Sammy, the Protagonist in John Updike’s A&P: Selling False Hopes and Promises, Book Review Example

John Updike’s A&P is a short story which was first published in 1961 in the New Yorker. “Forty years later this story remains Updike’s most favored treasure.” (A&P, 2010). Sammy learns to accept the repercussions of his actions when he decides to quit his job at the store because of the way a trio of girls in swimsuits is treated by the store manager. It is through this rash choice that Sammy learns the lessons of life and how the choices he makes along the way will influence his life. Sammy is compared to “Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salingers’ protagonist in Catcher in the Rye.

Sammy is a teenager in the short story and actually narrates the story with class and honesty. He is very insightful and intuitive and possesses mannerisms of coming from a family full of great morale. Mr. Lengel, the store manager is purely indecent and a sex predator in Sammy’s eyes and he wants no part of working for such an indecent man. He realizes that the girls are dressed in poor taste in swim suits bearing their bodies and barefoot but he feels they are owed the same respect as a lady with a million dollar Chanel suit. Sammy has an issue when Mr. Lendel scolds the girls for their dressage or attire but commands Sammy to ring them up at the cashier. He feels Mr. Lendel has desecrated the girls honor and he will not tolerate that. He takes his apron off and quits his job on the spot. Sammy tells Mr. Lendel that he did not have to embarrass the girls like that. Sammy feels people should be able to dress the way they want to and it men’s heads are turned as a result of it then so be it. He feels Mr. Lendel is trying to restrict people’s right to choice.

At the end of the story Sammy finally realizes that he will have to ‘buck’ the Mr. Lendel’s of society to get his vision across to the world and that indeed will be a difficult task. Sammy further feels Mr. Lendel does not know real freedom that exists and that real freedom is what brings ‘real happiness’. People do not necessarily have to live to the constraints of what society as a whole expects of them.

Updike personally set the short story during the middle of the town where the economic growth was rapid and where there was also access to a church, banks and real estate offices. The idea of the setting and theme were that people often make choices that are very important because of convenience. Everyone in the town from common fold to sub-sea captains need what the grocery store sells. Sammy feels the setting of the store dehumanizes some people and commodity things. “He describes the rear end of one of the girls as a ‘can’ the shoppers as ‘sheep’ and the grocery store as a ‘pin ball game’” (Sexton, T. 2010).  Sammy puts more value on the girls’ dignity and honor than his own employment. Really he is sick and tired of his boss’s lack of respect for the customers’ in general. He feels his boss thinks he is much better than the common folk that shop at the store and Sammy totally disagrees.

Sammy’s attention focuses eventually on one of the three girls especially the chunky one in the swimsuit. He wants to make her his queen or goddess. He transforms her pretty face into a goddess of royalty in his eyes. The manager of the store thinks she is in need of rescue. The irony of the story is that many people in life make choices to find a Queenie and change them not because it may be in their best interest but because they may want to rescue them and they vehemently believe it is in their best interest.

Personally I think Sammy is very naive but he does stand for some good principles including loyalty and morals and he believes in fighting for what he treasures. As he grows up he will learn that rash decisions are not always the best ones to make. Perhaps he could have used this job. Further people gain much satisfaction from attempting save the world or give someone a better life

References

Bernardo, K. (2010) John Updike’s A&P Commentary Retrieved February 4, 2010 from, http://www.storybites.com/updikeaandp2.htm

Sexton, T. (2010) John Updike’s A & P: Selling False Hopes and Promises Retrieved February 4, 2010 from, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/19459/john_updikes_ap_selling_false_hopes_pg2.html?cat=38