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Sammy And The American Man Analysis

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“Sammy and the American man” Different stories have different characters. Even stories in the same topic, the main characters are very different. “Sammy” in “A&P” by John Updike and “the American man” in “Hills like white elephant” by Ernest Hemingway are totally different male character. Sammy wants to change his life and situation, and the American man does not want any change in his life; Sammy takes responsibility to what he did and said, the American man does not take his responsibility; from the beginning to the end, Sammy from keep silence to have some reactions, the American man still avoiding expressing his feelings. Firstly, this essay will show what are conflicts they are facing. Secondly, it will illustrate how they solve their …show more content…

At the beginning of the story, he describes a female customer “a witch about fifty with rough on her cheekbones and no eyebrows” (Updike 1). As a worker in supermarket, Sammy does the repeating and boring job everyday. He is a typical role of the “lost generation”. Sammy is looking forward to the beautiful things in daily life and wants a better life. He watches and describes three girls in details and uses beautiful words. Sammy’s description of girls is full of feminine beauty of aesthetic significance. Sammy is 19 years old. It is natural thing that he is interested about girls’ figures. His eager to a new life and beauty makes him finally do the regretful decision. His daydream is broke up at the end of the story, and he really could have a different life with before. The American man cannot accept the change in life. At the middle of the story, when he suddenly mentions about the abortion, the main conflict comes out. At this time, he is still trying to persuade Jig to forget about the baby. And from this part to almost the end of the story, they are discussing the abortion. And both of them do not express their true feeling. When they both lose patience, they do not talk to each other. And they separate waiting for the train. The American man does not change a

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This analysis is eye opening because it places emphasis on some of the more minor characters, such as the housewives shopping with their hair in curlers, the woman who gets angry with Sammy after he makes an error while ringing up her groceries, and the man that Sammy labels as a bum. Porter’s analysis explains why Updike chose to include them in the story, and gives a deeper meaning to Sammy’s frustration and actions. These characters represent a “loss of individuality” (Porter 2) with their “joyless, wooden nature” (Porter 2). They symbolize the mediocrity that Sammy is accustomed to, and offer a stark contrast when compared to the bathing-suit clad Queenie. Though this part of the analysis is informative and insightful, the analysis becomes limited when it comes to Sammy’s characterization.

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This crafts a story with a in-depth focus on the mind of a character, who makes the choice to rebel because of three girls wearing swimsuits in a grocery store. Therefore, the distinct voice that Sammy possess ultimately gives the story a feeling of youth and

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3 The story of “A&P” by John Updike adopts the uses of figurative language to embellish the critical moments of transitions of people’s lives, particularly in the life of Sammy. Updike utilizes crafts of plot, character, setting, point of view, theme, and symbol to constitute the story, and to project the idea of "life passages. " Also, Sammy undergoes a series of events that enables him to transition as a person in his life. 3

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John Updike’s A&P and James Joyce’s Araby are two short stories that have different settings and characters, but are also similar in more ways than one. In both stories, Sammy and the narrator face emptiness in their lives. They were feared to face their emotions towards the young women in their lives. Despite this fear, Sammy in John Updike’s short story A&P and the narrator in James Joyce’s short story Araby, were both able to experience the change from boy to man due to the failure of their impractical reality.

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Caring - about people, about things, about life - is an act of maturity. Sammy, the narrator in the first story narrative “A&P,” demonstrates the development of his maturity through the actions he displays by standing up for the girls who were humiliated by a grocery store manager. Updike’s short story, demonstrates how youth display rebellion and immaturity due to their everyday struggles. While some people may seem to take a more mature approach in their development process, everyone matures in a different way. People want to be unique and accepted in their own way which explains Sammy’s actions.

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And the reaction it gets from the store manager and his disapproval of the girls’ attire. Adding Sammy’s description of the other day to day customers as “sheep” and otherwise dull. Updike’s “A&P” shows a way to fight conformist in this tale of a young man going against the system. For Example, in the story Sammy,

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From age eight to age twelve, Lola is pictured as a quiet young girl who obediently follows her mother’s orders, however when Lola turns twelve she begins to reject traditional gender roles, refusing to remain passive and timid, specifically around men, as she finds herself being able to “look boys straight in the face when they stared” at her. At the same time, Lola begins to reject traditional beauty standards as “[She] cut[s] her hair short –flipping out her mother yet again– partially I think because when she’d been little her family had let it grow down past her ass, a source of pride, something I’m sure her attacker noticed and admired” (25). Lola does not want to be seen as an accessible and sexual object. She realizes that the traditional beauty standards of long, silky hair which her mother raised her to fit into from childhood are actually what sexual predators target: a young, sexually appealing girl who is too young to be able to fight back. Lola rejects these beauty standards in spite of her mother and cuts her hair short, defying the values of her mother as well as proactively eliminating herself from the target pool for sexual predators.

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In our American culture, the public encourages women on how to dress, act, think and be in the chance to stay accepted. From a young age, little girls are projected to convert into seamless feminine trophies, learning how to cook, clean, and iron for their prospective spouses.” Barbie Doll” hones in on the social characters in contrast to a doll. The author keenly shows a glimpse of foreshadowing and theme even before the poem begins with the title “Barbie Doll” which is the most iconic and idolized toy

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As the story begins, it is undeniable that the first person omniscient point of view is heavily loaded with observation techniques. Sammy is able to point out the dress code and the prima donna legs of the peculiar lady he has decided to call Queenie. Glued to his observation, he is able trace the steps of Queenie who comes down in measured heels. Furthermore, through the narration, Sammy reveals his keenness as he mentions the “dirty pink or beige suit” that is worn by the lady (Updike 359). As a dynamic character, the story of the three girls develops Sammy into an interested individual who describes the chest of Queenie as “mental tinted in light”.

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This helps the reader visualize a sarcastic and frustrated cashier ringing up an impatient customer. Sammy refers to the customers as “sheep” in paragraph five because of their conformity and slow mosey throughout the store also making the three girls stick out more. In paragraph 2, Sammy refers to one of the girls as a “queen” using a direct metaphor as if she truly was a Queen. This reinforces Sammy’s observant mind and way he breaks down each girl. Whether his opinion was positive or negative, deducing women by their looks and staring at their chests, “this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light,”(3), does nothing but further supplement the idea that these three girls are being watched just because of their choice in attire.

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“Divergent perceptions and absence of a common language of communication ... they fail to fathom each other’s feelings and likes and dislikes” (Priya). Miscommunication between people creates rifts and lays pretense for tension and dispassion. Without communication, people become impatient and disassociate. “They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English”(Tan 31).

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