A & P

In the story “A & P,” by John Updike, Sammy is a very complex character who has mixed reasons for quitting his supermarket job. On one hand, he is strongly against the policy that the supermarket enforces. It states that people must come into the store with their shoulders covered. On the other hand, he is trying to impress one girl whom he likes. Finally, his pride causes him to make an irrational decision, which is quitting his job. If I were Sammy, I would not have quit my job over something that petty. If everyone quit their jobs over something that insignificant, then no one would ever work.

The policy enforced by the supermarket strongly offends Sammy. Sammy feels that the treatment of the girls coming into the store is unreasonable and therefore, he decides to quit. This evidence comes at the end of the story. The girls are confronted by Lengel, the store’s manager, for wearing bathing suits in the grocery store. The girls decide to leave rather than argue with Lengel. The fact that Sammy follows through with his decision to quit is very intriguing because there is nothing to gain. It also forces the reader to evaluate his motives for quitting. Is he quitting to impress the girls or is he sincerely objecting to the store’s stringent policy? We see that he proves to the reader his discomfort on the store’s policy of having shoulders covered. He portrays this anger by thinking, “Remembering how he made that pretty girl blush, makes me so scrunchy inside I punch the No Sale tab” (837). Sammy’s sincerity is very admirable but it alone does not constitute a good reason for quitting his job.

In the story, there is an abundance of evidence to confirm that Sammy quits his job to impress a girl. We know this because from the moment she walks into the store, he is mesmerized with her beauty. In the story, he often refers to her as “the queen” (833). If that isn’t enough, he also obsesses over every detail that the girl has to offer. After all his admiring, he finally realizes that he has to overwhelm this girl to get her attention. So, while the girls are walking out, he tells Lengel, his boss, “I quit’ just loud enough for the girls to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (836). Instead, they leave and Sammy’s attempt to impress the girl fails. Also, at the end of the story, he hopes that when he walks outside, the girls will be out there waiting for him, but this does not happen (837).

Sammy also makes the illogical decision to quit his job because of his pride. Sammy is given several opportunities to retract quitting his job, but instead he decides to follow through with his threat. Part of this reason is because of his pride. He tries to save himself the embarrassment of pleading for his job back. In the story, he says, “Once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it” (837). This also confirms the fragility of a person’s pride. For him to back out now would be the ultimate concession of defeat. He does this, even though he knows that there will be consequences with his parents because of his rash decision. We know this because Lengel says to him, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” and Sammy thinks to himself, “It’s true, I don’t” (837). Sammy’s pride clouds his better judgment and causes him to make the wrong decision. He would rather disappoint his parents than damage his pride and this is all for girls that wouldn’t even talk to him.

The most important of Sammy’s motives for quitting his supermarket job, is to impress the girl that walked into the store. His decision is made in haste and is very irrational. He is convinced that his reason for quitting is based on the way that Lengel treats the girls, but if that is the case then why does he disrespect the other customers? In the story, he refers to them as “sheep” (836). In one case, he refers to a customer as a witch. If store policy really mattered to him, then why did he wait to quit? If the policy was that bad, wouldn’t he have quit before the girls even came into the store? The truth is, that if those girls had never walked into that store, then he would still be working at the supermarket. If I were Sammy, I would have never quit my job over something that insignificant.

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