A & P

2 Pages 594 Words

In Updike’s “A&P” he talks about Sammy, a teenager who quits his job because he felt bad about his manager embarrassing some girls. Well that is what I have understood when I read the story several times and that’s the impression that I have got after reading the story. When I read the story I thought that Sammy reacted the way he did to impress the girls and there are a lot of hints which made me think that way. Updike leaves Sammy’s motives open to interpretation, however the story makes more sense when one takes Sammy’s motives to be noble instead of superficial. Updike wanted his hero to be a hero not someone who wanted to be a hero to get some girls’ attention.
Sammy watched the girls when they came in the store. He looked at them as guy in his age will. Sammy stared at them and was somehow attracted to them because of the way they dressed. In the moment when the manager started arguing with the girls about the way they dress, Sammy’s look to these girls changed. So, Updike tells us on the story how his hero described the girls and the way he looked and thought of them. He looked at these girls like innocents who had been treated bad my his boss. He thought about it for a while and figured out that they did not do anything to deserve such a treatment. His fast reaction which was a result of the frustration that the situation caused him was quitting his job. He decided to stand by the girls side and fight for their rights. The girls were in a hurry so he decided to tell his manager that he quits in front of them, which is a natural thing if we looked at it in another way. “ so I say “I quit” to lengal quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” (117) When someone helps another people he will like these people to know that he had helped them somehow. So, Sammy reacted fast to let them know that they were not wrong and that his manager was wrong, so he said ...