Updikes A&p

Updikes A&p

Basically this story takes place in a little town right outside Boston, on the coast. The main character Sammy works at a small time convenient store, in the middle of the town, as a checker. On a warm Thursday afternoon 3 young girls arrive at the store wearing only their bathing suits. Sammy being the young man that he is is immediately attracted to one of them. Once the girls are finished shopping they come up to the checkout stand and are then greeted by the store manager Lengel, rather than by Sammy. Lengel confronts the girls and lets them know that they are not wearing far enough clothing to comply with the store policy. So in a spite of rage, Sammy angrily quits his job, hoping to further impress the girls. Unfortunately, not to his knowing the girls had already left the store and had no idea of his actions. Leaving him in the end jobless but rather content.

I believe the theme of this story is that rash decisions sometimes turn out to be the best ones. “Stokesie’s married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that’s the only difference. He was 22 and I was 19 this April.” (Updike 1112) Here is a prime example of a motivation of the main character. Sammy has seen Stokesie’s life, and decided that he wanted nothing to do with a lifestyle like that. So in retrospect, Sammy’s main motivation for quitting his job may have not been the fact that he didn’t want a lifestyle like that of Stokesie’s, but quitting turned out to be more beneficial than he had originally planned. “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a

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hurry to get out, so I say “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll will stop to watch me, their unsuspected hero.” (Updike 1113) This particular quote was