Colon 1
Angelina Colon
Mr. Johnson
ENC 1102
25 January 2015
A & P by John Updike In the short story "A & P" by John Updike, the protagonist, Sammy narrates about an event that occurs in his life. This incident is told in first person making the story more personal for Sammy, which means he is trying to justify any of his actions within the story. Sammy tries to make it seem as if he were the hero in this story, but he is actually just a coward. Within this short story the plot unravels through the exposition and the complications that Sammy has to face. The exposition is in Sammy's place of employment, the third check out slot in the A & P (Updike 17). This is where Sammy faces multiple internal complications, these complications reveal Sammy's …show more content…
The narrator often feels as if they are the knight in shining armor to the victim of their story, when truthfully they just turn a blind eye to the actual victims in the story. The story is introduced by the position in which Sammy is stationed at, Sammy states, "I'm in the third check -out slot, with my back to the door" (Updike 17). The exposition of this story is very important, this station symbolizes how Sammy feels mentally and physically trapped and would like to venture out. It is also where Sammy is faced with all three conflicts throughout the story. The first conflict is with a 50 year old black woman who gives Sammy a hard time for accidentally ringing up her HiHo Crackers twice. Sammy states, "I know it made her day to trip me up. She'd been watching cash registers for fifty years and probably never seen a mistake before. By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag -she gives me a little snort in passing, if she'd been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem" (Updike 18). These dark thoughts prove that Sammy is capable to …show more content…
Lengel being good friends with Sammy's family he maintains his tolerance then tries to talk Sammy out of quitting. Lengel reminds Sammy that he is one of his family's main source of income and this will make life much harder for all of them. Narrating their dialogue Sammy states, "I don' think you know what you're saying," Lengel said. "I know you don't," I said. "But I do"... Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient and old and grey. He's been a friend of my parents for years. "Sammy , you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad," he tells me" (Updike 21). Sammy takes off his uniform and leaves with all he has, which is not much since it is summer and all he came with were the cloths on his back. Lengel warns him that he will feel this pain from the struggle for the rest of his life. Then Sammy goes on to protect his ego and his word saying, "It's true, I don't. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it". Sammy continues to leave looking for his "girls" outside, but they are long gone (Updike 20 -21). Sammy is finally left to walk the difficult path home reminiscing of how his life would be from that day on, Sammy admits he realizes his mistakes to himself by thinking, "my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world
Angelina Colon
Mr. Johnson
ENC 1102
25 January 2015
A & P by John Updike In the short story "A & P" by John Updike, the protagonist, Sammy narrates about an event that occurs in his life. This incident is told in first person making the story more personal for Sammy, which means he is trying to justify any of his actions within the story. Sammy tries to make it seem as if he were the hero in this story, but he is actually just a coward. Within this short story the plot unravels through the exposition and the complications that Sammy has to face. The exposition is in Sammy's place of employment, the third check out slot in the A & P (Updike 17). This is where Sammy faces multiple internal complications, these complications reveal Sammy's …show more content…
The narrator often feels as if they are the knight in shining armor to the victim of their story, when truthfully they just turn a blind eye to the actual victims in the story. The story is introduced by the position in which Sammy is stationed at, Sammy states, "I'm in the third check -out slot, with my back to the door" (Updike 17). The exposition of this story is very important, this station symbolizes how Sammy feels mentally and physically trapped and would like to venture out. It is also where Sammy is faced with all three conflicts throughout the story. The first conflict is with a 50 year old black woman who gives Sammy a hard time for accidentally ringing up her HiHo Crackers twice. Sammy states, "I know it made her day to trip me up. She'd been watching cash registers for fifty years and probably never seen a mistake before. By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag -she gives me a little snort in passing, if she'd been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem" (Updike 18). These dark thoughts prove that Sammy is capable to …show more content…
Lengel being good friends with Sammy's family he maintains his tolerance then tries to talk Sammy out of quitting. Lengel reminds Sammy that he is one of his family's main source of income and this will make life much harder for all of them. Narrating their dialogue Sammy states, "I don' think you know what you're saying," Lengel said. "I know you don't," I said. "But I do"... Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient and old and grey. He's been a friend of my parents for years. "Sammy , you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad," he tells me" (Updike 21). Sammy takes off his uniform and leaves with all he has, which is not much since it is summer and all he came with were the cloths on his back. Lengel warns him that he will feel this pain from the struggle for the rest of his life. Then Sammy goes on to protect his ego and his word saying, "It's true, I don't. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it". Sammy continues to leave looking for his "girls" outside, but they are long gone (Updike 20 -21). Sammy is finally left to walk the difficult path home reminiscing of how his life would be from that day on, Sammy admits he realizes his mistakes to himself by thinking, "my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world