'A & P' - John Updike: Sammy's Rebellion - the Importance of the Narrator

by David Wheeler

A critical essay on Updike's famous short story which focuses on the role of the narrator and his rebellion against the status quo.

Genres: School, Short Stories

3 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2011

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

i HATED how the girls were described but for some reason i cannot, for the life of me, stop thinking of this story

[April Heredia · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I read this short story for a class assignment for English. I didn't really enjoy it mainly because of the way Sammy describes the girls.
So here's a bit of a summary so spoiler alert!

Sammy wants to be a hero to the girls by sticking up and showing off for them, however, he gets so lost in his imagination, that he thinks he is a hero. If it wasn’t for the reason why he stood up for the girl then he would have been a hero. Sammy quit his job because Lengel stopped the three girls who walked into the store being inappropriately dressed. This led to a significant development in Sammy's life, so he wanted to impress the girls who got mistreated by the manager. Sammy is initially drawn to the girls, mainly Queenie, simply because they are young and attractive. This rouses Sammy's desire from the minute he sees her. Sammy expressed the passion he had for Queenie so that she would show him things that he longed to see and also take him to places he had never visited. The girls did not think Sammy was a hero mainly because they were more interested in leaving than stopping and watching him play his part. “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. They keep right on going, into the electric eye; the door flies open and they flicker across the lot to their car…” Sammy because his poor judgments of people he doesn't know prove he is immature in his attitudes and actions throughout the story. The girls eventually leave the store and do not talk to Sammy. Despite Sammy's victory, it ends on a note of dread and isolation. This leads to the story's realism. After all, Sammy has just experienced a kind of trauma. As Sammy looks at his boss through the window, he sees his boss on the other side of the counter, which should have been him, but instead, because of his foolish actions, he no longer has a job. The last line talks about how Lengel is in Sammy's place and feels as if his stomach has fallen due to his actions. Because of this, he has no clue how the world is going to be out there for him.

[aly ☆.。.:* · Rating 3 out of 5]

not sure how I felt about this one

[ᰔᩚ ash ᰔᩚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for school- hated the way he talked abt the girls, also just wasn’t enjoyable in any sense

[Savannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard to understand but it was a pretty good book. It was hard to read with how much they were sexualizing the women in the story.

[Fia · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not like how Sammy described the girls ☹️