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A&P by John Updike

In his short story "A & P," John Updike describes Sammy, a young person who

works as a cashier. Three young women enter the grocery store half-dressed, carrying

only their bathing suits. Sammy, like everybody else in the grocery store, is fascinated

by these young females. As the women made their choices, Sammy kept a close eye

on them (Updike). At the conclusion of the story, Sammy attempts to play the

protagonist, but he may have been his own lamest opponent. It was a small town with

few things to do. Sammy wasn't looking to consider making a professional life out of

collaborating at the A & P. Sammy was raised in a society where women are seen on

the basis of physical characteristics and when he tried to defend the women’s right to

be independent, he lost his single job so become worried about his future.

Society's portrayal of the three girls was traditional where women are judged on

the basis of their physical characteristics instead of their intelligence and psychology.

The girls in swimsuits are the ladies to whom the central character assigns the

majority of his attention (Bawer and Eva 215). Although Sammy shows up to be

different from the rest of society, it is clear that he is not completely independent of

certain prejudices that are prevalent in the cognition of his society members. Sammy

makes silly names for each of the female-focused on their legs, breasts, waists, and
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thighs. The character's attention to women is constrained to the physical realm.

Sammy isn't particularly interested in female psychology or personal characteristics.

Sammy's behavior may be influenced by the fact that he was raised in a society where

females were not treated the same as men.

In "A&P," Sammy leaves his job as a loving gesture to capture Queenie's interest

and affection. Sammy wishes that Queenie will observe his act of kindness and

perhaps consider dating him (Wheeler). Sammy loses his job in order to confront Mr.

Lengel about being unkind to the woman who had just left. Sammy was attempting to

demonstrate to the women that he was a true hero who tried to stand up for them, but

the act of kindness went unnoticed as the women disappeared.

Sammy left his job suddenly and unexpectedly without considering the

consequences, and as a result, he believes the world is a difficult place for him.

Sammy left abruptly. He didn't understand the ramifications. If he fully disliked his

job, he could have offered them two weeks' notice (Bawer and Eva 215). Sammy

didn't think about how much burden this would put on his family members or how

difficult it would be to look for another job after resigning at the moment. Sammy

took the decision to resign from his job because he believed it was the correct thing to

do, on the other hand, he put himself in this difficult condition (Wheeler). On the

other hand, he did this all for the girl‘s attention but the girl didn’t notice him. And all

his efforts went to waste. He lost his only source of income for grabbing the girl’s

attention. Now, he had to face difficulties in finding a new job. That’s why he said the

world will be a difficult place for him.

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John Updike describes Sammy, a young person who works as a cashier and

wasn't looking to consider making a professional life out of working at the A & P.

Sammy's attention to women is constrained to the physical realm. He was raised in a

society where females were not treated the same as men. Sammy leaves his job as a

loving gesture to capture Queenie's interest and affection. Sammy didn't think about

how much burden this would put on his family or how difficult it would be to look for

another job.
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Works Cited

Bawer, Thompson, and Corey Eva. “Updike’s A & P.” The Explicator, vol. 59, 2014,

pp. 215–17. Crossref, doi:10.2307/3853108.

Updike, John. A&P. Fantastic Fiction, 1961.

Wheeler, David. “A & P” - John Updike: Sammy’s Rebellion - the Importance of the

Narrator. Dog’s Tail Books, 2011.