...Sammy makes a bold, daring choice in “A&P,” by John Updike. He works at a dull, ordinary grocery store called the A&P. His dreary manager, Lengel, confronts three attractive girls in bathing suits as they wait in Sammy’s line to check out their fancy herring snacks. Lengel embarrasses the girls for what they are wearing, influencing Sammy to quit his job. The incident fuels his already growing dislike for his job at the cash register, and gives him a reason to quit. Sammy doesn’t agree with his manager’s view on the situation, and tries to express his disapproval by leaving. However, he may have just felt the need to follow through on his declaration of quitting, despite seeing it as illogical and hurtful. Sammy expresses the “cash register...
Words: 452 - Pages: 2
...Reader-Response to John Updike’s “A&P” “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” he tells me. It’s true, I don’t. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it (323). This statement made by Sammy after quitting his job, was made towards the end of John Updike’s story “A&P”. Sammy had quit his job, a job that his parents helped him to get. Sammy opened up a whole new world; a world that I don’t think Sammy was ready for. He made a quick and irrational decision, rather if it affected his life or not we would never know. One could make the assumption that yes he was affected, because he possibly brought shame to his parents. With it being a small town word gets around fast a there is a chance that Sammy wouldn’t be able to find a job any other place because of how he had quit he job prior. Sammy labeled the people whom were in the store as “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (321), as in how people were expected to act in society, being constrained, unable to be yourself. Sammy was different; he was an adolescent male who was just trying to find his way through life. A life where he wasn’t familiar with, he was socially inept and lacked a good education as you can tell from the language he used. Life was just about to change for Sammy. John Updike’s story teaches us that we don’t always have to have good reasons for the choices we make. Some of the choices we make are strictly based on our feelings and beliefs...
Words: 1029 - Pages: 5
...“A & P” by John Updike takes place in 1961, in a small New England town's A&P grocery store. Sammy, the narrator, is introduced as a grocery checker and an observer of the store's patrons. He finds himself fascinated by a particular group of girls. Just in from the beach and still in their bathing suits, they are a stark contrast, to the otherwise plain store interior. As they go about their errands, Sammy observes the reactions, of the other customers, to this trio of young women. He uses the word "Sheep" to describe the store regulars, as they seem to follow one and other, in their actions and reactions. The girls, however, appear to be unique in all aspects of their beings: walking, down the isles, against the grain: going barefoot and in swim suits, amongst the properly attired clientele. They are different and this is what catches and holds Sammy's attention. He sees them in such detail, that he can even see the queen of the bunch. Sammy observes their movements and gestures, up until the time of their checkout. At which point, they are confronted by the store manager and chastised for their unacceptable appearance. He believes their attire to be indecent. Sammy, feeling that the managerial display was unnecessary and unduly embarrassing for the girls, decides to quit his position as checker. Thought he knows that his decision may be hasty, he knows that he has to follow through and he can never go back. He leaves, with a clean conscious, but the burden of not...
Words: 1481 - Pages: 6
...Xavian Arnold Dr. Patterson English 112 28 March 2012 A & P: An Analysis of the Character “Sammy” As people age, maturity and wisdom is gained through every experience. From the time a child turns eighteen and becomes an adult, they are required to deal with the realities of the real world and learn how to handle its responsibilities. In John Updike’s short story “A&P” the protagonist Sammy is a young man in 1961 New England who works in the town’s local grocery store. In a matter of a day, Updike goes from an immature boy with unrealistic ideas and fantasies, to a man who is about to realize how life altering the choices he makes can be. Sammy realizes that life isn’t always fair and that sometimes it involves the consequences that life can deal to anyone who has not had time to test a rash decision. Updike’s story illustrates that a part of growing up is a willingness to accept consequences of one’s choices, and that life's hardest lessons are sometimes learned a little too late. This story represents a coming-of-age for Sammy, as seen through his evaluations of the costumers as the story develops. Though it takes place over the period of a few minutes, it represents a much larger process of Sammy’s growth. From the time the girls enter the grocery store, to the moment they leave, you can see changes in Sammy. At first, he only notices the physical appearance of the girls: how they look and what they are wearing, seem to be his only thoughts. As the story...
