Why Did Sammy Quit His Job At A & P

Sammy, an employee at A&P, made a very idiotic decision for very stupid reason. The author, John Updike, was an extremely sexist man and the reader can see that in his work. The story was titled A&P. Sammy and the 3 unnamed girls are the main characters. In the story, Sammy quits his job for 3 girls he has just met. Sammy quit his job at the A&P because he has low intellectual ability, he wants to impress the girls, and is a teenager raging with hormones.

Sammy has low intellectual ability which played a part in him quitting his job. He works at a grocery store, this is not the most challenging job.“I stood there with my hand on a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not.”, (Updike 9-11). If you cannot even remember if you typed something into a cash register, then you’re not the brightest bulb in the box. Memorising a small series of buttons is not challenging at all. …show more content…
Don’t get me wrong, making a stand can be good if the individual has reasons. “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.”, (261-264). Sammy willingly said he quit trying to impress the girls. Needless to say, it did not work. The reason why he quit his job for the girls is because he felt as though the manager was embarrassing them. “You didn’t have to embarrass them.”, (273). This is a very stupid reason to quit your job! I understand that Sammy thought he was being a hero, in reality he was actually just being an idiot. After Sammy quits his job, he goes out into the parking lot to search for ‘his’ girls. “I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course.”, (306-307). Sammy refers to the girls as his girls even though they have only exchanged less than 5 words with 1 of the girls. Sammy thought that by quitting his job he could impress the