Making a Statement of One's Identity in 'A&P'

John Updike’s short story entitled, “A & P,” is written through the eyes of the main character Sammy, who is a nineteen-year-old checkout clerk at the local grocery store. Throughout the story, Sammy is very descriptive in his introduction of the other characters that come into the store on this particular day in this small town. In the short story, Sammy can be viewed as a very observant person, as can be told from his detailed descriptions of the supporting characters. In the short story, “A & P,” the characters are styled in such a descriptive manner in which Sammy’s feelings can be revealed and as the story progresses Sammy’s life changing decision is revealed as a reactionary deed in response to the three strangers in the store, which leads me to think about what would I have done as a nineteen-year-old in the same scenario.

Throughout the short story, the supporting characters are introduced through the lenses of Sammy, from which he gives many details. While working his shift behind the cash register, Sammy would appear as any normal nineteen-year-old. While working one day, he noticed the three girls walking around the store in swimwear. From the first time he laid his eyes on these three girls, he was smitten. He was immediately overcome by the girls wearing just swimwear and traipsing up and down the grocery store aisles. In the story, Sammy is quick to describe one of the three girls; he refers to her as the chubby one in the two-piece bikini that was green plaid in color (“A & P”). He carefully describes her in more detail from her tan all the way down to her can. In the midst of watching this girl in the bread section, Sammy forgets whether he has rang up an item or needs to still enter the item for his current customer. This leads into a description of this customer, who he more or less describes as a fifty-something-year old witch with no brows on her forehead and cheeks heavily painted with red blush. (“A & P”). Through his description, one can tell that Sammy does not like this lady and is eager for her to be gone. Once this upset customer is gone, Sammy refocuses on the girls when he sees them again near the special bins. Besides being in swimwear, he also notices them as being shoeless. He continues to stare at the girl in the two-piece green bikini and notices her pale stomach, which leads to him assuming it is a rather new swimsuit for her.

Besides the chubby girl, there is also a tall girl beside her. Sammy’s description included her black, not quite curled right hair, sunburned area around her eyes, and a longer chin, but not the attractive kind (“A & P”). Last of the three girls was the one Sammy believed to the leader; he called her the queen. Sammy goes into great detailed about her walk, down to telling the readers that he felt like she probably did not walk barefoot very often in the sand. Her walk was described as “walk slow and hold yourself straight” (“A & P”). On a deeper level of understanding this could convey her philosophy about staying focused and taking charge, as she appears to while being the leader within her little group of friends. With more and more details about the leader, the reader can infer that Sammy was quite overcome with this young lady. Sammy’s description continues with details of her swimsuit colors, hair color, and strap on her swimsuit. A reader can tell that he is smitten with this character by the way he describes the bare area from her shoulders up to her face. Sammy also describes how the leader holds her head up high; I feel the significance of this is that from the earlier description of her walk to her head being held high, is revealing that she is a very proud person and perhaps Sammy sees her in a status level above him. Sammy refers to the other customers as “sheep” who are walking up and down the aisles, many doing a double take in order to make sure they were seeing what thought they had seen (“A & P”). Perhaps Updike chose this term because the reference to animals being lined up in stalls and herding though the checkout aisles. Sammy’s life seems to be quite different than these girls. Perhaps this is further revealed once Queenie places her item on Sammy’s checkout. It was a can of fancy herring snacks. He envisions what her parties may be like compared to his family parties, which consist of lemonade and beer in cartoon glasses. Sammy pictures men standing around in fancy jackets and bow ties, while the women eat the fancy snacks on toothpicks (“A & P”). The drinks consisted of fancy drinks, complete with olives and mint sprays. As one can see, Sammy gives thorough descriptions of the characters and his feelings are apparent in his descriptions of the various shoppers.

Sammy was very fascinated with Queenie and the rest of her little group; in fact, to the point that he made a rather rash decision in the story. When the store manager, Lengel, continues to berate the girls for wearing swimsuits in the store, Sammy is listening, along with everyone else in the store. While checking out Queenie, Sammie was subconsciously thinking about her and where the dollar bill had been that she handed him (“A & P”). As the girls are quickly trying to leave the situation, Sammy quickly tells Lengel that he is quitting his job. Sammy quits his job hoping to appear as a hero to the girls, who have already left the store in a hurry to remove themselves from the embarrassment. In the heat of the moment, Sammy felt compelled to stand up for the girls in regard to how Lengel treated them. On a deeper level, I feel Sammy also quit in an attempt to try to break free from the mundane life that he was living. According to his thinking, these three girls represented the opposite of his world. Sammy is reminded of this when Queenie says, “We are decent,” and this makes Sammy realize how the crowd at the A & P are “pretty crummy” compared to her lifestyle (“A & P”). Even though his act of quitting was probably done in desperation, since the girls were not even aware of his heroic attempt; his action was somewhat of a statement that he wanted to break free from the life he was living.

After reading this short story, as a nineteen-year-old myself, I can relate to how Sammy feels. If I had been Sammy, I do not feel that I would have quit my job. Even though I agree that Lengel may have mishandled the situation with the swimwear; it would not have provoked me to quit. I agree that there should be policies and they are to be followed, but in this situation Lengel could have handled it privately with the girls. I would have probably said something aloud to Lengel to make him aware of how he was embarrassing the three girls, but quitting would not have occurred. I feel that Sammy may not be happy with working at the A & P and has no desire to work there in the future, but having a job does build responsibility and earns him a paycheck. I have a job right now; however, it is not a job I see me myself doing once I graduate. Quitting isn’t going to make the situation any better for the girls, outside of standing up for their treatment by the manager. I feel Sammy should have continued to work and looked for better job opportunities that would lead him to the lifestyle that he desires. By attending Ranken I am attempting to fully prepare myself for my future filled with success, both personally and financially. I think about where I am now, even though I’m happy, I know I want more and the education that I am pursuing will help me fulfill my future dreams.

In the short story, “A&P,” the afternoon at the grocery store is revealed in a very descriptive manner throughout the entire piece, as told through the eyes of the main character, Sammy. Sammy’s actions and reactions reveal a lot about him as a person. As a reader, one learns that Sammy is willing to make a bold statement in his life in an attempt to stand up for a group of girls unknown to him. When digging deeper, Sammy is attempting to break free of the inferior life that he feels trapped within already at the age of nineteen. By quitting his job, Sammy is making a statement about what lifestyle he wants to be representative of and quitting is his way of breaking free of the ordinary life he is living. For him there is no going back, so he must face what the future holds for him and life may be difficult as he was learning “how hard the world was going to be” for the rest of his adulthood (“A & P”).