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Sammy, the narrator of John Updike's short story "A&P" is a young man who works as a supermarket cashier in a small town. Almost the entire story takes place in the market, describing a series of events leading up to Sammy quitting. Sammy is a first-person unreliable narrator, making the teenager an interesting character providing a unique perspective on the events that unfold. Through Sammy's eyes, the reader witnesses the violation of social norms. A group of young girls who are Sammy's age walk through the store in their bathing suits because is summertime and they have been at the beach. Sammy's reaction to the girls is first one of lust, as he stares at their bodies and especially develops a crush on one he calls Queenie. His friends and coworkers, also male, react the same way except for the store manager, Lengel. Lengel is of an older generation, which is why his reaction is different from that of his younger employees. The manager admonishes the girls for dressing the way they do, embarrassing them. Witnessing the exchange, Sammy feels bad for the girls and quits on the spot. Lengel, who likes Sammy and who knows Sammy's parents, tries to talk him out of it, but fails. Sammy walks out, only to realize in a matter of minutes "how hard the world was going to be." Updike's "A&P" is largely about Sammy's character development as he transforms almost instantly from being a teenager to being an adult who must take responsibility for his decisions.
Sammy's character develops from...
Clearly, Sammy worked at the A&P because there were few other summer jobs available to teenage boys in his small town. Because Lengel knows Sammy's parents too, it is likely Sammy never gave it much thought to work at A&P. Working at the supermarket was something that Sammy did because it was easy and there were few other options, not because Sammy genuinely sought out the position or wanted a career at the store. Sammy's passive role initially is highlighted by the fact that the girls have significant power over him when they walk through the store. The girls captivate Sammy's attention so much, he can barely concentrate on anything else and it is a good thing the store was empty because he might have been too distracted to work. Sammy as the narrator of the story then spends a considerable amount of time describing for the reader what Queenie looks like. "You know, it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach…and another thing in the cool of the A&P…with her feet paddling along naked over our checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor." Sammy's passivity is also indicated by his joking to Stoksie, "Darling, hold me tight," to suggest that he might faint.
The differences between Sammy's reaction to the girls and Lengels reveal Sammy's character development. The first moment the reader realizes the Sammy is learning how to think for himself is when he states that the "sad part of the story" is coming but that "my family says it's sad but I don't think it's sad myself." Sammy clearly understands that…
References
Porter, M.G. (1972). John Updike's A&P. The English Journal 61(8): 1155-1158.
Stearns, J., Sandlin, J.A. & Burdick, J. (2011). Resistance on aisle three? Curriculum Inquiry 41(3).
Updike, J. (1961). A&P. Retrieved online: http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/
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