Truth about Sammy in John Updikes A&P Essay -- A&P Essays

The Truth slightly Sammy in A & P At first glance, Sammy, the first-person narrator of hind end Updikes A & P, would seem to present us with a simple and pat explanation as to why he quits his job at the grocery store mentioned in the title he is standing up for the girls that his boss, Lengel, has insulted. He even tries to sell us on this explanation by mentioning how the girls embarrassment at the hands of the manager makes him feel scrunchy inside and by referring to himself as their unsuspected hero after he goes through with his gesture. Upon adjacent examination, though, it does not seem plausible that Sammy would have quit in defensive structure of girls whom he quite evidently despises, contempt the lustful zests they invoke, and that to a greater extent credibly explanations of his action lie in his boredom with his menial job and his desire to rebel against his parents. While its true that Sammy finds the three scantily-clad girls who enter the su permarket attractive, as would any normal nineteen-year-old male, what is closely notable about his descriptions of the girls, and particularly of the leader of the group, is that Sammy holds them in contempt. Once we get beyond the descriptions of their bodies, we see nothing but derogative comments directed at them, including the derisive nicknames that Sammy assigns to them. Nowhere is this more evident than in Sammys description of the leader, Queenie. The nickname assigned to her by Sammy points out the stereotypical slit judgment that Sammy makes about her personality and social status initially, and to which Sammy rigidly adheres despite no real evidence of its accuracy. From the description of her prima donna legs, to his imagining of ... ...gels suggestion that he relent and keep his job, Sammy is in truth saying no to his parents and their attempt to erect him on the road to middle-class respectability. In the final analysis, it would seem that the mos t obvious explanation for why Sammy quits his job--the one that he implies--is actually the least plausible. While Sammy would like to portray himself as the fearless shielder of the delicate sensibilities of innocent girls, the reality is that Sammys motives in quitting have far more to do with his own sensibilities than with those of the three girls. Work Cited Updike, John. A & P. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. second Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston St. Martins Press, 1990. 407-411. Wells, Walter. John Updikes A & P Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 30, (1993) Spring, pp. 127(7).