Words: 1114 - Pages: 5
...John Updike “A & P” We were asked in class to write a short paper after being asked the question, “What is the most intriguing or interesting piece we have read, and why?” My response to this question was John Updike’s “A & P”. “A & P” was not the best or even the most interesting piece that I have read. However, out of all of the stories that I have read for this class, “A & P” left me with the most questions. Some of the questions that I asked myself after reading this story were, “What did Updike want me to get from this story?” The second question I asked myself was, “Was there any symbolism or foreshadowing in the extreme amount of detail that Updike used in this story?” The last question that I wanted to answer was, “Is that it?” Did John Updike really write a story about dress code of a supermarket? Or, did he write this story about the moral dilemma a young clerk faces when he believes his boss was rude to three underdressed girls? John Updike’s “A & P” was first published in 1962. This story took place in a small grocery store. The main character, Sammy, is a young clerk. He is ringing up a lady whom he describes as a “witch”, when three young ladies enter the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Updike uses great detail in describing the three girls. The first one that he noticed was described as “a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit…”...
Words: 1597 - Pages: 7
...Critical Essay Jason Williams May 15, 2010 Eng 2510: Contemporary Literature Conflict and Change in John Updike’s “A&P” All of the events in John Updike’s short story “A&P” take place in a small town grocery store north of Boston, where Sammy, the main character, works as cashier. Sammy is nineteen, a late adolescent boy on the verge of adulthood. His fellow cashier, Stokesie, is twenty-two, married, with two young children. The store is managed by a much older man named Lengel, a friend of Sammy’s parents. The other characters include a customer at Sammy’s checkout slot and three teenage girls in bathing suits. It is an altercation in the aisles of the store between Lengel, the manager, and the three girls that forces Sammy to face his inner conflict and make a life changing decision. Updike implies rather than spells out Sammy’s conflict. Sammy is nineteen, almost a man, but as yet without a man’s responsibilities. If Sammy stays in town, we can easily imagine he will soon be in the same situation as Stokesie, who has wife and two children to take care of. Sammy and Stokesie have good jobs, probably among the best the small town has to offer. If Stokesie were to quit his job, he would be abdicating his responsibilities and letting his family down. In the view of the town, such an action would probably be considered madness. For him, the chance to make a radical change in his life’s course has probably passed. Sammy, on the other hand, has a window...
Words: 999 - Pages: 4
...In order for the younger generation to succeed, must they do as they see others do and resist deviating from the norm? The short story “A&P” by John Updike takes place within a grocery store with plots depicting different themes, such as innocence and irony. The average reader will be stunned by the unusual break in tradition, as well as the ending with a twist. Sammy, the story’s main character and narrator, is represented as one who does not understand his own troubled life. He also despises others, who in so many words live a life of follow the leader. Ultimately, Sammy quits his job in protest of the unfair treatment of three girls, who have presumably violated the store’s dress code policy. It appears that this is an example where society is being too rigid and insensitive to the changing trends that our younger generations are ready to explore. Three young girls wearing bathing suits into a small town grocery store really caused a commotion amongst the store’s...
Words: 1168 - Pages: 5
...Choices Made Karma the cosmic law of cause and effect is evident in the choices made by people all the time. When a choice is made in a split second the consequences of that choice are not always taken into account. Most choices are made for more than just a single sided reason. On one side there is the noble selfless act and then there is the self-centered reasons on which a majority of choices are made. The consequences of a choice can be worse than what is expected at the time the choice is made. In John Updike’s “A&P” the main character Sammy makes the choice to quite his job after his boss embarrasses three girls that are going through his check out lane. The choice Sammy makes is not a wise one to make hastily. The out come is not what he expects and he does not fully understand the ramifications this choice will have on his life in a small town. Sammy’s impulsive choice is the result of his resentment of his boss, Lengel, who starts to scold the girls for coming into his store wearing bathing suits. He doesn’t just inform them that when they come into the store they should put more modest clothing on but instead belittles them in front of the other customers. In this time period if women where out at in swimwear before they would go into a store they would put on a pair of short and shirt or at the least a long shirt that covered them up. During the exchange of words a crowd of people start to form in the other lane trying to avoid the confrontation but looking none...
