Emily Nguyen Mrs. DiTallo L.A. per 5 5 April 2012 A&P Cause and Effect Essay The interesting short story “A&P” by John Updike is about a teenage boy named Sammy. The story starts, when three girls come in the store in only their bathing suits and Sammy notices them. Sammy then he starts to analyze them until they came to checkout their item until Lengel, the manager, starts an argument with the girls. Sammy, for a strange reason defended them and finally quit and going out to the parking lot to find the girls, which is nowhere to found. In “A&P”, the circumstantial causes intertwine with Sammy’s “choice” causes to create effects which speak directly to the story’s theme.
When they get to the front of the line they placed the item into Sammy’s hand. While he rang up the item he noticed the girl was not wearing a ring or bracelet. Sammy thought “Not a ring or a bracelet, bare as God made them, and I wonder where the money is coming from.” Updike is making the reader think that the girl does not have a significant other to buy her things. As they get embarrassed by the manager about their appearance and how Sammy comes to the conclusion to quit his job. The central idea of this story is coming of age.
He chose to no longer be a part of something that discouraged uniqueness. Sammy accepted the girls’ need to conform and supported them all the way, even if it meant letting down his parents and his manager, who happened to be a family friend. In the story Sammy’s fantasies reveal that he is simply bored while at work. He is stuck in this rut of his life, and craves some sort of change. Living this lifestyle would drive anyone to want to rebel against authority just to spice things up a bit.
A&P was a little different read than the usual short stories because it didn’t talk about someone’s life or series of event, instead it talks about how one small mistake leads to downfall of a young boy’s life. Sammy who is a young boy as a cashier working at a neighborhood grocery store with Stokesie, his partner also as a cashier, finds himself in a position one day when he feels the urge of speaking up about something that he thinks is wrong but little did he know that his words and sudden action will only put him down and become a regret forever. While working on a regular sunny day Sammy notices that three girls had walked in to his store in bathing suits. The whole store pays attention to them including Sammy’s manager and his work partner but his manager notices that Sammy is showing a little too much interest in them. So, he walks up to them and tells them that next time they decide to walk in they should cover their shoulders meaning be in appropriate attire but Sammy with a young mind thinks differently and thinks that anyone should be able to shop how ever they want in whatever attire.
When the Queenie takes out the money “out of the hollow at the center of her nibbled pink top” (Updike, P136) Sammy thinks it is cute but actually, it is a kind of rude to not wear like that in the store. Sammy was on the right track even he does not like it. He did not suppose to do anything when his boss blames the girls. But he falls into a desire---being a hero in front of them. This desire leads him to make a hasty decision without careful considerations---to quit his job.
Throughout John Updike`s short story "A & P" the protagonist Sammy, a young 19 year old male, is constantly judging the cliental who walks into the grocery store, A& P. For example, when three girls walk into the store with nothing but their bathing suits; Sammy’s mind begins to be very active when he is judging the girls. As Sammy watched Quennie “buzz” over to her friends, it made his stomach (and who knows what else) rubs the inside of his apron (Updike 2). Sammy also observed the women in the store turn away when they noticed the girls almost as if they knew what would happen and were ashamed for young girls (Updike 2). At which point, Sammy views all the older, less attractive shoppers as “sheep” pushing their carts around in a herd, or as “house slaves in pin curlers” (Updike 2). Through the choice of words by the author in these references from the book, the reader is led to believe that women were generally portrayed as passive individuals, known to stay at home, cook for their husbands and care for the children while the men were active at work.
Also, when Jeremiah is working in the supermarket, throwing the food away goes against his values and for American people that’s normal. The concept of work for Sudanese people is also different form Americans. When Paul is working for the fabric, he works as much as he can and join the parts as fast as he can but his colleagues, tell him to slow down and to work slower. Also, in Sudanese culture, it is very different the concept of family. The roll of the woman is very different and the refugees are very surprised that Carrie is an independent woman that works for its own and doesn’t have a husband because in their culture, the man (also called Chief) is the one who maintain and protect a family.
It is significantly unprofessional by acting the way she did by arguing to the point that the customers heard her and throwing the plate. By her being sent home immediately, it shows that there is no place for unprofessionalism within the restaurant. * Three inappropriate actions taken by The Big Cheese staff: * When an employee is sent home due to illness, whoever next in charge needs to be aware of the situation and complete tasks that are needed. Employees such as another Warehouse Supervisor, Assistant Manager, or General Manager have to fill the task of receiving and storing the food delivery. Having absolutely no one on the receiving end of the delivery is irresponsible and shows lack of management.
Judgment May Vary An underlying theme in “A&P” as well as “The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven” is none other than judgment. Sammy is a cashier in the story “A&P” and Victor is a Native American in “The Lone Ranger…” who struggles through his life trying to find his place of belonging in the world. Having previous experience as a cashier, the only entertainment seen in a work day comes from the customers shuffling around the store grabbing, dropping and sometimes stealing items. In Sammy’s case he saw all of the customers as “sheep” except for the three girls who walked in. And so begins the judgment with a woman who Sammy believes to be about fifty with nothing better to do than scold him for accidentally ringing up the same item twice.
Name Changed Life In the “A&P” 19 year old Sammy who is a story all by himself is changed by three girls who enter his life as they walk in to shop at the local “A&P”. In which later on he decides to quit his job for these girls as a cashier at the local grocery store called the “A&P.” Realizing that he has made the decision to quit not only for himself, but the girls who inspired him not literally but figuratively quit to make what he seemed the right choice. In this short story, Sammy seems to have mixed opinions about these three girls who walk in. He sizes them up almost as they were all close friends and have known each other for years. Throughout the story, Sammy seems to become attached to these girls.