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A & P By John Updike Point Of View Essay

739 Words3 Pages

In the short story of A&P, the first-person point of view brings advantages and limitations in which the author, John Updike, could tell this story. The story is told through the eyes of the character named Sammy. Using first person narrative through Sammy’s eyes allows the reader to see how Sammy felt about the young girls that were in the grocery store. John Updike described the way Sammy, the main character, felt about his job. Updike also described how the workers felt about the manager of the store. The only disadvantage or limitation in using first person limited point of view is that the reader is not allowed to see how everyone felt about Sammy defending the girls that the manager offended and embarrassed. In the short story, one …show more content…

Updike also described how Sammy got the job at the grocery store. Sammy and the workers enjoyed working at A&P. They enjoyed working because the residents and tourist that came in were usually nice, and it was located about five miles away from the beach. Sammy describes that the only down fall for working at A&P would be the manager. The reader will notice that the manager is described as, “Pretty dreary, teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn’t miss that much” (Updike 19). Many of the workers dreaded seeing the manager, Mr. Lengel. The workers felt like they could not enjoy work when he was around. They also felt like they had to become robots and preform their jobs perfectly. As the story progress, Mr. Langel’s attitude towards his employees and the customers would not be tolerated anymore by some of his employees …show more content…

Writing a story with this point of view can have many advantages and disadvantages. As Sammy is being irked by the way the manager talks to his employees and to the customers, Sammy ends up quitting his job. It was not exactly stated in the short story whether Sammy quit his job trying to impress the girls and be their hero or if he was truly tired of his boss. While Sammy was sticking up for the girls and quitting his job to prove a point, the reader was never able to see how the girls felt about Sammy defending them. Instead, in the short story it says, “They keep right on going, into the electric eye, the door opens and they flicker across the lot to their car” (Updike 20). As the story is told in first person narrative, the reader will never find out if Sammy quitting his job was worth it. The reader will also never know if Sammy will end up regretting his decision just because he was trying to impress the girls

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In the story “A&P,” Updike communicates Sammy’s imprisonment though his location within the grocery store. In the first few sentences, Updike places “[Sammy] in the third check-out slot, with [his] back to the door, so [he doesn’t] see [the girls] until they’re over by the bread” (Updike 17). The physical isolation of the ‘check-out slot’ combined with Sammy’s inability to see outside demonstrates how he is incapable of seeing the outside world, let alone reaching its freedom. The act of Sammy noticing the girls further attests to his mental confinement; as instead of thinking of the store in terms of layout, he thinks in terms of ‘bread’ (17). His habit of thinking in terms of products signifies how the grocery store is where he spends the majority of his time, further alluding to Sammy’s physical confinement within the

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Sammy describes the manager of the local A&P store as someone who is “pretty dreary, teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn 't miss that much” (Updike 3). Sammy thought Lengel as someone who is the very definition of a human being who prefers order over rebellion, being constantly engaged in prosaic activities and is attentive to his surroundings, as he is aware of everything that occurs within the store he manages. Perhaps in a way, Sammy envisions himself to be a more youthful version of his employer as he parades around the

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A&P: The Perspective of Sammy “A&P” by John Updike tells the story of Sammy, a teenage boy working at a grocery store, when he sees three girls dressed in swimsuits enter. Quickly, Sammy becomes infatuated with the leading girl whom he dubs “Queenie”. Eventually, the girls are accosted by the manager for dressing inappropriately and Sammy quits in both an act of rebellion and wanting the appreciation of the girls. All throughout the story Sammy’s sarcastic and inquisitive nature comes out leading to a distinct voice and thought process the reader follows giving the reader a very opinionated view of all the characters and action in the story.

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A major theme in A&P is personal freedom. Throughout the story Updike uses metaphor for all elements in the story to implies the theme. At the beginning of the story, Sammy uses sarcastic tone to describe the customers as “sheep” and “houseslaves” which implies he is different from them in mindset. The way how Sammy talks about others shows his intellectual mind. He is not same as Stokesie who wants to be a manager one day.

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