A&p by John Updike Psyche

A&P by John Updike Psyche and Values of a Young Boy as Illustrated in a&P by John Updike The short story entitled a&P, written by John Updike in 1961, is a story about a boy named Sammy. It is a story that illustrates the reality of a young middle class teen as it talks about a person's psyche and values in a given life stage.

A&P demonstrates the reality of a young boy named Sammy who is in his teens, John Updike writes, "I was nineteen this April." Being in his teens, Sammy is at a stage in his life where romantic relationship is important and is considered a priority. He is easily attracted to girls and for Sammy; attraction is very physical.

Romantic relationship is very important to Sammy that he quit his job to appear attractive to the girls, "the girls… 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" ("A&P by John Updike").

Sammy perceives this impulsive act of quitting his job as romantic and attractive for the opposite sex, hoping to appear as the valiant hero who was brave enough to stand up against the enemy, much like the romantic notion of a girl's knight-in-shining armor. In this sense, Sammy is both romantic and idealistic. The act of giving up his job just to appear attractive to the opposite sex shows that Sammy values romantic relationship more than his future.

He was willing to give up his job even though he knew it will impact his life, "You'll feel this for the rest of your life,' Lengel says, and I know that's true too" ("A&P by John Updike"). This shows Sammy's naivete as a young person. At the end of the story though, Sammy begins to understand his reality, "I look around for my girls, but they're gone, of course.

There wasn't anybody but some young married screaming with her children about some candy they didn't get by the door of a powder-blue Falcon station wagon." With this passage, Sammy begins to understand that life is not as romantic and ideal as he sees it. Hoping to conform to the romantic notion of a knight-in-shining armor does not guarantee that he gets the girl.

Sammy learns the hard way that his position in life provides little room for being the valiant hero; finding that the object of his affection, for which he recklessly threw his job for, is gone, Sammy begins to learn that there is more important things in life than romantic relationships and acting heroic and romantic, "my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter" ("A&P by John Updike").

The story is also full of allusions to his physical attraction to the girls particularly the "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, at the top of the backs of her legs" and the "queen" who Sammy, describes as having "long white prima donna legs" ("A&P by John Updike").

Sammy's sexual attraction to the queen is also shown in this passage, "with the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and top of the head except just her, 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." The story also demonstrates a teen's disdain for authority figures, usually older people, and their penchant for going against the rules and not conforming to the norms.

Sammy's disdain for authority can be gleaned from the way he described a shopper, "She's one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows… if she'd been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem" ("A&P by John Updike"). It appears that for Sammy, older people and authority figures are enemies. On the other hand, going against the rules is very appealing to Sammy; non-conformity is an exciting idea.

This is why Sammy was thrilled with the three girls who entered the a&P in bathing suits. The passage, "the girls were walking against the usual traffic… were pretty hilarious" has a hint of admiration to it, possibly implying that Sammy admires.