Immaturity immediately kicks in as he refers to her as "a witch about fifty." The reader is able to tell that Sammy is unhappy at his job and does not care for the customers. He makes references to them as “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (Updike 261) and “A few house slaves in pin curlers” (Updike 261). As the girls make their way to the register, with only a single jar of herring snacks, Sammy’s judgment kicks in again.
The store he was working at was dull and monotonous, and he did not want to end up like his store manager Lengel, who was telling the girls they cant wear bathing suits to the A&P. Sammy mainly quits his job because he wants to move up in life and actually live it. When he sees the “queen” of three girls walk up to the register with the “Kingfish Herring Snacks” it suddenly hits him. He realizes that these girls are from a wealthy class, “ all of a sudden…picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big plate” (Updike 134) who are living the good life. Sammy also saw a foreshadowing of his future if he had kept his job.
Sammy observes the patrons of A&P mundanely going about their shopping, like “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (6). He continues to belittle the customers by stating, “I bet you could set off dynamite in an A&P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists” (6), as if they are not thinking about what they are doing because they have done it so many times before. The narrator explains the dullness of the store by pointing out the “fluorescent lights” and “checkerboard green-and cream rubber-tile floor” (7). Finally, Sammy states, “The store’s pretty empty, it being a Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do” (12), indicating everyone works a typical nine-to-five shift and only older, retired people are at the store on a Thursday afternoon. Sammy observes the girls breaking the normal routine practiced by other shoppers.
He seems to be surrounded by these characters bound to their boring lives. Sammy uses different names to describe the people he sees in his conformist town. He calls the customers in the store “sheep”, (Updike, 20) because of how blindly they follow their usual routine and “houseslaves”, (Updike, 20) are what he calls the house wives with pin curlers puttering around the store. He goes on to say that the customers are so enveloped in their grey lives that if someone were to set off a bomb in the center of the store that they would fail to even notice. One customer, “the witch”, (Updike, 18) as Sammy calls her, is described as a serious looking woman one who diligently watches the register he is on, eagerly waiting for him to slip up and make an error.
When Sammy is ringing up the customer at the beginning of the story, he describes her in a quite ugly manner as a “cash-register-watcher, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows.” This could be attributed to the way that men looked at women during that time when women as housewives were unappreciated. Throughout the story, we listen to Sammy talk about the women in the store and describe them solely based on their outward appearance as a housewife, much like his mother and other matriarchal figures. He makes derogatory statements about “house-slaves in pin curlers”, and “women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs”. However, if one thinks about the typical 1960’s housewife found in vintage films and television shows, it mainly shows a “Suzy home-maker” in a frilly apron and heels. He uses the word "Sheep" to describe the store regulars, as they seem to follow one and other, in both their actions and reactions to the girls who come into the
Even though the man was neatly dressed, she still has the prejudice that he is poor. The good girl The shop girl is very friendly and open-minded. Even though the girl knows what the man is up to she lets him come to the store each week, and actually asks him if he wants a spoon to sample the puddings. “Well, let him come if he wants it that bad” “Would you like to sample them, sir? Here is a spoon for you to use.” The girl lets the old man sample from the store.
As he rescan the item the women throws a fit and he thinks to himself "shes one of these cash regester watchers,a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrowes". The fact that he thought about her like that shows that he does not like to be yelled at. After sammy gets the woman calm and finish checking her out he goes right back to observing the three girls. This time around though he starts observing the secound girl, he seems more focused on all her flaws "with one of thoses chubby berry faces the lips all bunched together under her nose, with black hair that hadent quite frizzed right". sammy belives that she was the type of girl other girls think are striking but never realy could make it.
Matthew Gullet Debbie Amburgey English II 9/10/12 Point of View Sammy is an immature 19 year old kid who hates his job as the A&P cashier. Sammy’s life is coming to a crossroad, little does he know, on the day that three half naked young girls walk in the grocery store. Sammy judges the customers, as well as his boss, and due to this his life would never be the same. The point of view in A&P is incredibly important because everything that happens in the story is told by Sammy the narrator. We get to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly about everyone, from Sammy’s perspective.
Plot and Major Characters The story narrated in "Goblin Market" is often described as simple. Two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who apparently live together without parents, are taunted by goblin merchant men to buy juicy fruits. Lizzie is able to resist there sweet-talk and runs home, but Laura gives in. She pays for the merchandise with a lock of her hair and stuffs herself, but her desire increases rather than being satisfied. She returns home and tells Lizzie that she will seek the goblins again.
After being teased mercilessly, Elsie concocted a plan to fool the adults. 'Elsie got tired of the joking and one night suggested to me that she would copy the dancing figures of fairies from one of my most precious possessions, my Princess Mary's Gift book... 'That will shake them!' she said. 'They'll have to stop making fun of us then.'' The next time that the two girls were teased by their parents, Elsie challenged her father, telling him that if he lent them his camera, a Midg quarter plate, the two girls would try to take a photograph of one of the fairies.