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A & P Character Analysis

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In the story A & P Sammy is an unreliable narrator who I believe is showing off rather than taking a moral stance in this story. Since he is a young boy he still shows signs of immaturity which represents his youth. His attitude towards the girls who walk in the store, the customers in the shop, and his actions lead readers to believe that he made certain decisions based off an immoral stance. While the main character believes that he is taking a moral stance, based on textual evidence, he is not doing so. Sammy’s intention with the girls are expressed through his reaction when he first saw them walk in. As soon as he glimpsed the girls walk in, he immediately starting describing their appearances and …show more content…

The first example of this is when he was scanning a lady’s items when suddenly he noticed the girls enter the store. He became distracted by the girl’s presence; thus, he could not remember if he had scanned an item already so he scanned it and the customer was not pleased with his actions. The women then proceeded to scold him for scanning the item twice. Sammy then made a comment as stated on page 32 “if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem”. This comment shows that he is not mature enough to take responsibility for his own actions and seeks to put the blame elsewhere. It also shows that he is unreliable by showing a bias in his narration. There was not anything wrong about the women’s action, she did not want to be overcharged for no reason. Sammy perceived the lady as a witch because of a mistake that he made but did not acknowledge the incident as his …show more content…

As I mention in the second paragraph, after Sammy quit his job he left the store and immediately started looking for the girls. This action translates into his true intentions, which was to be noticed by the girls and to be a “hero” to them. Also, his last words at the end of the story on page 36 “…...my stomach fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter”. This shows that he was still only thinking about how hard the world is on him and not the facts that show that he chose to go down this road and now he must deal with the consequences. This just sums up that he has not learned anything from this experience and he will most likely return to his old ways and continue to act based on hormonal feelings in the

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In John Updike’s short story “A&P,” Sammy is the narrator and cashier at the grocery story A&P. The author uses dynamic characters with immensely different personalities to portray conformity and rebellion in our society. Through out the story Sammy challenges conformity and social norms at his work place for personal reasons. Sammy is very bitter character and taken as a realist which fuels the story. Queenie, a rebel against conformity, sparks Sammy’s emotions after the way she is treated by his boss Langel when she walks into the grocery store with nothing but a bikini covering her skin.

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These traits allow the story to flourish a change in Sammy that couldn’t be seen if the story wasn’t told by him. The audience sees his change from a boy attracted by a bunch of girls to a rebellious man challenging the system he doesn’t want to take part in. The interesting thing is that both of those desires are ultimately why he quits his job. This is seen when he says “... “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero,” he wants the girls to like him because he’s still an immature boy looking for their affection (Updike 23). Though soon Sammy is challenged by his Lengel to think about his actions and he thinks “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it,” this shows that it’s also Sammy convictions that push him to quit.

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