Words: 923 - Pages: 4
...Romance is a term that is described as a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love. With the coming of age for adolescents, it is normal to experience such emotions towards another individual. However, sometimes these feelings are misinterpreted or misdirected. In John Updike’s short story “A&P” and James Joyce “Araby”, both authors tell of a tale of teenagers and their struggles with young love. Updike allows reader’s to see through the eyes of a teenager in his story “A&P”. The story begins with Sammy, a young clerk who becomes fascinated with the arrival of three girls in his store. The girl that grabs his attention the most is Queenie, by carefully observing her walk through the aisles and talk to her friends, he goes through a tremendous change in his character. At first, Updike shows us the immature side of Sammy, he quotes “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece…where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs” (pg. 835), this shows the reader that Sammy is immature concentrating on the girls instead of doing his job. However, as we go further into the story, his somewhat obsession for Queenie leads him to question his own life. His feelings become so powerful that he forms his own conclusions about Queenie and her life and wonders if he could be part of that life too. When the girls finally approach the register, they are embarrassed by Lengel. This angers Sammy and causes him to change from...
Words: 797 - Pages: 4
...A&P and Araby John Updike's A & P and James Joyce's Araby share many of the same literary traits. The primary focus of the two stories revolves around a young man who is compelled to decipher the different between cruel reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head. That the man does, indeed, discover the difference is what sets him off into emotional collapse. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character, who is also the protagonist, has built up incredible,yet unrealistic, expectations of women, having focused upon one in particular towards which he places all his unrequited affection. The expectation these men hold when finally "face to face with their object of worship" (Wells, 1993, p. 127) is what sends the final and crushing blow of reality: The rejection they suffer is far too great for them to bear. Updike is famous for taking other author's works and twisting them so that they reflect a more contemporary flavor. While the story remains the same, the climate is singular only to Updike. This is the reason why there are similarities as well as deviations from Joyce's original piece. Plot, theme and detail are three of the most resembling aspects of the two stories over all other literary components; characteristic of both writers' works, each rendition offers its own unique perspective upon the young man's romantic infatuation. Not only are descriptive phrases shared by both stories, but parallels occur with...
Words: 7200 - Pages: 29
...Updike’s short story, “A&P” takes place in a small conservative town. Sammy the protagonist struggles between conforming and rebelling against the conservative society of the 1960s. I argue that the narrator’s point of view, setting, and dialogue relates to Sammy being overwhelmed by internal struggle, power and pain. These rhetorical devices will allow younger audiences to feel Sammy’s struggle. The first person narrator Sammy has an internal struggle between conformity and rebelling against the status quo. The story begins by Sammy stating, "In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits. I'm in the third check-out slot, with my back to the door, so I don't see them until they're over by the bread". The first sentence establishes a connection and draws interest to readers. Sammy’s colloquial tone allows younger adults to relate to Sammy and the position he is in. Also his tone allows readers to experience the situation at first- hand. Although the reader’s view of the character is limited through Sammy lens and what he sees as his truth, he shifts back and forth of his limited opinion of people he sees For example, he refers people as sheep’s and followers. The author incorporates the use of animals and clothing as symbols in ways to characterize the town and people throughout the course of the story. Sheep’s are described as close group animals that do the same routines and don’t have a mind of their own. This symbolizes how the people in this town are not risk-takers...
Words: 869 - Pages: 4
...All of the events in John Updike’s short story “A&P” take place in a small town grocery store north of Boston, where Sammy, the main character, works as cashier. Sammy is nineteen, a late adolescent boy on the verge of adulthood. His fellow cashier, Stokesie, is twenty-two, married, with two young children. The store is managed by a much older man named Lengel, a friend of Sammy’s parents. The other characters include a customer at Sammy’s checkout slot and three teenage girls in bathing suits. It is an altercation in the aisles of the store between Lengel, the manager, and the three girls that forces Sammy to face his inner conflict and make a life changing decision. Updike implies rather than spells out Sammy’s conflict. Sammy is nineteen, almost a man, but as yet without a man’s responsibilities. If Sammy stays in town, we can easily imagine he will soon be in the same situation as Stokesie, who has wife and two children to take care of. Sammy and Stokesie have good jobs, probably among the best the small town has to offer. If Stokesie were to quit his job, he would be abdicating his responsibilities and letting his family down. In the view of the town, such an action would probably be considered madness. For him, the chance to make a radical change in his life’s course has probably passed. Sammy, on the other hand, has a window of opportunity, a short period between youth and adulthood, during which, if he has the courage and the will, he can choose another...
