A&P Essay 1.1 - Grade: A PDF

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This is an essay that was assigned in ENG 120A....

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Duc1 Duc Pham Eng120A October 10, 2017 Essay 1.1 Three Characteristics of Sammy in John Updike’s “A&P” Youth is an extremely fundamental moment of each individual as it decides the success or failure of that person in the future. Therefore, studying and the learning experiences gained from others are the keys to enhance knowledge of young people in order to keep them on the right track. However, there are also many mistakes that they are having such as being impatient, giving up when in trouble. In the short story “A&P,” the author John Updike creates the character of Sammy to represent young people who are having mistakes in their early life. Three elements of Sammy’s character: his disrespect, his innocence, and his immaturity reveal why his behavior will inevitably lead to a doomed and difficult life. Sammy’s character can be depicted through his disrespectful attitude toward the people around him. Firstly, he is rude to the shoppers at A&P when calling them as the “sheep” (228). By referring to them as the “sheep,” he is saying that they essentially mean nothing to him and are just average customers he could care less about. He is especially abusive in his thoughts of the old woman who he referred to as the “witch” (227). This woman is unappealing to Sammy, unlike Queenie. His thoughts regarding the “witch” can be expressed by Sammy’s belief that she would have been burned in Salem if she had been born at that time (227). In his position as the cashier, it is better to focus on working and dedicating his support to customers instead of despising the people around. Moreover, his irreverent attitude does not just happen to customers but also to his coworker, Stokesie. Sammy looks down on Stokesie in his thought: “He thinks he’s going to be manger some sunny day…” (229). Apparently, Sammy does not show any respect to his coworker even though he is younger than Stokesie. He is delusional in that he

Duc2 thinks he is better than everyone but after all, he is just a normal young person in the same position as Stokesie. Sammy’s disrespectful attitude has shown very clearly through his actions and thoughts toward everyone. The innocent personality of Sammy can be seen through the interest he has in women and his perception of life. Sammy’s passionate look for Queenie is expressed through the way he describes the beauty of her bathing suit with a compliment: “ I mean, it was more than pretty” (228). Although Sammy drowns in illusion, Queenie’s attractiveness has captured his heart. At this moment, he defies everything so as to please Queenie. Therefore, when Lengel criticises how three girls dress up to make them feel ashamed, Sammy argued against Lengel to stand on the side of the girls, especially Queenie: “You didn’t have to embrass them” (232). Certainly, Sammy is trying to attract her eyes as a hero against his manager. However, with the innocent of a young man, Sammy is unable to have a deep perception about life. The outburst in his action indicates that he is fond of emotional rather rational. He has a simple look at life and thinks he is right in protecting the girls from the heavy words of Lengel. Through the innocent personality, it shows that Sammy needs to cultivate a life experience to look at all matters more wisely before doing or saying anything. Most importantly, the lack of maturity is the cause of incalculable consequences, which leads to a life of thorns for Sammy. Because of his pride to the girls, Sammy is willing to quarrel with his manager and quit his current job without carefully considering. Even worse, Sammy does not care how his parents will be disappointed about what he has caused a foolish mistake. When he starts to rethink about his immature action then, however, he still put his pride as priorty rather than acknowledging his mistake directly with Lengel: “once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it” (232). Sammy would have thought critically about his

Duc3 erroneous action instead of pushing himself to the difficult situation and then saying, “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (233). Surely, this costly lesson will help him become more mature about perception of life. Sammy’s disrespect, innocence, immaturity in John Updike’s “A&P” has made him not only become as a failure but also pay the price after quitting his job. With this costly lesson, it is believed that Sammy will draw on the experience to correct his own mistakes in the future.

Duc4 Work cited Updike, John. “A&P.” 40 Short Stories, A Portable Anthology, 5th ed., edited by Beverly Lawn, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 227-233....