In A&P, it's obvious Sammy tries to impress the prettiest girl that walked in with her bathing suits along with her friends, whom he named "Queenie". As these girls walk in, the music changes and you see Sammy's attention turn to them and he forgot about the "witch" for a second and rings her "hose" twice. This shows he has an interest in her and will want to impress her and get her attention. He tried impressing her by quitting his job. He tells Lengal, "I said I quit".
Jazmyne De-Heer Ms.Petrone EDG 2D1 Tuesday February, 28, 2012 “Lessons of Love” In the short story “Lessons of Love” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the narrator is not in love with boy but instead obsessed with him because she only loved him for his good looks. In the beginning of the story, the narrator explains the appearance of her secretive love: “I first saw him in the hall…He looked extraordinarily like a young Marlon Brando – down to the ironic little smile” (36). The narrator has nothing to say about his personality, which is mainly a reason why a person would fall in love with somebody. The narrator shows the readers that the boy is a very attractive male and she has stared at every feature of his face to know that he looks like a young Marlon Brando down to just his “ironic smile”. The narrator
Sammy was able to draw conclusions about the girls that were walking around the store such as calling one of the girls “the queen” just based on the way she looked and acted. Although not as detailed, while working I often look at the people who are shopping and draw conclusions such as what kind of job I think they have or how many kids I think they have. The final aspect that I can relate to is the part of the story where Sammy gets annoyed with his boss and quits. Sammy doesn’t like the way that his boss, Lengel, talks to the girls and in an attempt to impress them, quits his job. I would never have the courage to quit my job and tell my boss that they were not treating someone right but I have thought about it before.
Kaylyn Graham Mr. Winter English 1302 – DC019 30 January, 2013 Sammy is a young boy who is easily attracted to the opposite sex, very judgmental, and then realizing the consequence of failure in the real world. Character Analysis Sammy, the narrator in “A&P” by John Updike is a young boy, who works in a convenient store and notices the three girls that walk in. He then starts to become mesmerized with the girls and then starts to describe their physical appearance, from the texture and patterns of their bathing suits, and their actions. Sammy is so distracted by the girls that he is not paying any attention to what he is doing such as he is checking out a lady as he tells us a “cash-register-watchers,” and she has yet to see anything done wrong. As the girls walked up and down the aisles and each girl that he sees he starts to point out the flaws of each one of them mainly about Queenie when he states that she was a “queen” and that “she kind of led them”(a&p), as if they were a clique.
The first part of the story is filled with much observation of the three girls by Sammy, who is working a check stand. Sammy seems to be intrigued by them because they are dressed in nothing more than bathing suits and that fact alone is highly uncommon at this particular store. Sammy notices that the girls just move about the regularly clad customers and becomes taken by them. The plot begins to thicken as the girls unknowingly reveal themselves as the crisis in the story. They make their way to Sammy’s check stand to make their purchase.
Nohn Digker 01/18/2011 English 1102 Assignment -1 The Consequences of Choice In the story A & P, John Updike uses Sammy’s immaturity to show the consequences of choices. Sammy a typical teenager shows an immature behavior like most teens. From the moment the group of girls catch his eyes; he loses his attention and could not remember even if he had rang up the Hiho crackers in his hand. He finds himself following the path of the girls with his eyes as they go about their business looking for the product they have come in to buy. Wearing a bathing suit in a grocery store is more like being naked in public.
Remy Mermelstein March 25, 2014 English 9 Honors/K. O’Connor Period 4 A&P/Brain Essay Remy Mermelstein - March 2014 In John Updikes short story, A&P, the impulsive and rebellious behavior of Sammy and the girls is highlighted in relation to the logical and more socially un-awkward adults. A normal day at an A&P is punctured by the rash and unexpected decisions of teenagers in a sort of coming of age story of a boy [Sammy] realizing his stance in the world working in an A&P in the middle of nowhere, with no sign of a really good future while he admires three girls who to him seem to be way out. Three girls walk into the A&P, wearing nothing but bathing suits in a place far from any water or beach and immediately captivated nearly everyone in sight. The girl’s decision to walk into a public store in bikinis suggests that they really do not care what other people think about them, almost as if they are at the top of the
Gray 1 Jacob Gray Professor Copeland English 102 (3pm class) 9/18/12 The Use of Initiation in A&P As men we all experience a desire to impress or catch the eye of that one significant other. In Updike's short story, “A&P”, temptation and desire consume Sammy; once he lays his eyes on the young woman that arrives at his store. But, out of the three girls there was one in particular which caught his attention. Is it at that moment Sammy experiences his initiation into adulthood, or, is it just lust running through the mind of your average nineteen year old? Either way, it's not everyday one has the opportunity to get the girl of his dreams, or at least in Sammy's case make a good impression.
Sammy, the voice of “A & P,” is an awkward kid who is on the brink of adult-hood. In this story, which takes place over the course of just twenty minutes maybe, Sammy encounters a brood awakening about adult hood and how difficult it can be to exit adolescence. Updike’s use of concrete diction helps establish the exact narrative style that he’s going for: an imprudent and witty 19 year-old boy with a keen imagination in regards to the opposite sex. The way Sammy, a cashier at A & P, thinks is unconventional. “In walks
Jennifer Barriga Professor Chapman ENC 1102 September 06, 2014 "A&P" Journal Response “A&P” by John Updike definitely put a smile on my face, following by a giggle from time to time as I read through it. Sammy is a typical teenage boy trying to get a pretty girl of his age attention. At one point towards the end, he literally goes out of his way to get noticed by the “Queenie” but fails. Who quits their job for a person you only find attractive and may catch your attention in ways others cannot? I wouldn’t.