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Tone Of A & P By John Updike

666 Words3 Pages

Tone and style are one of the first things that readers notice about a story. It is a way for readers to predict what the narrator is like and how the telling of the story will play out. The narrator of the story, “A &P”, is a teenage boy named Sammy who works at a grocery outlet and has an observant eye of the customers who come in. The author, John Updike, gives Sammy a casual and realistic style, while allowing him to have an ironic and humorous tone.
Through out the story, it is unknown whether Sammy is recalling the scene or if he has it written down somewhere. Updike’s style of writing makes it seem as though the story comes from Sammy’s conscience and he is recalling on an important moment in his life. The very first sentence of this …show more content…

While being fascinated by the girls, Sammy rings up an older lady’s items wrong and responds to her being angry with, “By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag- she gives me a little snort in passing, if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem..” (363; par.2). Readers can see the humor that Updike brings to Sammy’s character, but we can also sense some bitterness towards the older lady. This may come from the fact that Sammy had to stop paying attention to the younger girls and focus on her. Readers can also see the humorous tone that comes from the conversation between Sammy and his coworker, Stokesie, when they watch the three girls together. “Oh Daddy,” Stokesie said beside me. “I feel so faint.” “Darling,” I said. “Hold me tight” (364-365, par.7).
Though the story has a humorous tone, it is also ironic. Sammy, so invested in the girls, quits his job in hopes that the girls will be impressed with him for standing up to his manager in their honor. “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (366; par. 22). It is ironic because Sammy quits to impress the girls, but instead they are already gone and do not hear his

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