Sammy Quit His Job Analysis

There is a sudden change in Sammy's attitude toward the girls throughout the story. At first, Sammy and his friend's he work

Next, near the very end of the story, Sammy “[...]say[s] ''I quit'' to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (Updike 2). After Sammy’s boss Lengel tells the girls what they’re wearing in the store is inappropriate, he quits his job because he wants to impress the girls, as evidenced by him calling himself “[the girls’] unsuspected hero” (Updike 2). Teenage boys want teenage girls’

   At first glance, Sammy, the first-person narrator of John Updike's "A & P," would seem to present us with a simple and plausible explanation as to why he quits his job at the grocery store mentioned in the title: he is standing up for the girls that his boss, Lengel, has insulted. He even tries to sell us on this explanation by mentioning how the girls' embarrassment at the hands of the manager makes him feel "scrunchy" inside and by referring to himself as their "unsuspected hero" after he goes through with his "gesture." Upon closer examination, though, it does not seem plausible that Sammy would have quit in defense of girls whom he quite evidently despises, despite the lustful desires

In A&P, Updike describes Sammy as the protagonist working as a cashier in a supermarket under the management that is friends of his parents Lengel. Sammy is a very observant young man who notices and labels the customers in the supermarket especially on this specific day. When three girls entered the store in their bathing suits. After walking around the supermarket, one of the girls wants to purchase a can of herring snacks. Lengel refuses to interest them because he thinks they were dressed inappropriate, but Sammy rings up the herring snacks and quits his job to show heroism. Therefore, Sammy social maturity before and after the moment when the girls walked into the store shows a forced coming of age in Sammy.

Sammy, having heard enough of Lengel humiliating the girls, takes his heroic stand announcing that “he quit.” He even takes off his apron that had his name personally stitch on it and his bow tie. Another reason why Sammy quit the store probably gravitates toward Queenie and he may have wanted to talk to her, but Lengel ruined his chance by interfering. For example, Sammy said, "remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside I punched the No Sale tab.” He probably wanted to make Queenie blush by giving her compliments, but Lengel embarrassed her by making judgment due to her outfit and the situation definitely had an effect on Sammy since he punched the machine. Clearly, Sammy wanted the attention and was hoping the girls will give him some recognition for defending them, which became a lost cause and once he realized that his outburst didn’t attract the girls, his intentions changed. Sammy quit displaying that he’s becoming more independent as well as his transition to adulthood while at the same time defending the girls. It would also appear that he might’ve relied on his parents for some time. During the conversation between Sammy and Lengel before making his rash decision to quit, Lengel said, “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” implying that he will disappoint his parents if they quit because his parents are a friend of Lengel’s and they pretty much got Sammy the job at A&P. This shows that his parents’ efforts to get him the job would be a waste of time on

I agree with the fact that Sammy didn’t regret the decision to quit. When he had said, “…I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter,” I got the sense that he was relief, because now he isn’t trap in a job he hates. So many new roads had open up to him when he quit, he will learn to keep growing as a person and find what it is he wants to do since he no longer feels obligated to stay at A&P. This very moment is where he started to mature and step in to his coming of age.

When three young teenage girls enter the store wearing nothing but bathing suits, things begin to change for Sammy. Sammy takes notice of the actions of the girls; how they go against the normal “traffic flow” of the supermarket and break the social rules of society with their attire. It is these attributes that attract Sammy to them, as they represent freedom and escape from the life he finds himself in. When Lengel approaches them and reprimands them for what they are wearing, Sammy quits in the hopes of becoming the girls unsuspected hero.

When the Antagonist, Lengel, the store manager, comes in, he immediately reprimands the girls in front of employees and customers; telling them, next time they must be dressed decently. Lengel’s treatment of the girls, hit a nerve in Sammy, causing some tension, friction, getting his heart rate up, wedge an obstacle between him and Lengel. Sammy rings up the girls purchase, as tension builds within himself, for what just happened. When conflict is thrust upon the protagonist, forcing them into action, you risk losing them.

"So I say 'I quit' to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me." When Sammy quits his job, it is obvious he is doing out of envy for these girls. He mentions that he was hoping for the girls to stop and watch him but after he quits and walks out of the A&P grocery store, the girls are gone. "I look around for my girls, but they are gone, of course." Sammy's jealousy towards the girls has grown from their good looks to their parents parties to his quitting his job just so they notice him, which they

Sammy faces the decision of staying at his job or leaving. His parents are friends with the manager of the store, Lengel. One day three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. Seeing it is a slow day, Sammy observes the girls as they go through the store and to his luck come to his check out station. Lengel then sees them at checkout and confronts the girls to tell them about the store’s policy that they should be dressed decently upon entering the store, “‘Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy’” (Updike). This is where Sammy has his transitioning experience. Upon hearing this conversation, Sammy tries be a hero for the girls by making the decision to quit his job, “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,

As the girls continue their journey throughout the store, Sammy can’t help but to notice anything and everything that they did. As they proceed, they grab fancy herring snacks and walk into Sammy’s checkout isle. Because they decided to go into Sammy’s lane might not have had anything to do with Sammy at all, however he took it as if he was chosen specifically because Queenie had some sort of attraction to him. Sammy instantly becomes emotionally attached to Queenie as he rings her up, even going so far that he fantasizes about the life he could have with her, and how much better his life would be with her in it. In the midst of Sammy’s daze, his boss, Lengel, emerges from his office to reprimand the group of girls for their attire. Lengel makes a scene, and publicly embarrasses the girls. As the girls scurry away to Queenie’s mother’s car, Sammy makes a desperate final attempt to impress Queenie by quitting his job and standing up for them. Lengel seemingly realizes what Sammy is trying to do, and offers him an out. Because of Lengel’s good relationship with Sammy’s parents, Lengel says, “Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad.” Although Sammy is given the opportunity to take back his foolish act, Sammy tells us, “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture, it’s fatal not to go through with it.” This points to Sammy’s immaturity, his only

When the girls come up to his register to check out at the same time his manager notices the girls and he comes over to Sammy’s register. His manager then proceeds to tell the girls that if they are to shop in the A&P that they must be dressed decently. Of course this embarrases the girls and they walk out feeling uncomfortable. As the girls are walking out of the store Sammy, thinking he is doing the right thing, says he wants to quit and leaves the store to find the girls but by the time he leaves the store the girls are long gone. But, when he leaves he is soon struck with the sudden realization that life is not going to be any easier after

When his manager reproaches the girls for their inappropriate shopping attire, Sammy resigns in protest, “hoping [the girls will] stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero” (35-36). The girls don’t, and Sammy admits to himself, “It’s true, I don’t [want to

Sammy has a job checking customers out at a small town grocery store. Sammy seems to hate his job, he

All of the main characters in the story make a choice and must endure the consequences. Sammy, the cashier of the supermarket, makes the most obvious choice. After an embarrassing encounter with the three girls and his manager, he has the choice of moving on and pretending nothing had happened, or standing up for the girls and doing something