Words: 978 - Pages: 4
...Americans have a great deal of freedom in today’s era. Although laws are different in certain states, and people are not actually one hundred percent free, they still have certain unalienable rights. The first people who inhabited the earth were naked, but people still cannot see excessive skin without turning up their noses in disgust. The American society has been taught that people must cover themselves to look appropriate, and that has been ingrained into the minds of many Americans. People have different opinions on the subject, but in reality, from the first few days that people have been on the earth, they were taught to cover themselves. In John Updike’s short story, “A & P,” three young girls innocently challenge that belief when they...
Words: 1353 - Pages: 6
...Proceeding for the School of Visual Arts Eighteenth Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists: Art and Story CONTENTS SECTION ONE: Marcel’s Studio Visit with Elstir……………………………………………………….. David Carrier SECTION TWO: Film and Video Narrative Brief Narrative on Film-The Case of John Updike……………………………………. Thomas P. Adler With a Pen of Light …………………………………………………………………… Michael Fink Media and the Message: Does Media Shape or Serve the Story: Visual Storytelling and New Media ……………………………………………………. June Bisantz Evans Visual Literacy: The Language of Cultural Signifiers…………………………………. Tammy Knipp SECTION THREE: Narrative and Fine Art Beyond Illustration: Visual Narrative Strategies in Picasso’s Celestina Prints………… Susan J. Baker and William Novak Narrative, Allegory, and Commentary in Emil Nolde’s Legend: St. Mary of Egypt…… William B. Sieger A Narrative of Belonging: The Art of Beauford Delaney and Glenn Ligon…………… Catherine St. John Art and Narrative Under the Third Reich ……………………………………………… Ashley Labrie 28 15 1 22 25 27 36 43 51 Hopper Stories in an Imaginary Museum……………………………………………. Joseph Stanton SECTION FOUR: Photography and Narrative Black & White: Two Worlds/Two Distinct Stories……………………………………….. Elaine A. King Relinquishing His Own Story: Abandonment and Appropriation in the Edward Weston Narrative………………………………………………………………………….. David Peeler Narrative Stretegies in the Worlds of Jean Le Gac and Sophe Calle…………………….. Stefanie Rentsch...
Words: 117240 - Pages: 469
...How We Know What Isn't So The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life Thomas Gilovich THE FREE PRESS A Division of Macmillan, Inc. NEW YORK To Karen and liana Contents Acknowledgments 1. Introduction vn 1 PART ONE Cognitive Determinants of Questionable Beliefs 2. Something Out of Nothing: The Misperception and Misinterpretation of Random Data 3. Too Much from Too Little: The Misinterpretation of Incomplete and Unrepresentative Data 4. Seeing What We Expect to See: The Biased Evaluation of Ambiguous and Inconsistent Data 9 29 49 PART TWO Motivational and Social Determinants of Questionable Beliefs 5. Seeing What We Want to See: Motivational Determinants of Belief 6. Believing What We are Told: The Biasing Effects of Secondhand Information 7. The Imagined Agreement of Others: Exaggerated Impressions of Social Support 75 88 112 Contents PART THREE Examples of Questionable and Erroneous Beliefs 8. Belief in Ineffective "Alternative" Health Practices 9. Belief in the Effectiveness of Questionable Interpersonal Strategies 10. Belief in ESP 125 146 Acknowledgments 156 PART FOUR Where Do We Go from Here? 11. Challenging Dubious Beliefs: The Role of Social Science Notes Index 185 195 214 Four people made unusually significant contributions to this work and deserve special thanks. Lee Ross commented on drafts of many of the chapters and provided a number of his uniquely...
Words: 80718 - Pages: 323
