In John Updike’s “A&P”, a young boy by the name of Sammy works as a cashier in the A&P supermarket. Sammy’s family is not extremely wealthy, so at the age of 19 he has to work and help support his family. He continues to work everyday for hours, but he feels as if everything is working against him. With everything working against him, and his personality, Sammy’s character eventually leads him to quit his job. Sammy’s character leads him to the decision of quitting his job, and Updike’s theme in the story A&P.
At the beginning of the story three girls entered the supermarket and caught Sammy’s attention. He keeps close watch on the girls, but tries not to be noticed. Sammy describes two of the girls as not being very pretty, but he finds the other to
be very attractive. He continues watching until they approach his register to check out, but then Lengel, the store supervisor, sees the girls. He approaches with a hateful
attitude and begins questioning them about the bathing suits that the girls are wearing. The more the girls were insulted; the more Sammy wants to speak up and take their side in hopes of impressing them. As the girls were finishing checking out, Sammy finally decides to take a stand and quit his job.
There are many factors that helped form Sammy’s character and lead him to a decision in quitting his job. He felt as if it was the right thing to do until he walked out the front door. The girls were gone and he was out of work. If Sammy had thought before spoke, he would probably never quit his job. All Sammy could do then is wonder what his parents would think.
Another factor that plays a role in Sammy’s decision is the antagonists. Sammy’s character always believed that things were working against him, or never goes his way. The two main antagonist of the story was the supermarket itself and the employees. Lengel and the 50 year old witch, wa
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