Impact of Setting on the Character Building in Updike's "A&P"

The short story ‘A&P’ by John Updike describes a 19-year-old named Sammy who works for a grocery store located in a town north of Boston in the early 1960’s. Sammy is routinely checking out an observant customer when three girls walk into the store, startling Sammy because they were wearing swimsuits in a grocery store which caused him to ring up the customer's item twice. As the girls make their way around the store the attention shifts to their physical characteristics. Queenie and her posse gain the attention of the manager, who reprimands them and suggests they cover up next time they are in the store in a demeaning way. This action upsets Sammy, causing him to defend the girls and ultimately quit his job. Now that he is jobless he has a consequence for his action. The central idea of the ‘A&P’ is the importance of staying true to your moral code even in a sticky situation. (130-136)

The setting of ‘A&P’ formulates a vivid picture for readers. Set in the early 1960’s, when tensions were high and conservative morals were just about the only thing that people knew. The setting affects the characters as the story plays out, tensions grow as the girls make their way around the grocery store. Through Sammy’s eyes, he sees the people who shop there as “sheep” which correlates the fact that the story is narrated through a young man's eyes, which could be considered unreliable. He feels for Queenie and her posse when they get embarrassed by Lengel. Seeing the girls in the store seemed out of place yet it gave reminded Sammy that he needed to follow what his heart was telling him to do and face the consequences. After Sammy quit, Lengel tried to convince him otherwise “I don’t think you know what you’re saying,” Lengel said (135). It is known that once he began his gesture that it would be fatal not to go through with it. Sammy’s moral code instinctively knew that an action must occur after the incident between Lengel and the girls. The setting added to the central idea adds a picture-perfect scene for readers, indicating the tension that was caused by Sammy quitting, and when he punched the No sale tab it shows how his manager made him feel after his harsh reprimands on the girls. The situation made him feel “so scrunchy inside” (136). Walking barefooted in a swimsuit in the “cool of the A&P under the fluorescent lights” gives a depth view to what Sammy is seeing and translates it directly to the reader (132). The setting clarifies the central idea statement in the sense that Sammy was in a tricky situation since one part of him is at the A&P for his parents and a secured job, on the other hand, the girls were the final push that he needed to cut ties with the A&P for good. He also was semi hoping that the girls would still be in the parking lot waiting for their hero… “I look around for the girls, but they're gone of course”(136).

The character analysis of Sammy shows how influential a setting can be on a character. Sammy feels trapped in the A&P, with all the people who go there are considered 'sheep,' or followers, even 'scared pigs in a chute' (132-135). Seeing Lengel become old, gray, and miserable from staying at the A&P caused Sammy to want to part with the store but he never knew how Queenie was the active solution to is problem of what reason he was going to use to quit. His lustful and likewise arrogant emotions caused him to go through with it. In the end, he prevailed in leaving the A&P, yet his “stomach fell” at the realization that the world would be much harder hereafter.