How Does Sammy Mature In A & P

In the short story A&P, Sammy, the protagonist, believes he is making a wise decision when he decides to quit the A&P grocery store where he works. He quits because the store manager, Lengal, nags at the three girls for wearing their bathing suits into the shop. Unfortunately, Sammy's brave deed goes unnoticed by Queenie and her friends, and he has to accept the consequences of his immature actions. In "A&P" by John Updike, Updike shows Sammy's lack of immaturity through his judgmental, immature, and disrespectful attitudes. Sammy is extremely judgmental towards his customers. He often calls the shoppers "sheep pushing their carts down the aisle." Sammy is insulting and judging these customers by referring to them as animals and hinting that they are stupid and causing chaos just like sheep usually do. He also called one of his customers a "witch about fifty." Saying that she is an evil old woman, when, in fact, he does not even know this woman or what kind of person she is. Sammy is quick to judge all the people he sees, never making an effort to look deeper into a person and get to know them. …show more content…
He shows disrespect to Lengal and his parents when Sammy quits his job. We learn the Lengel "has been a friend of [Sammy's] parents for years." Lengal tries to talk Sammy out of quitting, saying "you don't want to do this to your mom and dad" but Sammy does not care how his actions will affect Lengal or his parents. He goes through with it to try and impress the girls who do not even notice. He shows disrespect again to the lady he calls a witch. He claims the fifty-something woman, who scolds him for ringing her crackers up twice while he is fascinated by the girls, is a "witch, [who] if she'd been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem". His disrespect for this lady and all of the customers is so