Summary Of John Updike's A & P

In “A&P” a portrayal of a suburban small town is talked about. John Updike was able to capture and demonstrate his interpretation of a teenager. From the small town dead-end job, to a teenager’s inner turmoil. Updike’s short-story suggests that teenagers will come to a moment of understanding and maturation. There is going to be a moment in life in which one will begin thinking for oneself. Quitting his simple job was enough for him to find himself. Having an unsatisfying job was enough for Sammy to realize what he did not want for his life? In John Updike’s short-story, “A&P” he portrays the struggle of coming of age through a teenager working at a local grocery store.
“Queenie has become for Sammy a form for what he has felt and named as …show more content…
Updike was able to portray Sammy’s non-enthusiastic attitude through his word choices. Sammy says, “I stood there with my hand on a box full of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up of not. I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell… if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem” (17). Sammy’s particularly rude thoughts show that he doesn’t like his job and dealing with the customers. Sammy clearly has pent up anger that is caused by his job. It is also evident that Sammy doesn’t plan on spending the rest of his teenage years working at a grocery store because he dislikes customers. Perhaps his distaste for customers and boredom in the work place is another motivator for Sammy to quit his …show more content…
Hence why he calls the customers in the store sheep. “Sammy routinely deals with customers for whom he has no respect, describing them as "witch[es]," "bums," and "sheep"(Thompon). Sheep are easily influenced and lack the ability and motivation to think for themselves. When sheep are being round up and pushed to a central location, they will go on with their life without being phased. Sammy says, “All the while customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunched up on Stokesie, who shook open a paper bag as gently as peeling a peach…” (20). This metaphor is extremely significant because you are seeing into the mind of Sammy. You get to see what Sammy thinks of other people. Sammy calling the customers sheep show he is looking down on them. He is saying that these people are so desperate to stay normal and avoid conflict that they are not saying a word about the incident involving himself and Lengel. No one is taking a stand, they are all determined to go about their day unnoticed. Not only does Sammy comment on the customers, he mentions his coworker Stokesie. Who is being extra careful to get everything right and make no mistakes. Once Sammy quit, he looks back to take one final glance in the store. “… I could see Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through” (21). Life is going on as if nothing had ever happened. The customers have