Updike's A&P Sammy's Muses in Updike's "A&P"

John Updike's "A&P" tells the story of Sammy whose life is transformed after three girls visit the store where he is working and are humiliated by the store's manager. The A&P where Sammy works offers the readers insight into the quotidian life of middle-class suburbia, while on the other hand, the three girls, whom Sammy nicknames Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony-Goony, represent rebellion and allow Sammy to recognize and realize the freedom he longs for. In "A&P," Sammy's defense of the three girls is superficially both egalitarian and sexist and serves as an excuse to break free from suburban normalcy.

Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony serve as the impetus for Sammy's ruminations on suburbia, sexism, and capitalism and corporate culture. Sammy sees the girls as being a rebellion of suburbia. They do not appear to conform to society's expectations of dress or demeanor, and they are oblivious to the stagnant realm of suburban life encapsulated at the A&P. Sammy notes the girls are the antithesis of the suburban women that frequently shop at the store. Sammy refers to suburban women as "house-slaves in pin curlers," implying that these women have caved to social pressures and conformed to social expectations and conventions (Updike). Sammy continues to describe A&P's suburban customers as "sheep pushing their carts down the aisle" and insinuates that these typical shoppers have lost the capability to think for themselves and engage in their daily activities out of habit rather than as a choice.

On the other hand, Sammy appears to admire the girls for their complete disregard of the suburban norm. While Sammy views suburban women as "house-slaves in pin curlers," simultaneously commenting on their social status and dress, he is taken aback by the girls' unconventional dress. Sammy notes,

You know, it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A&P, under the fluorescent lights, against...

(Updike)
By contrasting how the beach atmosphere differs from the A&P's atmosphere, Sammy not only comments on the differences between the girls and the A&P's regular customers, but also comments on the freedom the beach represents when compared to the confines of the grocery store, a subconscious juxtaposition of suburban life with what he perceives the girls' life to be. Moreover, Sammy comments that the girls are unconventional beyond their dress and their unconventional demeanor extends to how they move around the store. While Sammy refers to the A&P's regular customers sheep, he notes, "the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything)" as though to comment the girls refused to play by society's rules and literally and figuratively went against the crowd, or what society had defined as a norm.

While Sammy's thoughts and attitude reflect his rejection of social norms and suburbia, quitting his job can be construed as a rejection of capitalism and corporate culture. Through his description of typical A&P shoppers, it is evident Sammy does not enjoy working at the store. He sees the same thing everyday and has been performing the same tasks so much so that they no longer hold their original intended meaning, but have taken on a new one. Sammy contends, "I go through the punches, 4, 9, GROC, TOT -- it's more complicated than you think, and after you do it often enough, it begins to make a lttle song, that you hear words to, in my case "Hello (bing) there, you (gung) hap-py pee-pul (splat)"-the splat being the drawer flying out" (Updike). Sammy has created an alternative reality to amuse himself while he is at work, which is probably one of the reasons that he is so attracted to the girls.

Based on his attitude, thoughts, and behavior, it is difficult to classify Sammy as an egalitarian or a sexist and it can be argued that his simultaneously both and neither. Sammy's sexist attitude can be seen in how he perceives…