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Character Analysis Of Sammy In Jhon Upbike's 'A & P'

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“A & P” Is it scandalous for three teenagers to walk into the gocery store wearing only bathing suits? “A & P'', by Jhon Upbike: Sammy, a 19 year-old narrator, is a cashier in an A &P grocery store in a small Massachusetts town. Walking into a grocery store with only bathing suits on, it might attract most of the mens in the store with an inappropriate reaction. The character of Sammy has a strong realization that can impact his life which the author, Jhon Upbike, used to teach a lesson through exploring consequences and distractions. Sammy didn’t think carefully before making any decisions about his job. Sammy’s gives every single detail about Queenie. “She was the queen. She kind of led the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didn’t look around, not this queen, she just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima donna legs” (Upbike). This shows that Sammy didn’t care about the job neither his boss’ opinion, his goal was to impress Queenie. Sammy's so obsessed with Queenie, manifests how he doesn’t get too much attention to his job. …show more content…

Sammy defends the girls from his boss' policy. “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say “I quit” to

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"We are decent," Queenie says suddenly.” (203) Sammy finds himself amused and in awe of the girls resistance to what's considered “normal”. The girls actions become a message to him that being different and rebellious is ok. This realization automatically leads him to quit his job.

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In “A&P,” Sammy shows his support for the three girls by quitting his job. After Lengel confronts the girls, Sammy says, “I quit” (Updike 159) to Lengel showing his support. According to a critic, “Sammy feels ashamed of Lengel and the “crummy” mentality he represents” (Saldivar). Later, when Lengel questions him, Sammy says that Lengel should not have embarrassed the girls in front of everyone (Updike 159). As Sammy feels bad for the girls, he stands up for them thinking they might notice him (Updike 159).

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At this point in the story, Sammy has already announced that he quits, in hopes that the girls would hear him before they quickly left the store. Sammy also show signs of maturing when his manager says “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad” (Updike 7). Sammy replies “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.”

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Sammy’s decision is stated by all as a terrible mistake. Sammy slips out of his slot and walks straight towards the door and walks out without looking back. Not surprisingly he thinks to himself, “I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course.” While trying to use a heroic gesture to feel equivalent to the girls they seem to have not appreciated the gesture and leave.

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“A&P” by John Updike is a short story expressing the issues of female objectification and degradation in society by following a young A&P employee’s views (Sammy) as they change through experiences second hand. Sammy goes from stereotyping objectifier to a form of a public defender, standing up for girls who can’t really do so for themselves. Sammy initially characterizes and describes all of the people in the store based on their looks and his initial opinion of them, rather than waiting to make judgements based on their personality, or not at all. He is very critical of looks, and is judgmental about why and how they look or act the way they do.

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She has a thing for attention and owning the place in the sense that she is the leader and she is in command. Queenie and her friends are dressed in bikinis as they enter the A&P store. Sammy immediately notices how Queenie takes control and steals the show. Sammy mentions that when she walks in the store she does not look around. He describes the bathing suit she’s wearing and how Queenie looks.

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Sammy is a nineteen-year-old cashier at a small store. Not used to seeing girls enter the store dressed that way, Sammy is shocked. Not being able to keep his eyes off the girls, Sammy notices details about their dressing. Sammy states, “She had on a kind of a dirty-pink bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down” (Updike, par. 3). We can see Sammy is sexually desiring these girls by the way he takes in every detail of the girls’ physical appearance.

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This is where the dramatic conflicts comes into place because Sammy is upset that Langel has embrassed the young ladies. (Until almost the ending where Sammy confronts Lengel) Sammy does not stay quite and starts to stand up for these girls. Sammy is so displeased with Lengel's actions that he quits. Sammy quits his job because he wants to start living the life that the girls in the bathing suits were living.

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