story, A&P the writer takes you on a youths memory that involves the choices and consequences that life can deal to anyone who has not had time to test a rash decision. The narrator is an immature nineteen-year-old cashier who is about to make a giant leap from adolescence to manhood. Sammy narrates with opinions of not only his life, but also the people in the town. Sammy opposes with the way these people live their lives, and is determined to set a different course for his future. The author uses characterization, symbolism, and setting to explain Sammy's life issues such as decision-making, result of action, and responsibility. The story illustrates that part of growing up is about making choices and a willingness to accept consequences of one’s own choices.
Sammy in “A & P” by John Updike is a developed typical teenage boy, who goes through many changes throughout the duration of the story. It all started when he saw three girls walk in the store about his own age wearing only their bathing suites, it flattered him. It caused Sammy do a lot of thinking throughout the event. He did not like his job and he expressed his opinions throughout the story. As Sammy was seeing the three girls, he analyzed everything around him, from the girls, his town, and to the customer and employees in the store. When he watched the girls walk around the store with their heads held high. Sammy the round and dynamic character he is, started to face many challenges in which he had to decide how he wanted his life turn out, rather by staying or moving on to bigger and better things.
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.
...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.
The toughest stage is transitioning from a teenager to an adult. Teenagers are bound to make mistakes and that is a part of life. In the final analysis, Updike’s main character Sammy is a teenager who learns a great deal from his mistake. Sammy believes adults and society are the enemies of young people. He quits his job to impress three girls who used their sexuality for negative attention. Overall, he goes from being a closed-minded teenager to being aware what the real world is about. Transitioning is not always an easy process.