Final Exam Essay: The Sammy in Me
When I first read the short story “A & P” several moths ago, I remember feeling very identified with Sammy because I felt that I would have done the same thing if I had been working in the store. A 19-year-old cashier at an A & P supermarket, and the narrator of "A & P," he quits his job in a fit of teen angst and sexual attraction. I feel that Sammy and I connect because every male teen suffers from teenage angst at some point or another, especially when it comes to girls. Sammy notices everything around him, and he drinks in every detail of the girls’ physical appearance, from the texture and patterns of their bathing suits to the different boundaries of their tan lines (Updike 311). When I first met my former girlfriend, I too did the same thing; I began taking in how wonderful she was and the way she spoke gave me insights into her life. Sammy’s insights are equivalent to my insights in that both of us have focused observations of the opposite sex to whom we are attracted.
I felt superior to others when I was dating my ex-girlfriend and the irony of it is that Sammy also felt the same sense of superiority. However in the eyes of the girl, Queenie, he must seem just like Stokesie and Lengel. Sammy to the girl, just like me to my former girlfriend, was just another guy. He needed to do something brave to win the girl’s attention and possibly love. His desire to set himself apart from Stokesie—to prove that he is different—compels him to quit his job. When he announces, “I quit,” primarily because he wants the girls to overhear him, the action loses significance when he realizes they didn’t notice it. He seems unintelligent when he is left not with admiration but with a vague guilt and doubt about his hasty decision (Updike 314). Sammy’s desire for Queenie, which begins merely as a young man’s interest in a pretty girl, ends up as a desire for escape from the A&P and, in effect his own life. I just was out of a relationship for a few weeks when I was began my previous relationship and I made a haste decision, like that of Sammy, to pursue her. It provided to be difficult and have a few ramifications but the decision blossomed into a great 17-month relationship. The world he imagines through Queenie—a world of sophisticated parents, summer vacations, and the freedom to disregard the social norms of places like the A&P—makes him hunger for opportunities beyond his limited experience. I thought by dating my ex-girlfriend that I would be able to do things I had never done, such as taking Spring Break trips and vacations with her family; however, much like Sammy, that was sadly not a reality for me.
Think about this: The main character is in a bit of an embarrassing situation by being behind the counter while other kids his own age are out there enjoying their break. This shows that he had a need for working, whereas the girls did not. Because of his age, he probably felt uncool in front of them, and that was the reason why he opted to sympathize with them: So that he looks less cheesy and more cool in front of his peers. I feel like most teens feel this way when they encounter a fellow classmate or friend while at work. I know that when I meet people who I go to school with at camp it gets awkward, especially because I work at a camp where you stay the entire week. I actually met my friends little brother at camp and it was uncomfortable. I tried to play it off but there really was no way of doing that. I just had to stand up and deal with it, much like Sammy trying to sympathize for the girls in saying, “you didn’t have to embarrass them” (Updike 314).
Sammy definitely has sympathy for the girls and also seems to identify with them in terms of the way that they are so brave and bold in rejecting the norms of society by coming into the supermarket with nothing but a bathing suit on. It is the sympathy for the girls that make him quit his job as a form of showing them how much he identifies with them and, in a sense, envies their willingness to "go against the flow of society." I identify with this because I admire my Ex-girlfriend so much for what she did in defying the norm in her family and being the first to pursue a full college degree. She changed my perspective on things like Queenie did for Sammy. I quit doing some activities and hanging out with others less, to show her that I was supporting her and cared about her. Now, it all seems like a waste in doing so, but at the time it seemed like a great idea. Sammy realizes he too made a poor decision when he sees that the girls left and are not waiting on him once he leaves the store after he quits.
I also connect with Sammy because his family disapproves of him quitting his job, although not explicitly stated. Lengel hints toward it at the end, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad.” (Updike 314). My parents kind of disapproved of my last girlfriend in the first few months because of a problem that we had about a month into our relationship. I feel like the same disapproval was there for Sammy with his parents. The unifying tie between my parents’ disapproval and his is that girls caused both. I felt sorry for Sammy because he didn’t know what to do with his life after he quit and I now don’t know what to do since my ex-girlfriend broke up with me. I see myself in Sammy, maybe through the teenage boy aspect or maybe through the rebellion of the norm and disapproval of society.